The Côte d'Azur in October: half the people, double the light
Nice, Antibes, Menton — the Riviera at its most lived-in.
By the second week of October the cruise ships are gone, the August crowds are a memory, and the sea is, against all expectations, still warm enough to swim. The Côte d'Azur in autumn is a small conspiracy among locals.
Base yourself in Nice — the airport is two tram stops from the Promenade, and the train along the coast is still one of the great cheap thrills of Europe. From here, Antibes is twenty minutes east, Menton an hour, Monaco less.
Eat early at La Merenda. Walk Castel Hill at sunset. Buy lemons in Menton in November. None of this is a secret. None of it is, in October, crowded.
Further Reading
Forty-eight hours in Lyon, France's quietest great city
Two rivers, two hills, three Michelin stars and not a single tour bus in sight.
Edinburgh, in the rain, is the best Edinburgh
Why the city's worst weather makes for its most honest postcards.
Vancouver, where the rainforest meets the bus stop
A long weekend in Canada's most quietly extraordinary city.