A series of picture-book gulfs scoops into the western part of the French Mediterranean coastline, less famous and exotic than its other half to the east. Between the watercolour port of St-Tropez and the rugged red rock of the Estérel, this captivating stretch of the Riviera has drawn sun lovers and socialites since the days of the Grand Tour.

 

Blue-green waters lap at the foot of thriving resort towns -- St-Tropez, Fréjus, and St-Raphaël. In winter these port towns are low-key, but in high summer masses flood the beaches, feast on the fish, fill up the marinas, luxuriate in the spa treatments, and crowd the hotels and cafés.
 

The eastern slice of the Côte d'Azur is pampered by a nearly tropical climate that sets it apart from the rest of France's southern coast. This region is the heart and soul of the Côte d'Azur.

Its waterfront resorts -- Cannes, Antibes, and Menton -- draw energy from the thriving city of Nice, while jutting tropical peninsulas -- Cap Ferrat, Cap Martin -- frame the tiny principality of Monaco. It is here that the real glamour begins: the dreamland of azure waters and indigo sky; white villas with balustrades edging the blue horizon; evening air perfumed with jasmine and mimosa; palm trees and parasol pines silhouetted against sunsets of apricot and gold.

 

There has always been a rush to this prime slice of the Côte d'Azur, starting with the ancient Greeks who sailed eastward from Marseille to market their goods to the indigenes. From the 18th-century English aristocrats, to the 19th-century Russian nobles, to the 20th-century American tycoons, the coast beckoned like a dreamscape, a blank slate for their whims.

 

They all have left their mark on the coast: Moroccan palaces in Menton, a neo-Greek villa in Beaulieu, the promenade des Anglaises in Nice planted with tropical greenery introduced to suit English fancies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just behind the coast, medieval villages mushroom out of the nearby hills, offering refugees from the coastal crowds a token taste of old Provence. They are a virtual subculture, these villages perchés (perched villages) and historic towns, which live in touristic symbiosis with the coast.

 

Mougins, where Picasso spent his last years, and Grasse, with its perfume factories, have transformed themselves to fulfill visitors' dreams of backcountry villages, and galleries, souvenir shops, and snack stands crowd the cobblestones of old St-Paul, Vence. Fayence, a definitive 18th-century Provençal town, now lives as much off its souvenirs as its spectacular views.

 

If you have a car and the time to explore, you can plunge even deeper into the backcountry, where the harsh and beautiful countryside is lightly peppered with little hill villages that are almost boutique-free.

If you press on, you'll be rewarded with one of France's most spectacular natural wonders: the Gorges du Verdon, a Grand Canyon-style chasm roaring with milky-green water and edged by one of Europe's most hair-raising drives.