In the peak of summer, Nice, like many of the major towns along the French Riviera, is rather full. Not as full as Paris or Barcelona, but enough that finding a bare patch of pebble along the city’s famous Baie des Anges is just this side of frustrating.
People hustle onto the tram by the city’s Old Town, sweaty bodies cramming into every available space, while visitors from out of town – not realising reservations are essentially obligatory – stand in queues surrounding restaurant terraces, sighing loudly in hopes of pity from the harried wait staff.
As a local, I adore the city year-round; its sunny disposition and famously colourful façades will always be charming to me, but when friends ask when they should stop by, I always say this is a town best visited in spring or autumn, when the promenade is calm(er), and the cafes and bars that line the narrow, labyrinthine streets can spare a seat for me.
However, the lesser-known shores by Marseille are perfect for summer. The trick is in finding those charmingly quiet fishing village-esque towns that are off-radar for many non-French visitors. This sweeping stretch of the Mediterranean feels forgotten, despite attracting a host of creatives and intellectuals over the years, like Virginia Woolf, Edith Wharton, Aldous Huxley and his wife Maria, Bertolt Brecht and Jacques Cousteau.
What is there to do in these tiny towns? Not much, and that’s the point. Whether you’re looking for long, languid mornings or hikes spent chasing the sun along those rough-hewn seaside paths the French call les sentiers du littoral, these tiny towns offer all the charm and wealth of the Riviera without the crowds – or the price tag.
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Where to go
La Ciotat
True cinephiles will know of La Ciotat, home to some of the earliest films ever produced by the Lumière brothers. Of the monuments in town dedicated to film, the Eden Theatre is the most impressive as the oldest cinema still in operation with its first screening in 1895. Fans of the brothers can even visit their former home, the Château du Clos des Plages – now a private residence and called the Palais Lumière – on certain days of the year. In town, Café de l’Horloge is a historic restaurant with a charming reading…
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