The Italian Riviera is, along with the French, an extensive coastline with great pleasures abound. Here is a varied scenery with beautiful bays adorned with architectural gems of the villas and summer residences built – before the world turned apart – by wealthy northern Europeans (many British) who escaped here with their wives, children and nannies to enjoy summer in the Mediterranean. To further explore the Provence area see: https://www.beyond.fr/
The coast offers numerous bars and restaurants and, of course, beaches, which in most places consists of pebbles. Furthermore, you can almost smell the atmosphere of the many more or less together-build towns along the coast, where on the Italian side in particular Bordighera is highlighted for its charm.
In France Monaco and Nice are of course musts, and especially on the French side around Nice you’ll find a number of museums which are obligatory if you’re interested in art, history or natural science:
Fondation Maeght at Saint-Paul de Vence
Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MAMAC)
Villa & Jardins Ephrussi de Rothschild at Cap Ferrat
Musée océanographique de Monaco
Also Nice has a beautiful opera well worth a visit: https://www.opera-nice.org/en/the-theater/the-place. Use this map to find your way around Nice.
If you are into shopping, the entire stretch from San Remo in the east to Cannes in the west offers an enormous range of possibilities, in addition to which you’ll find a myriad of street markets.
Golf can be played in San Remo http://www.golfsanremo.com/en but on the French side you have quite a few more golf courses.
Besides the inevitable beach life, kids should to be taken to visit Marineland in Antibes: Many unforgettable moments are waiting here (also for adults!).
Over the past 5-10 years the old railway tracks running along the coast literally by the waterfront have been tunnelled into the mountains. This way large stretches of the old tracks have been converted into very gentle cycling paths from Vallecrosia in the west through Bordighera to Imperia in the east: A very worthwhile trip with some absolutely stunning views onto the Mediterranean – bicycles can be rented at Ospedaletti. Read more: Cycling along the Riviera
Hanbury Gardens are located at Mortola halfway between Menton and Ventimiglia (after Latte bear right and take the upper road towards Menton). This is a definite must-go if you have just the slightest interest in gardening, rare plants and stunning views on the Mediterranean all wrapped in a fascinating story about an English businessman Sir Thomas Hanbury, who acquired the property in 1867 and build a veritable botanic garden during the following decades.
For most Italians San Remo is the pearl on the Italian Riviera – renowned for its cultural life and shopping in Via Giacomo Matteotti with its numerous upscale fashion boutiques or join the folklore on the Saturday open market. San Remo hosts the famous song festival in February every year attracting large crowds of performers with fans and followers plus a strong presense of the Italian jet-sets. Read more in the San Remo guide.
