Alpes-Maritimes: what to see and do

Les Gorges du Cians

The Cians is a river that rises at the foot of Mont Mounier (alt. 2,817 m) on the slopes of Pierrous.

Cascade de Courmes

A magnificent little village on the left bank of the Loup, Courmes clings to the mountainside, at 620 metres' altitude, in the hollow of the Pic des Courmettes.

Cascade de Vens

Visible from the Col de la Bonette-Restefond road, the Vens waterfall gushes a few kilometres from Saint-Étienne-de-Tinée, in the Mercantour.

Eze

Located just after Nice, going towards Menton, Èze stretches along the sea from Cap Roux to the Pointe de Cabuel. Perched like an eagle's nest at the top of an imposing and superb cliff, you will see the village and its pale ochre church from afar.

Gorges de Saorge

The Saorge gorges are carved by the Roya downstream of the hilltop village of Saorge, in the upper Roya valley.

Gorges de la Vésubie

It is here, from the charming hamlet of Cros d'Utelle, that the route starts, where you will admire the skill of the Ancients while treading a wide path whose paving is still intact in places.

La Cascade du Saut du Loup

The Saut du Loup is a waterfall nestled in the heart of the Loup gorges, in the Alpes-Maritimes, between the villages of Gourdon and Pont-du-Loup.

La Clue de la Cerise

The Clue de la Cerise lies in the Estéron valley, cradled in a limestone setting, and will carry you along with the water through superb narrow passages that delight young and old.

Lacs de Vens

A string of five glacial lakes between 2,286 and 2,327 metres' altitude in the Mercantour, overlooked by the Vens refuge, in the commune of Saint-Étienne-de-Tinée.

Le Riou de la Bollène (Marmites)

The Bollène valley is in the Vésubie valley. The Bollène giant's kettles are well known to canyoning enthusiasts. There is a 15 m slide. The emerald-coloured water invites a swim.

Les Gorges de Daluis

The red gorges: the name Daluis comes from the name of a commune on the right bank of the Haut-Var, downstream of the magnificent gorges of red Permian schists that make this tourist circuit world-famous. Of the same nature as the Cians gorges, the Daluis gorges are...

Les Grandes marmites

The place called "Pont du Loup", on the road linking Grasse to Tourrettes-sur-Loup, marks the entrance to this defile. From there you must look up to the sky to see the village of Gourdon, perched above the cliffs.

Palais princier de Monaco

Official residence of the princes of Monaco since 1297, this palace perched on the Rock hosts the changing of the guard every noon, one of the most-watched attractions in the Principality.

Saint-Paul-de-Vence

A fortified village become a high place of modern art, Saint-Paul-de-Vence has drawn artists and galleries for a century into its cobbled lanes perched above the Baie des Anges.

Saorge

Saorge, at 550 m altitude, impressively overlooks the Roya valley, with a concentration of houses huddled against each other, several storeys high, and tiered on several levels.

Alpha, Parc Animalier

Auron

Beuil les Launes

Cascade de Vegay

Château de Crémat

Château de Gourdon

Château de Nice

The Castle Hill, an obligatory walk for anyone wishing to discover the town in its setting of hills or enjoy its summer coolness, became this island of greenery only during the nineteenth century.

Château de Roquebrune-Cap-Martin

The castle once encompassed the whole village; in the fifteenth century, the village broke away and the keep alone took the name château.

Château de Vaugrenier

Château de Villeneuve-Loubet

Château de la Napoule

Château-musée Grimaldi de Cagnes-sur-Mer

Citadelle Saint-Elme

Coaraze

Amid olive trees, the cobbled lanes of Coaraze lead to the thirteenth-century church, adorned in the seventeenth century, under Italian Baroque influence, with 118 cherubs in a polychrome setting.

Eglise Orthodoxe de St-Nicolas de Nice

Gourdon

In the twelfth century, Gourdon was a military site providing protection against frequent Saracen raids.

Grotte de Baume Obscure

The Baume Obscure cave sinks 60 metres underground. Erosion from flowing water has sculpted magnificent stalactites and stalagmites and other forms coloured red due to the presence of iron oxide in the rock.

Grotte de l'Observatoire

Grotte des Audides

Grottes de St Cézaire

Isola 2000

Jardin botanique exotique de Menton

Jardin exotique de Monaco

An Eden for succulent plants, this garden laid out on the side of rock walls offers an exceptional panoramic view over the Principality of Monaco and the French and Italian Rivieras.

La Clue de Riolan

La grotte du Lazaret

La vallée des Merveilles et de Fontanalba

In the heart of the Mercantour National Park and at the foot of the "sacred mountain" of Bégo (2,872 m), the Vallée des Merveilles and that of Fontanalba shelter the largest ensemble of protohistoric rock engravings in the world (several tens of thousands recorded) in a landscape shaped by the…

Lac de Trécolpas

Lucéram

Musée International de la Parfumerie

Inaugurated in 1989 in Grasse, the "cradle of traditional perfumery", the International Perfume Museum traces, through exceptional collections, the history of perfumes, but also of soaps, make-up and cosmetics, over four thousand years.

Musée Marc Chagall

Musée Matisse de Nice

Musée Picasso (Antibes)

Founded on the old acropolis of the Greek town of Antipolis, a Roman castrum and residence of bishops in the Middle Ages, the château Grimaldi has been inhabited since 1385 by the Monegasque family that lent it its name.

Musée Picasso d'Antibes