Let’s be honest, any trip to the French Riviera isn’t going to disappoint. You’re not exactly short on choice when it comes to staying somewhere that has beauty, class and a cultural patina that others search to create in far away places without any real hope or chance.

Nice. Antibes. Cannes.

Each are close enough to blur together on a map yet completely different once you arrive.

Deciding where you want to stay isn’t about ticking off names of places you’ve heard before. It’s about understanding how you want to stay whilst you’re there. Pace, atmosphere, and rhythm matter far more than proximity.

So, how should you think about your riviera stays? Here’s a quick look.

Nice: Energy, Movement, and Urban Life

Nice is the Riviera at its most animated.

Possibly one of the most beautiful cities in Europe if not the world. It’s filled with colour, atmosphere, buildings that ooze french chic without even trying. It’s a city constantly in motion. Markets from the morning until the afternoon. Trams cut through neighbourhoods. Cafés spill onto pavements with a sense of everyday urgency.

Nice is for you if you enjoy city energy and life that passes before you, constantly moving to its own beat. It’s a city that has variety and culture, museums and a real sense of itself.

It rarely slows down, even by the sea there is a sense that there is always something happening and for some travellers that can feel more stimulating than restorative.

Antibes: Character, Charm, and Containment

Antibes sits somewhere between village and town.

This is a place where Picasso and F.Scott Fitzgerald would sit at corner cafes getting inspired whilst also living the good life. It’s charming without arrogance, it’s picturesque without being too much. Defined by a harbour that is more intimate than glamorous, stone walls that show you age without feeling overwhelmed. Life here moves at a gentle pace and within a smaller frame.

Antibes is where you go if you want history as well as walkable days. If you enjoy the feeling of a space that is more contained and familiar, if you want the riviera beauty without the intimidating scale that it holds.

Once you’ve absorbed its rhythm, the day-to-day, some may choose to move on and go to places with more space, more opportunities to experience the Riviera experience whilst others may choose to stay there for a little while longer.

Cannes: Balance, Breathing Room, and Quiet Confidence

It’s easy to misunderstand Cannes. You see, many go there thinking that it is a city built for an international film festival and so, spectacle is what you may expect. Instead, that version of Cannes is a fleeting moment in a calendar year.

This is a city that is calm, refined and surprisingly liveable.

Cannes is the city that gives you elegance without performance, where space is a priority thanks to its wide boulevards, long beaches and unhurried walks. Where energy is valued through balance – there when you want it, calm when you don’t.

There’s a softness to Cannes. Days unfold rather than announce themselves. The town feels comfortable with silence, with repetition, with routine. It doesn’t demand attention and that’s exactly its appeal.

Choosing Based on How You Want to Feel

This is the real question. Where you stay should be about what you want to feel when you stay.

• If you want stimulation and constant motion, Nice
• If you want charm and intimacy, Antibes
• If you want space, balance, and understated elegance, Cannes

Cannes is for those who have outgrown the need to feel entertained by their surroundings and instead want somewhere that supports a slower, more considered way of living. It’s the slow life the mediterranean offers but often missed thanks to misleading ideas and titles.

The Riviera isn’t a single experience. It’s a collection of moods.

Choose your base not by reputation, but by rhythm. Not by what looks impressive, but by what allows you to exhale.

For many, Cannes becomes that quiet middle ground refined without rigidity, lively without pressure, and calm without ever feeling dull.

And sometimes, that balance is the greatest luxury of all.