French Riviera

The French Riviera — Côte d'Azur in French — stretches roughly 150 km from the Italian border to Saint-Tropez. Mediterranean water warms from 15°C in March to 25°C in August, with the calmest swimming in late June and early September when the crowds thin. Expect pebble coves in Nice and Villefranche, golden sand around Cannes and Antibes, and protected calanques east of Menton.