The Riviera rewards restraint. Three days is enough for one city, two perched villages and a cape — provided you do not try to drive the whole coast in an afternoon. Base yourself in Nice, leave the car for the corniches, and take the rest on foot.
I. Day one — Nice
Spend the morning in the old town and the Cours Saleya market, the afternoon up at Cimiez with the Matisse museum and the Roman ruins. Walk the Promenade des Anglais at the blue hour, when the pebble beach goes quiet and the bay turns the colour the city is named for.
“The Riviera is best taken in small mouthfuls — one town, one terrace, one sea at a time.”
II. Days two and three — the villages and the cape
Take the Moyenne Corniche to Èze, then inland to Saint-Paul-de-Vence and the Fondation Maeght. Give the last day to Cap Ferrat and the Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild, or push east to Menton and the Italian border for lunch over the bay.
