Loop from Nice

01 Castle

Castle of Nice

Colline du château de Nice

Climb this 93-metre limestone rock to see the old town, the Promenade des Anglais and the Baie des Anges. The castle that once crowned it, razed on the orders of Louis XIV in 1706, has given way to a park dotted with viewpoints. Every day at noon, a pyrotechnic shot known as the cannon fire rings out above the rooftops.

02 Village

Villefranche-sur-Mer

Take time to walk down to the harbour, whose waters plunge to 95 metres at its mouth, while the town rises in tiers on its slopes. On the quay, the little Chapelle Saint-Pierre bears frescoes by Jean Cocteau. Higher up, the three Corniches cross the commune and unfold their panoramas over the coast.

03 Museum

Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild

On the isthmus of Cap Ferrat, Béatrice Ephrussi de Rothschild had a pink villa built, completed in 1912 and inspired by the palaces of the Italian Renaissance. From the main garden, laid out like the deck of a liner, you can see the sea on both sides. The patio with its pink marble columns opens onto salons fitted with 18th-century panelling.

04 Village

Èze

Climb up to Èze-Village, clinging to a peak 429 metres above the Mediterranean, between Nice and Monaco. Its old medieval houses huddle on the rock, while below, the hamlet of Èze-sur-Mer lines the shore. A path named after Nietzsche links the two across the steep slope.

05 Monument

Tropaeum Alpium

Trophée des Alpes

At the highest point of the Via Julia Augusta, Rome completed this trophy of Augustus in 7 or 6 BC, celebrating his victory over forty-four Alpine peoples. Partly blown up with explosives on Louis XIV's orders in 1705 and restored in the 1930s, it overlooks Monaco. On its west face, read the dedication and the list of the conquered peoples.

06 Village

Roquebrune-Cap-Martin

Look up at the keep that crowns the old village at 225 metres, in a mountain cirque below Mont Agel. Founded in 970 by Conrad I, Count of Ventimiglia, this village of brown rocks later belonged to the Grimaldis for five centuries. Below, Cap Martin juts out into the Mediterranean, between Monaco and Menton.

07 Church

Basilique Saint-Michel-Archange de Menton

In Menton, flights of steps climb from the seafront to the pebble-paved forecourt of this Baroque church consecrated in 1675. Take in its columned façade flanked by two bell towers, including the Campanin, fifty-three metres high. Every August since 1949, this forecourt has served as the stage for a music festival.

08 Village

Sainte-Agnès, Alpes-Maritimes

Sainte-Agnès

Perched above Menton, Sainte-Agnès claims to be the highest of Europe's seaward-facing villages. Drive up the road that climbs the Borrigo valley, then find the narrow medieval lanes huddled beneath the remains of the castle. Below, the sea seems very close, while the mountains already begin behind the rooftops.

09 Church

Sospel Cathedral

Cocathédrale Saint-Michel de Sospel

The Lombard bell tower of Saint-Michel, topped by a pyramidal spire, is the sole survivor of Sospel's Romanesque church. After the plague of 1632, the inhabitants vowed to rebuild it, and the work begun in 1641 produced the largest church in the Alpes-Maritimes. Raise your eyes from the tower to the façade, its pediment embellished in 1762.

10 Village

Saorge

Clinging to the steep slopes above the Roya gorges, Saorge stacks up houses four or five storeys high. Its lanes, almost all stepped and often vaulted, form a medieval maze that has remained intact. Leave the car at one of the two entrances, which no road links, and carry on on foot.

11 Village

Peillon

Peillon clings to a rocky spur ringed by a steep ravine, in the Paillon valley, 13 kilometres from Nice. Here the streets are stairways onto which the houses open, linked to one another by arches spanning the passages. Climb these steps unhurriedly, letting your gaze plunge into the ravine.

12 Museum

Fondation Maeght

Aimé and Marguerite Maeght, art dealers and friends of Miró, Giacometti and Braque, opened this place, designed by the architect Josep Lluís Sert, in 1964. A courtyard holds Giacometti's sculptures, and Miró's labyrinth spreads his own among the pines. Move from the galleries to the terraces and gardens, where the works live in the open air.

13 Village

Saint-Paul-de-Vence

On its rocky spur between the Alps and the Mediterranean, Saint-Paul was for five centuries a stronghold on the border of Provence. Its bastioned ramparts, built between 1543 and 1547 on the orders of François I, still enclose it entirely. Enter by the Porte de Vence, inherited from the medieval walls, then follow the lanes to the cemetery where Chagall lies.

14 Church

Chapelle du Rosaire de Vence

Henri Matisse devoted four years to this chapel for Dominican nuns, built by Auguste Perret and consecrated in 1951, which he considered his masterpiece. Look first for its roof of blue and white tiles, with its wrought-iron cross. Inside, the painter's black drawings on white ceramic answer the green, yellow and blue stained glass.

15 Gorge

Gorges du Loup

At the foot of the hilltop village of Gourdon, the Loup has cut these gorges into the hinterland of Nice. You may see climbers clinging to the walls, as the site ranks among the great climbing venues, with several routes graded 9a. The Déversé sector, steeply overhanging, alone lines up fifty routes above 8a.

16 Village

Gourdon, Alpes-Maritimes

Gourdon

Perched at 760 metres on a dizzying peak, Gourdon overlooks the Gorges du Loup and well deserves its nickname of eagle's nest. Walk along its northern ramparts and its medieval castle, following the lanes to the edge of the drop. From this viewpoint, the gaze sweeps over the valley to the coast, where the shoreline fades into the light.

17 Experiences

Fragonard

Parfumerie Fragonard

Take the guided tour of the historic factory, set up in 1926 in a works built in 1841, one of the oldest in Grasse. Its founder, Eugène Fuchs, named it after the painter Jean-Honoré Fragonard, son of a glover-perfumer. Along the way, copper stills and bottles are on display.

18 Coast

Cap Roux

At the heart of the Esterel, this cape owes its name to the red of its volcanic rocks, cut into calanques below the Pic du Cap Roux. Walk from the car park on the Trayas road to the viewpoints of the Pointe de l'Observatoire, the point itself remaining closed to the public. Offshore, fields of amphorae mark Roman wrecks.

19 Museum

Musée Picasso

Take time to reach the terrace of the Château Grimaldi, where sculptures by Miró and Germaine Richier face the sea. In 1946, Picasso set up his studio in a wing of the old residence and painted La Joie de vivre there. In gratitude, he left works behind, and the museum took his name in 1966.