Côte d'Azur · France
The Riviera between Nice and Saint-Tropez. The Lérins islands at anchor, the Alps behind.
01
The Riviera between Nice and Saint-Tropez, with the Maritime Alps as the backdrop. La Croisette is the famous mile; the old town (Le Suquet) climbs the hill behind it and is the better walk. The morning market at Marché Forville for the produce, fish, and Provençal cheese. The film festival happens in May; avoid those two weeks.
02
La Palme d'Or (two Michelin stars, Hôtel Martinez) for the special evening. Sea Sens above the train station for the Pacific-rim cooking with the bay view. Le Maschou in Le Suquet for the lamb on the open fire and the cellar. Aïoli on Fridays at any old-town bistrot — the Provençal ritual.
03
A fishing village until Lord Brougham, the British Lord Chancellor, was stranded here by a cholera quarantine in 1834 and built a villa. The British turned the coast into a winter resort. The Lérins monks have been making wine on Saint-Honorat since 410 AD — continuously. The festival was founded in 1939 (cancelled until 1946) as the anti-fascist alternative to Venice.
04
The public beaches between the Carlton and the Hôtel de Ville are the free ones; the private clubs in front of the hotels are the paid alternative. By boat: Îles de Lérins (3nm) — Sainte-Marguerite held the Man in the Iron Mask, Saint-Honorat has the working monastery; Saint-Tropez (25nm) and the Pampelonne beach; Porquerolles (40nm) for the national-park island.
05
Drive up to Mougins for lunch (Picasso's last home); to Grasse for the perfume houses; to Saint-Paul-de-Vence for the Fondation Maeght (the Miró ceramics, the Calder mobiles, the best small modern-art museum in France). The corniche coast roads — Basse, Moyenne, Grande — get progressively more spectacular and more dangerous.
Nearby
Islands · Abbey · Anchorage
Two islands 3nm off Cannes. Sainte-Marguerite held the Man in the Iron Mask. Saint-Honorat has a Cistercian monastery operating continuously since 410 AD, and makes wine.
Anchor off Sainte-Marguerite in Rade de Cannes — sandy bottom, well-protected. The monks sell wine from a hatch in the abbey wall.
Town · Anchorage · Art
Below the superyachts, Saint-Tropez is still a Provençal fishing village — the morning market, the Annonciade museum, the pétanque under the plane trees.
Anchor in the outer bay (Pampelonne beach side) and take the dinghy in. The Annonciade has the best Pointillist collection outside Paris.
Island · National park
The largest of the Îles d'Hyères. Pine forests, white sand beaches, and no cars beyond the village trucks.
Anchor at Plage Notre Dame (east side) — the finest beach on the island. The harbour village has one good restaurant.
Wind & seasons
The Mistral is the defining wind — cold, dry, from the NW. In summer it runs 15–25 knots predictably for 3-day spells, then stops. July and August are peak; June has the best combination of weather and emptier anchorages.
