My husband and I traveled around France with some friends last month and had the time of our lives. I shared our favorite spots in Paris a few weeks ago and am so excited to talk all things French Riviera today. We spent 7 days exploring the coast and taking in every cute city and quaint village we could fit into our days. Our home-base was Nice. We wanted to avoid lugging our luggage (*pun intended*) around every few days, but we also wanted to see as many of the coastal towns as we could. So we found a hotel in Nice, the largest city in the French Riviera, and took day trips to all of the other spots we wanted to see. This was great for our first visit because we were able to see a little bit of everything and decide what we liked the best.

Today, I’m going to share what we loved about each spot we visited and a few places we didn’t quite make it to but saw from the water. One thing that we were pleasantly surprised by was the rich history of the coast. It seems kind of obvious in hindsight (hello, it’s France).

Nice

Like I said before, this is where we stayed and spent quite a bit of time especially early mornings and late nights. This city is famous for The Cours Saleya where the flower and farmers markets take place and The Promenade des Anglais which is an open promenade that runs along the coast. We really loved sitting outside at cafes with a bottle of wine or limoncello at the end of the night. Hotel Negresco is a must see. The inside is beautiful and the restaurant has a carousel theme.

Monte Carlo

Monaco is everything you would imagine – grand, historic, beautiful, and luxurious. Under 40,000 people live in the 499 acre city-state, this small destination is not lacking in things to do. While Monte Carlo is known for its casino (which is a touch underwhelming), we enjoyed the food, shopping, and views so much more. We had a luxurious lunch at Le Louis XV that could have sustained us for the remainder of the trip. It is definitely on my list of favorite meals ever but was also quite a splurge. We also spent some time hanging around the Yacht Club de Monte Carlo. It was really fun meeting some of the crew for the mega yachts. It was definitely a different world.

Saint Tropez

Probably my favorite spot on the coast, we only got to spend about half of a day in this colorful beach town. We took the ferry from Nice which took about 3 hours, but it was fun and beautiful to see all of the coastal towns from the water. Saint Tropez was as luxurious as Monte Carlo but at about half the speed. It was really crowded because some cruise ships had docked the day we were there. I was super impressed with the shopping as we passed boutique after boutique full of unique and high-quality finds.

Other places I loved but know less about –

Saint Jean Cap Ferrat – We’re talking 600 million dollar homes.

Cannes – Obviously home of the famous film festival, this coastal town is home to the arts and tech industries.

Antibes – Another spot with mega yachts, we only saw it from the water because the day we rented a boat it came with hurricane force winds (okay, not that strong but you get the point). From the water, it seemed similar to Saint Tropez.

What are your favorite places to visit? I L-O-V-E to travel and am always interested in adding to my must-see destinations.