Cote D’Azure 3 Corniches

Three Corniches de la Riviera run east from Nice to the independent principality of Monaco and to Menton. These three famous roads are the slow roads, made for frequent stops to enjoy dramatic views, fascinating hilltop villages and some of the best scenery this coast has to offer.

The word corniche means a path or road along a rocky ledge. Buses take all three routes; the train follows the lower corniche, and all three are superb means of seeing the most mountainous stretch of the Côte d'Azur. Staying in a hotel anywhere between Nice and Menton is expensive; it makes more sense to base yourself in Nice and treat these routes as pleasure rides.

Corniche Inférieure

The Basse Corniche, also referred to as the Corniche Infèrieure, hugs the coast along the bottom of the hills and cliffs. It connects all the beach resorts and seaside villages, giving access to the Mediterranean and to some exceptional views. It’s 33 km/20½ miles between Nice and Menton on this route, but there’s more than enough to fill a day-trip. You can return to Nice on the A8 in less than half an hour.

Start your journey with from Mount Boron, east of Nice. Enjoy the view over Villefranche Bay to Cap Ferrat, reputed to have some of the most expensive real estate on the planet. It’s a home to movie stars, princes and some of the wealthiest people on earth.

Stop by Villefrance-sur-mer and it’s tiny harbor, with its active fleet of fishing boats. Visit the medieval Chapelle de St-Pierre, decorated by Jean Cocteau in 1957. The chapel is used just once a year, on June 29, when local fishermen celebrate the feast day of St Peter and St Paul with a Mass.

On the main road of the Cap Ferrat peninsula, between Villefranche and Beaulieu, you should visit Villa Éphrusi (mid-Feb to mid-Nov 10am–6pm; mid-Nov to mid-Feb Mon–Fri limited visit 2–6pm, Sat & Sun 10am–6pm).

Built in 1912 for a Rothschild heiress, it is adorned with decorative art, paintings, sculpture and artifacts ranging from the fourteenth to the nineteenth centuries, and from European to Far Eastern origins. Don’t miss huge, elaborate gardens.

Beaulieu Sur Mer is a pricey little resort that sits on the hills above the route. Overlooking the pretty Baie des Fourmis, it is sheltered by a ring of hills that ensure some of the highest temperatures on the coast. Its main point of interest is the Villa Kérylos (mid-Feb to June & Sept to mid-Nov daily 10.30am–6pm; July & Aug daily 10.30am–7pm; mid-Dec to mid-Feb Mon–Fri 2–6pm, Sat & Sun 10.30am–6pm), a near-perfect reproduction of an ancient Greek villa, just east of the casino on avenue Gustav-Eiffel.

Théodore Reinach, the archeologist built it in 1900, and lived here for twenty years, eating, dressing and acting like an Athenian citizen, taking baths with his male friends and assigning separate suites to women. The villa is only five minutes' walk from the gare SNCF. Beaulieu has quiet sandy beach, below the Corniche.

More things to do on and close to the French Riviera

Cote d’Azure 3 Coriches

Orientation

Between Cannes and Monaco there are four main east-west roads: The A8 toll road is the farthest north, indicated by a blue sign; the D2564 Grande Corniche starts east of Nice; the N7 is indicated by a green sign (called the Moyenne Corniche east of Nice); and the N98 Bord de Mer coastal road, or Basse Corniche, is indicated by a white sign. Stay close to the sea and it’s hard to get lost for long.

Getting Around

To see the best of the Riviera, a rental car is essential. To save the money book online with www.carentals.com

Romantic Hotels in French Riviera
Chateau de la Chevre d'Or
Moyenne corniche, rue du Barri, Eze, France. From €180
Posh hotel 1,300 feet above the Mediterranean on the French Riviera, with panoramic views.

Grand Hotel du Cap-Ferrat
Blvd. du General de Gaulle
Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, France.From €350
This romantic place is a luxurious living legend overlooking the Mediterranean sea on the French Riviera.

Royal Riviera
Baie des Fourmis, Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, France. From €150
Pink Belle Epoque palace,decorated with neo-Etruscan furnishings, Hellenistic wall friezes and lots of marble. Has a private beach on the sea.

Romance in Monte Carlo

Hotel de Paris
Monte Carlo . From €180
The classic Monte Carlo hotel, next door to the casino. Alain Ducasse's famed Louis XV restaurant is here.

