Chic seashores

City of sails

Antibes

A strategic port for Greeks, Napoleon and the jet set, today the marina is a flutter of white sails and elegant classic yachts. The true charm of the city is in the cobbled streets and Provençal market. Château Grimaldi exhibits Picasso ceramics which he created here, another museum of Napoleonic memorabilia is largely the collection of André Sella, founder of Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc.

City of victory

Nice

The capital of the French Riviera, originally named by the Greeks Nikaia, ‘City of Victory’. Stroll along the palm lined Promenade des Anglais, it was the English upper class who began the city’s Belle Epoque. Visit the daily flower market in Cours Saleya which transforms in summer evenings to a craft market, and the nearby Matisse and Chagall museums.

Cannes

Stroll along La Croisette, one of the most stylish boulevards on the Côte d'Azur, purring with the glamour of the annual Cannes Film Festival. Climb above it all to the top of the Old Town, look out from the Tour de Suquet at the boats bouncing on the glittering sea, and think of a more peaceful past when fishing not fashion fascinated Les Cannois.

City of wealth

Monaco

Zip over for the Grand Prix in May or the casinos any time of year. Renowned as a playground of the rich, it also has a marvellous clifftop Oceanographic Museum with fabulous sea views, and an Exotic Garden fabulously stocked after 75 years of planting.