The Town
France > Côte d'Azur > Riviera > Menton > The Town

Palm tree

The promenade du Soleil runs along the pebbly beachfront of Menton's aptly named Baie du Soleil, stretching from the quai Napoléon-III past the casino towards Roquebrune. The most diverting building on the front is a seventeenth-century fort by the quai Napoléon-III south of the old port, now the Musée Jean Cocteau (Wed–Mon 10am–noon & 2–6pm; €3), set up by the artist himself. It contains pictures of his Mentonaise lovers in the Inamorati series, a collection of delightful Fantastic Animals and the powerful tapestry of Judith and Holofernes simultaneously telling the sequence of seduction, assassination and escape. There are also photographs, poems, ceramics and a portrait by his friend Picasso.

As the quai bends around the western end of the Baie de Garavan from the Cocteau museum, a long flight of black-and-white pebbled steps leads up into the vieille ville to the Parvis St-Michel, an attractive Italianate square hosting concerts during the summer and giving a good view out over the bay. The frontage of the Église St-Michel proclaims its Baroque supremacy in perfect pink and yellow proportions, and a few more steps up to another square will reward you with the beautiful facade of the chapel of the Pénitents-Noirs in apricot-and-white marble, with pastel campaniles and disappearing stairways between long-lived houses. The cemetery, at the very top of the old town on the site once occupied by the town's Château, is low on gloom and high on panoramic views, and is a good place to find yourself at sunset.

In the middle of the modern town, the Salles des Mariages (Mon–Fri 8.30am–12.30pm & 1.30–5pm; €1.50), or registry office, forms part of the Hôtel de Ville on place Ardoiono and was decorated in inimitable style by Jean Cocteau in 1957. It can be visited without matrimonial intentions by asking the receptionist at the main door.

On avenue de la Madone, at the other end of the modern town, an impressive collection of paintings from the Middle Ages to the twentieth century can be seen in the Palais Carnolès (daily except Tues 10am–noon & 2–6pm; free; bus #3), the old summer residence of the princes of Monaco. Of the early works, the Madonna and Child with St Francis by Louis Bréa is exceptional. The most recent include canvases by Graham Sutherland, who spent some of his last years in Menton.

If it's cool enough to be walking outside, the public parks up in the hills and the gardens of Garavan's once elegant villas make a change from shingle beaches. The best of all the Garavan gardens is Les Colombières, just north of boulevard de Garavan (Mon–Fri 10am–noon & 3–5pm; but check first with the tourist office, as it's sometimes closed for works; €3; bus #8, direction "Bd de Garavan", stop "Colombières"). Designed by the artist Ferdinand Bac, there are staircases screened by cypresses, balustrades to lean against for the soaring views through pines and olive trees out to sea, fountains, statues and a frescoed swimming pool. Alternatively, there are the public Parc du Pian, shaded by olive trees, nearer to the vieille ville on the same bus route as Les Colombières, and the Jardin Exotique (daily except Tues: June–Sept 10am–12.30pm & 3–6pm; Oct–May 10am–12.30pm & 2–5pm; €3), both below boulevard de Garavan.