Grande Corniche

Grande Corniche was built by Napoléon and it follows the ancient Roman road Via Julia Augusta. It is the highest of the Corniches reaching an altitude of 550 m/1,804 feet above Èze village, It starts after Cap Martin, west of Menton. As you enter the town of Roquebrune Cap Martin, look for a sign for a little road that will take you up to the town’s medieval village perchée. At every other turn, you're invited to park your car and enjoy a belvédère.

The road goes through the village of La Turbie, which was a high pass on the Via Julia Augusta. Stop to enjoy a view that takes in the whole of Monte Carlo and the Italian Coast, as well as a good prospect of the Trophée des Alpes, a huge monument raised in 6 BC to celebrate the subjugation of the tribes of Gaul. Originally a statue of Augustus Caesar stood on the 45-metre plinth, which was pillaged, ransacked for building materials and blown up over the centuries. Painstakingly restored in the 1930s, it now stands 35m high, and, viewed from a distance, still looks imperious.

If you want a closer inspection, you'll have to buy a ticket (April–June daily 9.30am–6pm; July to mid-Sept daily 9.30am–7pm; mid-Sept to March Tues–Sun 10am–5pm). Farther along, at the Col des 4 Chemins, look north along the deep Paillon Valley for a glimpse of the snow-covered Alps.

As the corniche descends towards Cap Martin, it passes the eleventh-century castle of Roquebrune, its village nestling round the base of the rock. You can visit the castle daily: Feb–May 10am–12.30pm & 2–6.30pm; June–Sept 10am–12.30pm & 3–7.30pm; Oct–Jan 10am–12.30pm & 2–5pm, and stroll through the tiny vaulted passages and stairways of the village.

Southeast of the old town and the station is the peninsula of Cap Martin, with a coastal path, giving you access to a wonderful shoreline of white rocks and pines. The path is named after Le Corbusier, who spent several summers in Roquebrune and died by drowning off Cap Martin in 1965.

Moyenne Corniche

This road , N7, dates from the first quarter of the twentieth century, when aristocratic tourism on the Riviera was already causing congestion on the lower, coastal road, the Corniche Inférieure. Of the three, this mid-level Corniche has the potential to be the most hair-raising to drive, as it is cut into the side of the cliffs and includes a few tight curves and switchbacks. Princess Grace of Monaco, died on the Moyenne Corniche, so drive carefully.

However, it is a well-marked, wide road, with a few tunnels to take you through the steepest ridges. Moyenne Corniche is the most photogenic, a real cliff-hanging, car-chase highway. A parapet often blocks the view so take advantage of the parking areas to stop and have a look. There are usually marked parking areas near the best views. One of them gives the birds 'eye views of the beaches and coastal villages like Villefrance sur Mer.

Eleven kilometers from Nice, the medieval village of Eze is a pretty village with antique dealers and artisans. The main attraction is at the summit, a cactus garden, the Jardin Exotique (daily: July & Aug 9am–8pm; Sept–June 9am–noon & 2–5pm).

Farther along, the town of Beausoleil hangs over Monaco like a balcony. From the village, narrow lanes and staircases climb to the summit of Mont des Mules, where there is an orientation table to describe the panorama. Near Beausoleil, the road intersects with the D53 which descends, via switchbacks from the Grande Corniche all the way down to the beach at Monaco.

Monaco is the hotspot for glamour, style and jet setting. The Principality of Monaco has been under the rule of the Grimaldi family since 1297. Prince Rainier, who married Hollywood icon Grace Kelly, had ruled Monaco from 1949 to 2005. Princess Kelly sadly died in 1982 in a car crash in the hills above Monaco. Prince Rainier died in 2005 and the new Sovereign Prince of Monaco is his son Albert II.

Monaco is famous for its Hotel de Paris full of famous and infamous celebrities, and the notorious Monaco Casino, known as the Cathedral of Hell. It's good luck at the casino to rub the knee of the bronze horse at the door bearing Louis XIV. The casino was created in 1848 as Monaco was the poorest state in Europe.

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Film to watch

To Catch A Thief

Cary Grant plays John Robie, reformed jewel thief who was once known as "The Cat," in this suspenseful Alfred Hitchcock classic thriller. Robie is suspected of a new rash of gem thefts in the luxury hotels of the French Riviera, and he must set out to clear himself.

Meeting pampered heiress Frances (Grace Kelly), he sees a chance to bait the mysterious thief with her mother's (Jessie Royce Landis) fabulous jewels. His plan backfires, however, but France, who believes him guilty, proves her love by helping him escape. In a spine-tingling climax, the real criminal is exposed.