Visit France > Provence - Alps - Côte d'Azur > From capes to coastal roads, Riviera Paradise

Between Nice and Menton, the landscape's splendours together with the climate's mildness contribute to the Riviera's reputation as a delightful and fantastically attractive land. Here the last alpine foothills plunge abruptly into the Mediterranean; this blending of Sea and Mountain has shaped a land whose vigorous contrasts one never tires of admiring. The seashore is lined with attractive sea-resorts nestled in the warm hollows of bays, while superb villages cling to the relief; all are wonderfully adapted to the caprices of the land and its indentations.

Three spectacular itineraries - the three coastal-roads called corniches - link Nice to Menton, with sightseeing trips that hold in store many powerful sensations. Through a succession of tunnels and bridges, these roads easily by-pass all obstacles, skirting round them, provoking them, clasping them, making us wait impatiently for the next panorama of breathtaking beauty. 

The Low Corniche runs alongside the seashore and goes through Villefranche, Beaulieu, Eze, Cap d'Ail… Nestled deep in a splendid natural harbour, Villefranche spreads out in terraced rows on the first slopes of the nearby hillsides. Located against rocky cliffs, Beaulieu coils up around a peaceful cove lined with palm-trees.

Midway up the mountain side, the Middle Corniche offers lovely views of the Coast and stops at one of the Riviera's most prized sites: the fortified village of Eze, like an eagle's nest perched on a rocky peak, is an impressive balcony suspended above the void which lets us discover the immense and endless cobalt blue surface of the Mediterranean sparkling under the sun.