French Riviera or Italian Riviera? Compare Nice, Antibes and Monaco with Portofino and the Cinque Terre: style, beaches, food, access and combining both.
Choose the French Riviera if you want a real city as your base, art museums, the widest choice of hotels from boutique to palace, and day trips by train in every direction from Nice. Choose the Italian Riviera if you want small harbor towns on steep hillsides, Ligurian food and walks between villages above the sea, at a slower pace. The two coasts touch at the border, and Nice to Genoa takes about 3 hours 45 minutes by train with one change, so with ten days or more we often combine them.
We design our French Riviera trips from our office in Nice, and we send travelers on to Liguria every season. Here is how the two coasts compare on what actually decides a trip.
| French Riviera (Côte d'Azur) | Italian Riviera (Liguria) | |
|---|---|---|
| Where | From Menton at the Italian border west to Cannes and Saint-Tropez | An arc from Ventimiglia to La Spezia, with Genoa in the middle |
| Character | Belle Époque towns, a big city, glamour in Monaco and Cannes | Fishing villages, pastel houses, terraced hillsides |
| Signature places | Nice, Antibes, Èze, Monaco, Cap Ferrat, Saint-Paul-de-Vence | Portofino, Santa Margherita Ligure, Camogli, the Cinque Terre |
| Beaches | Pebbles in Nice, sand around Cannes, Juan-les-Pins and Saint-Tropez | Mostly rented beach clubs, small coves, sand in a few places such as Monterosso |
| Food | Socca, pissaladière, salade niçoise, Provence rosé | Pesto, focaccia, farinata, anchovies, seafood |
| Culture | Matisse, Chagall and Picasso museums, Fondation Maeght | Genoa's palaces, village churches, the landscape itself |
| From North America | Nice has nonstop flights from New York | No transatlantic flights to Genoa; fly to Nice or Milan |
| Hotels | Wide range, including several palaces | A few famous grand hotels; mostly small hotels and guesthouses |
| Best for | First visits, art, couples, families, reduced mobility | Walkers, food lovers, slow travel, a second visit |
| Nights we suggest | 4 to 6 | 3 to 5 |
Nice is the reason the French side works so well. It is a city of about 350,000 people with an old town, the Cours Saleya market, the Matisse and Chagall museums and the Promenade des Anglais, and the coastal railway fans out from it. Monaco is 22 to 24 minutes away by regional train, Antibes and Villefranche-sur-Mer even closer, and a driver opens up the perched villages: Èze, Saint-Paul-de-Vence, and Grasse for perfume. Our guide to day trips from Nice orders them by distance and by what each day is for.
West of Cannes, the coast changes: Saint-Tropez is not on the railway, and we reach it by road or by boat. That is why our French Riviera in 7 Days splits the week between the Gulf of Saint-Tropez and Nice, with a private yacht day to Porquerolles in between.
The hotel range is the widest on either coast, from small boutique hotels in Nice's old town to grand addresses such as the Hôtel du Cap-Eden-Roc in Antibes or the Hôtel de Paris in Monte-Carlo. Our guide on where to stay on the French Riviera compares the bases town by town.
Liguria is a narrow strip between the mountains and the sea, and that shapes everything: the towns are small, built up the slopes, and linked by a railway that runs largely through tunnels. Genoa divides it into two halves. West, the Riviera di Ponente has the longer sandy beaches, around Alassio, and Sanremo. East, the Riviera di Levante has the places most travelers come for:
The hotels are smaller. A few grand hotels are famous, such as the Splendido above Portofino or the Grand Hotel Miramare in Santa Margherita, but most of the coast is family-run hotels, guesthouses and apartments, and the Cinque Terre villages have very few hotels with elevators. For a comfortable stay, we base travelers in Santa Margherita, Camogli, Levanto or Portovenere and reach the Cinque Terre by train or by private boat, early in the day.
Neither Riviera is a long sandy-beach coast in the Caribbean sense.
If a beach day is central to your trip, the French Riviera west of Nice is the easier choice. If swimming from a boat or a rock platform appeals to you, Liguria is better.
The two coasts share more than a border. Nice's socca and Liguria's farinata are the same chickpea flatbread under two names, and both kitchens rely on olive oil, anchovies and vegetables. The differences:
Flights. Nice Côte d'Azur airport has nonstop flights from New York and seasonal routes from other North American cities. Genoa has no transatlantic flights, so for the Italian side most travelers fly into Milan or Nice. From Paris, the TGV reaches Nice in about 5 hours 40 minutes.
On the French side, the coastal TER train links Cannes, Antibes, Nice, Villefranche, Monaco and Menton several times an hour. A driver is the better choice for the perched villages and Saint-Tropez.
On the Italian side, the train is the best way along the coast, and often the only sensible one: the roads to Portofino are narrow with very little parking, and the Cinque Terre villages are largely closed to non-resident cars. Boats link Santa Margherita, Portofino, the Cinque Terre and Portovenere in the warmer months.
The two coasts make a natural ten-day trip, and the train ride between them follows the sea most of the way.
Two practical points. With several suitcases, the change at Ventimiglia is the hard part, so we often book a private driver from Nice to Santa Margherita instead, about three hours by motorway. And in 2026, works on the Nice to Ventimiglia line stop trains between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. from Sunday to Thursday until December 11, with replacement buses, so we never plan an evening crossing on those nights.
The difference is large. Nice is one of the more manageable coastal cities in Europe: the Promenade des Anglais is long and flat, the Cours Saleya and much of the old town are flat, and some public beaches have beach wheelchairs. Our Accessible French Riviera trip is built on that. The Cinque Terre villages, by contrast, are steep, with many steps and stations largely in tunnels, and Portofino is flat only along the harbor. For limited mobility, we recommend the French side, with Liguria visited by boat or car rather than on foot.
May, June and September are the best months on both coasts: warm sea, open hotels and fewer people than in July and August. In high summer, the Cinque Terre are crowded by midday with day visitors, and the coast road to Monaco is slow. In winter, Nice stays lively, with the Carnival in February, while many seaside hotels in Liguria close until spring.
For more Italian routes, see our Italy page, or ask a travel designer to build a trip that combines both Rivieras for your dates.
More guides: Places and regions
Neither is better; they suit different trips. The French Riviera has a real city in Nice, art museums, more hotels at every level and easy train day trips. The Italian Riviera is smaller and slower, with fishing villages, coastal walks and simpler, cheaper food. For a first visit, we usually recommend the French side; for a second trip or keen walkers, Liguria.
Yes, and it works well with ten days or more. The train from Nice to Genoa takes about 3 hours 45 minutes with a change at Ventimiglia, and Santa Margherita Ligure is about 25 minutes further. We suggest four nights in Nice and three in Santa Margherita, plus two near the Cinque Terre if you want to walk.
By train, take the TER to Ventimiglia, an Intercity to Genoa and a regional train to Santa Margherita Ligure, then a bus, a boat in season or an hour's coastal walk to Portofino, which has no station. With luggage, a private driver from Nice to Santa Margherita takes about three hours by motorway.
For sand, the French Riviera west of Nice: Juan-les-Pins, Cannes and Pampelonne near Saint-Tropez. Nice itself has pebble beaches. The Italian Riviera has mostly beach clubs with rented sunbeds, rocky coves and a few sandy beaches, such as Monterosso in the Cinque Terre and Alassio in the west. It is better for swimming from boats and rocks than for long beach days.
Day by day, with prices. Each one is reshaped around you.
Six nights, three in the Gulf of Saint-Tropez and three in Nice: a private dinner on arrival, a yacht day to Porquerolles, the gardens of Cap Ferrat and Eze, Monaco at night and your own perfume in Grasse. Driver throughout.
From €1,899 per person
Seven nights in an accessible room at the Hotel West End 4-star on the Promenade des Anglais, adapted transfers throughout: Nice by bus, a perfume workshop in Grasse, a cruise to Monaco, the Matisse Museum, Eze and a beach day.
From €1,499 per person
Six nights in an accessible executive room at the Hotel Westminster 4-star, adapted transfers to every visit: Seine cruise, Eiffel Tower, bus tour, Moulin Rouge, Louvre, Versailles and Sainte-Chapelle. Rooms checked by us first.
From €1,699 per person
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