6 Ways To Enjoy Menton, One Of The French Riviera’s Most Beautiful, Affordable Towns

Menton, the last French Riviera town before you reach Italy, is one of the Côte d'Azur’s most blissful stops, with an enviable microclimate affording more than 300 days of sunshine a year, lush botanical gardens, ample sandy beaches, a compelling Old Town, and plenty of restaurants and hotels with prices lower than in a number of other Riviera towns. Although it may be lesser known than Cannes and St. Tropez, Menton has deep experience in tourism—it was one of the Riviera’s earliest resorts, attracting English (including Queen Victoria) and Russian aristocrats in the late 1800s, who came, as they did in nearby Sanremo, for the mild temperatures in winter. Menton’s border location also makes it a great jumping off point to explore other parts of the Côte d'Azur’ (Monaco is a half-hour’s drive away), and Italy’s Riviera dei Fiori (Sanremo is less than hour by car). Here’s how to enjoy it.

Take in the exceptional seafront.

With their dazzling waterside settings, it’s not surprising that many cities and towns along the Côte d’Azur have gorgeous seaside promenades, famously the Croisette in Cannes and the Promenade des Anglais in Nice. Menton has a two-fer—a lengthy promenade, and a spacious lower-level esplanade, refurbished in 2019, with many restaurants and beach clubs. A stroll along the palm-tree lined promenade will offer painterly vistas of the Old Town and sweeping coastal views that reach into Italy. There are several public beaches, with easy-to-walk-on sand.

Stroll through the Old Town.

Most hotels are located near the Old Town, which is easy to walk through, although to get to one of Menton’s most notable landmarks, the Basilica of Saint-Michel, it’s an uphill climb. The view from the basilica’s square, where the annual Menton Music Festival is held (this year from July 25 to August 5), takes in the mesmerizing Bay of Sablettes. Travel the Rue Longue, the old Roman road, lined with shuttered, dusty pastel-colored buildings. On level ground there’s the local food market, Marché des Halles, a bustling hive in a colorful late 19th-century building with all sorts of tempting fruit, vegetables, bread, cheese, and other delectables (open from 8 AM to 1 PM each day). In July and August Menton stages a night market with an assortment of artisanal products on the Esplanade Francis Palmero.

The Cocteau factor

Major artists have long been entranced by the South of France, settling in stunning villages to add to their oeuvres—Picasso famously in Mougins and Renoir in Cagnes-sur-Mer. Jean Cocteau, a 20th century multi-hyphenate (filmmaker, novelist, painter, poet) visited Menton in the 1950s and felt drawn to the town—and the town was equally drawn to him. Menton’s mayor at the time asked him to spiff up the town’s Wedding Hall, which the artist did with Surrealist-inspired frescoes, depicting romance in its various guises and the mythological figures, Orpheus and Eurydice.

While he worked on the Salle des Mariages, Menton officials invited him to create a museum in an abandoned fort, once the property of a Monegesque prince, which became a museum dedicated to his works. Debuting in 1966, after Cocteau’s death, the Musée du Bastion has a rotating schedule of exhibits, following the artist’s desire for a non-static display space. Cocteau fans can usually see more of his work by visiting the Jean Cocteau Museum: Séverin Wunderman Collection. (Due to a severe storm in 2018, the museum is closed for ongoing repairs.)

This museum’s grounds have an enormous lizard mosaic, copied from one of Cocteau’s designs that pays homage to the reptile, as he saw it representing the sweet languor of the Mediterranean. (There’s another lizard mosaic in the Bastion.)

Enjoy the “lemon culture.”

You can experience all things related to Menton’s most famous product as you walk through the town, especially if you follow the“Route du Citron” that lets you meet up with artisan producers and visit shops along the way. Sampling foods with lemon in a starring or supporting role is part of the fun of being in Menton, whether it’s the lemon ravioli at Pasta Piemonte; tasty desserts like the lemon tarts, donuts and cakes made in pastry shops, and the varieties of honeys and citrus liqueurs.

The Minton bakery, helmed by star chef Mauro Colagreco, is famous for its artisanal breads made with ancient wheats, but there are lemon goodies to sample, as well, including lemon tarts, lingot aux agrumes and, in season, lemon panettone.

You’ll find shops offering a cornucopia of items with lemon and citrus, too, such as those found on the Rue Saint-Michel, like the Prestige de Menton (#19), known for its fragrances and scented home products, and Au Pays du Citron (#22) with a range of citron-y beauty goods and specialty foods and liqueurs.

The Great Eats

You can experience one of the the planet’s most acclaimed dining spots, Mirazur (named the World’s Best Restaurants in 2019), a Michelin three-star, helmed by Mauro Colagreco, the Argentine celebrity chef. (Tasting menus run into the hundreds of dollars.) Colagreco has other eateries in town at lower price points, like Casa del Fuego, known for its grilled seafood and steaks and a setting with great views of the Old Town and coast. He even has a casual spot, Percora Negra, a lively restaurant/pizzeria on the Esplanade a stone’s through from the harbor.

You have a choice of many affordable dining spots in Menton, where the menus often come with Italian dishes. Palace Paris is a popular restaurant with well-priced dishes on the seafront’s Promenade du Soleil.

Explore a Mediterranean garden.

Botanical gardens thrive in Menton, thanks to its enviable, humid microclimate, benefiting from a location between the sea and protective mountains. The Palais Carnolès Garden with 137 varieties of citrus trees, the largest collection in Europe, is one of France’s Jardins Remarquables. Surrounding the former home of a Monagesque prince—the Palais houses the town’s Museum of Fine Arts (currently closed for refurbishment)—the garden is filled with trees bearing all manner of citrus including oranges, limes and grapefruit. Throughout the grounds you’ll find contemporary sculpture, a nice way to connect the gardens to the Palais’s century-spanning art collection.

Other interesting stops are the lavish Val Rahmeh Gardens, with a global assortment of plants and trees, including rare species, and organized in thematic sections; and the gardens surrounding the Belle Epoque-style Hotel Orangeraie.

Staying in Menton

As with restaurants, hotels offer a wide range of price points, but generally you’ll find a selection of more competitive options in Menton than in many other spots along the Côte d’Azur. Those with deep pockets can indulge themselves at the five-star Maybourne Riviera in nearby Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, a luminous modernist standout with a dazzling infinity pool.

A four-star hotel with good rates is the Hotel Napoleon, located opposite the sea promenade and esplanade where you’ll come across many beach clubs. It is also near the Italian border—you can head to the famous Spiaggetta dei Balzi Rossi in Italy, about a five-minute drive away. A walk to the Old Town takes ten minutes.

Owned by Matthew Likierman, a hotelier from a prominent local family that restored the house and gardens of Menton’s Les Colombières, one of France’s Monuments Historiques, the Napoleon has 44-rooms and suites. In addition to its sea-fronting location, the hotel has a solar-heated swimming pool, open year-round, an increasingly essential amenity in summer as temperatures soar throughout the Mediterranean in July and August.

The good-sized rooms have a colorful Cocteau-inspired decor, with vibrantly toned furniture. Sea-view rooms with ample terraces are wonderful for a morning coffee or aperitif while overlooking Garavan Bay. The Napoleon has a sister hotel, the Victoria, in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin.