Côte d'Azur

Sightseeing on the French Riviera is limited by the region's size (just 40 miles from Cannes to Menton), but this isn't necessarily a bad thing: There's little need to race from place to place fearing you might have missed something. France's pleasure coast offers beaches, boating, casinos, food, spectacular drives, and art as its primary distractions, not necessarily in that order.

Though some travelers hunker down for all of July and August, the Côte d'Azur is a relatively brief, greatest-hits affair for most visitors. A proper sampling of its highlights would start in Cannes for a stroll down the famed Croisette and time to relax on the sandy beach. The next major stop would be Nice, the Neapolitan-feeling city that gives the coast a jolt of authenticity and Italianate fun. Getting to know its boulevards and the narrow streets of its Old Town requires only a day, however; then it's time to rent a car and hit the storied Corniche roads (think To Catch a Thief and James Bond) that take you from Nice up to Monaco, providing spectacular sea views. Once in Monte Carlo, it's all about the yachts, the casino, and the shopping. Recover from the sensory (and financial) overload of Monaco at a hideaway along the coast, a good base for exploring the Riviera's classic backcountry towns at leisure. St. Paul de Vence and Mougins, for example, offer a tourist-friendly glimpse at the low-key, rustic hedonism of Provençal life in beautiful village settings. Don't forget that the Côte d'Azur was home to many major painters from the Impressionist period up through Matisse and Picasso. Each left his mark on coastal villages, and often a museum, from Antibes to Mougins to Vence.