The French Riviera ends at Menton. Beyond it, the Italian border and a different coast with different rhythms. Menton has always sat slightly apart from the glamour circuit, which is precisely what makes it interesting.
This is a town of lemons. The Menton lemon, grown in terraced gardens above the city, is considered one of the finest in the world, with a sweetness and complexity that few other varieties can match. Every February, the Fete du Citron transforms the seafront into enormous sculptures built entirely from citrus fruit. Outside festival season, the lemon groves remain and the flavour turns up in everything from tarts to aperitifs.
Menton’s old town climbs steeply from the harbour in a cascade of pastel facades: orange, ochre, and pale yellow, looking across the Bay of Garavan toward Italy. At the top, the church of Saint-Michel, one of the finest Baroque buildings on the Riviera, overlooks a square where chamber music concerts are held in summer with the sea as backdrop.
The artist and filmmaker Jean Cocteau had a long relationship with Menton. He decorated the wedding room of the town hall himself, creating an elaborate mural cycle in the line-work style of his later career. The Musee Jean Cocteau holds the most comprehensive collection of his work anywhere and repays serious time. It is one of the most undervisited significant museums on the coast.
The microclimate of Menton, sheltered by the Alps and receiving more sun than anywhere else on the French coast, allows plants to grow here that have no business being in Europe. The Jardin Serre de la Madone, created by the American horticulturalist Lawrence Johnston in the early twentieth century, contains species from every temperate zone on earth. Restored by the city over several decades, it is now one of the most singular gardens in France.
By private car from Nice, the drive to Menton takes just over an hour, passing Villefranche, Eze, Beaulieu, and Monaco. A day that begins in Nice and ends in Menton is one of the classic eastern Riviera routes. Contact us to arrange it.