French Riviera

The French Riviera, known in French as the Cote d'Azur, is the Mediterranean coastline of southeastern France. It has no official boundary, but is generally described as the coastal area of the Alpes-Maritimes department, running from the Massif de l'Esterel to Menton at the France-Italy border, with some definitions extending its western edge as far as Saint-Tropez or Toulon. The area lies within the Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur region of France and includes the microstate of Monaco, which is surrounded by France on three sides, along with seaside resorts such as Cap-d'Ail, Beaulieu-sur-Mer, Cannes, and Antibes. It developed into one of the world's first modern resort destinations, beginning as a winter health resort for the British upper class at the end of the eighteenth century, and the arrival of railways in the mid-nineteenth century turned it into a playground for European and Russian aristocracy before it went on to attract artists, writers, and wealthy Americans throughout the twentieth century.