Part 4

Day 10 - City break Nice

Time of the year: September

Day 11 - Road trip around Nice

City Breaks in Biot - Grasse -  Mougins - Antibes

Time of the year: September

Biot is one of those Côte d’Azur villages that seems to have quietly chosen a different path from its more famous neighbours. Perched on a hill between Antibes and the hills of the hinterland, its medieval heart is a maze of narrow lanes, vaulted passages, stone houses and little squares, with the remains of the old fortified village still shaping the way you wander through it.

Biot's history stretches back much further than its polished galleries suggest: the area was inhabited in antiquity, while the medieval settlement grew around the Knights Templar and later the Order of Malta, whose presence helped shape the village's fortunes. Walk through the Porte des Tines or along the Rue Saint-Sébastien and you can still feel that defensive, almost secretive character—the kind of place where every staircase seems to lead somewhere older than expected.

Then there is glass, the craft that has become inseparable from Biot's identity. The village's glassmaking tradition took off in the 1950s, when Éloi Monod established a workshop and developed the distinctive verre bullé—thick, colourful glass filled with tiny bubbles that look almost frozen inside the material. What began as an artistic revival turned Biot into one of the most recognised glassmaking centres on the French Riviera.

For everyday wandering, Biot is particularly rewarding because it doesn't demand a checklist. Start around the old village, follow the Rue Saint-Sébastien, climb through the arches and see what catches your eye. Stop for coffee in a little square, browse a gallery, buy something made locally, then continue until the village suddenly opens onto a view of the surrounding hills and, beyond them, the Mediterranean.

The Place des Arcades is a good place to pause and watch village life pass by, while the surrounding streets are full of small details—old wells, carved stone, fountains, colourful shutters and the occasional glimpse into a hidden courtyard. And because Biot sits slightly inland, it has a different atmosphere from the glamorous seaside towns: less yacht-club Riviera, more village where someone might still know the person running the bakery.

The best way to experience Biot, though, is probably to let yourself become distracted. Come for the famous glass and end up spending an hour looking at ceramics. Go looking for the medieval village and discover a tiny gallery. Plan to stay for lunch and suddenly it's late afternoon. Biot doesn't have the grand theatricality of Èze or the celebrity history of Saint-Paul-de-Vence—and that's precisely the point.

Grasse is the kind of place where you can smell its history before you really understand it. Set in the hills north of Cannes, the town has been the perfume capital of the world for centuries, but its story began long before the fragrance bottles. Medieval Grasse grew around a fortified hilltop settlement, and its old centre is still a wonderfully tangled collection of steep lanes, ochre façades, shaded passages and little squares.

The Cathédrale Notre-Dame-du-Puy sits at the heart of the historic town, while old fountains and stone houses hint at a time when Grasse was a much smaller, more self-contained Provençal town. Today, the best way to explore it is simply to walk uphill and downhill without worrying too much about where you are going—Grasse is full of little corners that reveal themselves as you wander.

But of course, Grasse means perfume. The tradition goes back to the 16th century, when the town was already producing leather goods; local perfumers began using fragrant plants to mask the smell of tanned leather, and the industry gradually grew into something much bigger. The surrounding climate proved perfect for growing jasmine, rose, lavender, orange blossom and other aromatic plants, creating the raw materials for an entire fragrance industry. 

The countryside around Grasse is just as important as the perfume itself. The town sits between the Mediterranean and the foothills of the Pre-Alps, so within a short drive you can move from palm trees and warm Provençal streets into surprisingly wild mountain landscapes. Flower fields and gardens surround the town, while villages such as Cabris, Gourdon and Saint-Cézaire-sur-Siagne are scattered through the hills nearby. 

For a slower afternoon, wander through the Jardin de la Princesse Pauline or explore the narrow streets of the old town before stopping somewhere for a coffee, an ice cream or a plate of local food. Grasse is also a good reminder that the Côte d’Azur isn't only about the sea—the further uphill you go, the more the landscape begins to feel Alpine. 

And perhaps that is what makes Grasse so enjoyable: it has a very specific identity without feeling like a theme park built around it. Yes, there are perfume shops everywhere, and yes, you will probably leave smelling considerably better than when you arrived, but between them you find a genuine Provençal town with markets, bakeries, cafés, churches, gardens and ordinary daily life. Come for the perfume, but give yourself time to simply get lost in Grasse.

Third stop - Mougins is a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, Southeastern France. It is located on the heights of Cannes and is surrounded by forests, most notably the Valmasque forest.[3] In the town there are pines, olives and cypress trees. Pablo Picasso spent the last 12 years of his life living in Mougins (1961–1973), where he died and lived in a 'mas' (farmhouse) at Notre-Dame-de-Vie.

Fourth stop - Antibes It is located on the French Riviera between Cannes and Nice; its cape, the Cap d'Antibes, along with Cap Ferrat to the northeast, is one of the best known landforms in the area. There are 48 beaches along the 25 km (16 miles) of coastline that surround Antibes and Juan les Pins.