Vieux Port de Menton
Port de Garavan
Off Plage des Sablettes
Off Plage du Borrigo
Toward Cap Martin, Roquebrune
Visit the Cocteau Wedding Hall in the old Hôtel de Ville
Tour the Musée Jean Cocteau Le Bastion
Wander the terraces of Jardin Serre de la Madone
Explore the exotic Val Rahmeh Botanical Garden
Attend the Fête du Citron each February
Basilique Saint-Michel Archange
Vieux-Château Cemetery
Rue Longue, the old Roman road
Fontana Rosa gardens
Les Colombières estate
The main Riviera charter season runs May to September, with the warmest, calmest conditions in July and August. Menton’s unusually mild microclimate, however, makes it one of the few Riviera stops worth considering outside summer too, since winter frost is rare and gardens stay in bloom through the cooler months. Guests cruising in the shoulder season of April, May, September or October generally find Menton quieter and just as pleasant as its neighbours further west.
Nice Côte d’Azur Airport (NCE) is the closest, around 30 kilometres and roughly 40 minutes’ drive west along the coast, traffic permitting. Menton also sits directly on the rail line linking Nice, Monaco and Ventimiglia in Italy, a useful option for guests or crew joining partway through a charter. For yachts, the Vieux Port and the marina at Port de Garavan both offer visitor berths close to the old town.
The Vieux Port, tucked beneath the old town and the Basilique Saint-Michel, is the most atmospheric spot, though space is limited in peak season. Port de Garavan, toward the Italian border, is a larger marina with more visitor capacity and easy walking access to the exotic gardens nearby. For a swim stop rather than an overnight, the water off Plage des Sablettes or Plage du Borrigo is clear and sheltered from the prevailing westerlies.
A day or two is enough to see the old town, walk one of the botanical gardens and enjoy a long lunch, making Menton a natural one or two-night stop rather than a full week’s base. Most charters combine it with Monaco, twenty minutes away by tender or car, and the wider eastern Riviera, rather than treating it as a standalone destination. Guests drawn to the gardens in particular sometimes add an extra day to see more than one.
Yes. The Fête du Citron runs from 13 to 28 February 2027, filling the seafront Jardins Biovès with elaborate sculptures built from tonnes of citrus fruit and drawing large crowds to the old town each day. Berths at the Vieux Port and Port de Garavan fill up well ahead of the festival, so a charter timed around it needs to be booked early. Outside those two and a half weeks in February, Menton stays comfortably uncrowded even in the cooler months.
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