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The Best Beaches
La Côte Vermeille (Languedoc-Roussillon): In contrast to the eastern Riviera's pebbly beaches, the Côte Vermeille is filled with sand stretching toward Spain's Costa Brava. The best place for fun in the sun is the 11km (7-mile) beach between the resorts of Leucate-Plage and Le Barcarès in the Pyrénées-Orientales district near Perpignan. The "Vermilion Coast" takes its name from the red-clay soil studded with ubiquitous olive groves. Henri Matisse was so taken with the light on this coast that he chose to make it a subject for many of his paintings.
Ile de Porquerolles (Provence): This island lies 15 minutes by ferry from the Giens peninsula east of Toulon. One of the Iles d'Hyères, Porquerolles is only 8.1km (5 miles) long and some 2.4km (1 1?2 miles) across and enjoys national park status. Its beaches, along the northern coast facing the mainland, get 275 days of sunshine annually. Several white-sand beaches stretch their way around the island; the best are Plage d'Argent, Plage de la Courtade, and Plage de Notre-Dame.
Plage de Tahiti (St-Tropez, Western Riviera): And God created woman and man and all the other critters found on this sizzling sandy beach outside St-Tropez. Tahiti is France's most infamous beach, mainly because of all the topless or nude bathing going on. Ever since the days of Brigitte Bardot, this beach has been a movie star favorite. It's very cruisy and animated, with a French nonchalance about nudity. If you bother to wear a bikini, it should be only the most daring.
Plage Port Grimaud (St-Tropez, Western Riviera): This long golden-sand beach is set against the backdrop of the urban architect François Spoerry's cité lacustre, facing St-Tropez. Spoerry created this 98-hectare (247-acre) marine village inspired by an ancient fishing village. The world has since flocked to Port Grimaud and its beach; homeowner Joan Collins comes here to hide from the paparazzi. Some of the Riviera's most expensive yachts are tied up in the harbor. This beach isn't as decadent as those at St-Trop, but it does pick up the "overflow" on the see-and-be-seen circuit.
Cannes (Western Riviera): From the Palais des Festivals and west to Mandelieu, the beach at Cannes has real sand, not pebbles as in Nice. This beach resort offers a movable feast-for-the-eyes of high-fashion swimsuits. Ever since the 1920s, the word on the beach here has been: "Menton's dowdy. Monte's brass. Nice is rowdy. Cannes is class!" Along the fabled promenade, La Croisette, the white sands are littered with sun beds and parasols rented at the beach concessions. The beach is actually divided into 32 sections, our favorites being Plages Gazagnaire, Le Zénith, and Waikiki. Some of the beaches are privately run, but the best public beach is in front of the Palais des Festivals.
Monte-Carlo Beach (at the Monaco border, Eastern Riviera): This beach, once frequented by Princess Grace, is actually on French soil. Of all the Riviera's beaches, this is the most fashionable, even though its sands are imported. The property adjoins the ultrachic Monte-Carlo Beach Hotel, 22 av. Princesse-Grace (tel. 04-93-28-66-66). The great months to be here are July and August, when you never know who's likely to be sharing the sands with you -- perhaps Daniel Craig or Claudia Schiffer.
Note: This information was accurate when it was published, but can change without
notice. Please be sure to confirm all rates and details directly with the companies in question before
planning your trip.
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