French Riviera Food Tours (Côte d'Azur)
The French Riviera has a food culture of its own, closer to Liguria than to Paris: socca and the real salade niçoise in Nice, the lemons of Menton, the markets of Cannes and Antibes, and the tiny Bellet vineyards hidden inside the city of Nice. This is our Côte d’Azur hub. Below are the top-rated food experiences on the coast, then our detailed Nice food tours page.
Top-rated food experiences on the French Riviera
Food tours in Cannes and along the coast
Why the Riviera for food? Because the County of Nice was Italian until 1860 and it shows: chickpea socca, stuffed vegetables, anchovy flatbread, olive oil, and a coast of markets from Menton to Cannes.
Ways in: Nice food tours through the Vieux Nice and the Cours Saleya market; food walks in Cannes and Antibes; the lemon country of Menton; and Provence rosé inland, on our Provence wine tours page.
What to eat: socca, salade niçoise, pan bagnat, pissaladière, petits farcis, tourte de blettes, daube niçoise, Menton lemons, Nice olive oil, and a glass of rare Bellet or a Côtes de Provence rosé.
Nice, the anchor
Nice is where the Riviera’s food is richest and most distinct, and where nearly all the bookable experiences are; its Old Town, the Cours Saleya market and the Niçoise kitchen have their own page: Nice food tours. The other coastal towns are day trips from it, most of their food experiences leaving from Nice.
Cannes and Antibes
Cannes has the Marché Forville, the covered market behind the Croisette, and the steep old town of Le Suquet above it; food tours here taste the Provençal produce, the cheeses and the socca away from the film-festival glamour. Antibes has the Marché Provençal on the Cours Masséna, one of the prettiest daily markets on the coast, best in the morning. Both are half an hour or less from Nice by train.
Menton and the lemons
Menton, the last town before Italy, grows the sweetest lemons in France, the Citron de Menton, protected since 2015 and celebrated at the Fête du Citron every February with sculptures built from tonnes of citrus. Lemon tastings, jams and the tarte au citron are its food, and the gardens above the town are worth the trip regardless. Monaco, Èze and Villefranche between them are stops on the coast rather than food destinations in their own right.
The wine: Bellet and rosé
The Riviera’s own wine is Bellet, a tiny appellation of about fifty hectares in the hills inside Nice’s own city limits, making whites and rosés from Rolle and reds from the local Braquet and Folle Noire; few producers open to visitors, so a Bellet tasting is a rare thing, covered on our Nice page. The wine most people drink here is Côtes de Provence rosé, from the Var inland, and day trips run to it from Nice and Cannes; see our Provence wine tours.
Frequently asked questions
Is Riviera food the same as Provençal food?
Related but distinct: the Niçoise kitchen is more Italian, built on chickpea socca, olive oil and anchovy, a legacy of the coast being Savoyard and Ligurian until 1860.
Where should I base myself on the Riviera for food?
Nice, without question: the deepest food scene, the best market, and the train to Cannes, Antibes and Menton on the doorstep.
Can I do a wine tour on the Riviera?
Barely on the coast itself, since Bellet is tiny; the real wine day trips go inland to the Côtes de Provence rosé country. See Provence wine tours.
Read next: Five must-visit wineries around Saint-Tropez
How we choose
We list only experiences with a strong rating over a meaningful number of reviews and free cancellation where available, and we favour small-group and family-run hosts. FindEatLocal earns a commission when you book through GetYourGuide or Viator links on this page; it doesn’t change the price you pay. More about how we choose.