I’m very lucky that I get to travel to the French Riviera more than most people – my boyfriend, Max, grew up there and his parents still live there. It is one of my favourite places to travel to in the world; there is so much to do and see. However, if I had to name a favourite place in the area it would have to be Antibes.
Antibes is pretty well-known for it’s port, which harbours the multi-million pound yachts of the rich and famous. It is also home to the famous Hotel de Cap Eden Roc. However, you definitely don’t have to be rich or famous to visit this lovely little town and there is a lot more to it than just being a ‘millionaires playground’.
The Beach
I have to confess, I have never actually sat on any of Antibes’ beaches. However, I can confirm that they are still really nice to look at from afar. The town still has old stone walls, from what I would assume is medieval days, which you can climb up to get a view over the sea. You can almost see all the way to Monaco from the walls (and all the other towns in between!).
Antibes was one of the first places Max took me to when I visited for the first time, so it does have quite a special place in my heart. I actually took a picture, rather similar to this one, over 3 years ago. You can actually see that picture in this very, very old blogpost that I did years ago about Antibes. It feels like a tradition now for us to return here in the summer and walk along the walls, looking out at the sea.
There are some very pretty houses (with those classic Provençal shutters) along where the wall is too. Most of them are absolutely tiny little things – I’d love to see inside one of them.
But after walking around the walls, we headed back into the town to see if we could find some pretty little side streets…
Side Streets with Shutters
No matter how many times I visit Antibes, I never get tired of wandering around all the narrow little streets and looking at all the different coloured houses. It is actually very quiet, despite being known as a tourist destination – I suppose most people flock to the beaches!
We found this one little street that was covered with flowers and foliage – it was a bit further away from the main town and we stumbled upon it by accident. Every house had a different colour of shutter – I tried to decide what colour I’d want on my Provence dream house (I settled upon mint green).
We strolled along, glad of the shade from all the pretty houses to keep us cool. The French Riviera in August is hot – when we arrived it hadn’t rained for 3 months. Anything that can cool you down is essential! Speaking of which – when we made our way back to the town, we stopped by our favourite ice cream place that we go to every year and ate our tubs of pistachio (me) and lemon sorbet (Max) by the Picasso museum.
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If you are ever in the French Riveria, I really recommend visiting Antibes. It is just so beautiful and rather calm in comparison to some of the other touristy places in the area.
I’m actually writing a big post all about how to plan a trip to the French Riveria, coming later this week. I’m going to talk about where to go, where to avoid, where to stay, what to eat and all my other tips for planning a trip here. It’s a beautiful place, but it definitely isn’t cheap or necessarily easy to get around the different places, so I’m hoping that this post can help any of you planning a trip there soon!