Provence & the French Riviera: a 8-day road trip

Lyon to Monaco via Avignon, Aix-en-Provence, Marseille, Gorges du Verdon, Cannes, Nice — about 634 km of driving across France and Monaco, suggested over 8 days.

See the attractions & sights guide for this route →

Stops on this route

Lyon

Lyon is France's third-largest city, set at the confluence of the Rhône and Saône rivers in southeastern France. Long regarded as the country's culinary capital, it pairs Renaissance architecture in Vieux Lyon, a UNESCO World Heritage quarter, with a dense network of hidden passageways called traboules, once used by the city's silk workers to move goods through the rain.

Avignon

Avignon, in Provence, was the seat of the papacy for much of the 14th century, leaving behind the Palais des Papes, one of the largest and most important Gothic palaces in Europe, and a ring of medieval ramparts encircling the old town. Its emblem is the Pont Saint-Bénézet, the half-collapsed bridge celebrated in the French nursery rhyme "Sur le pont d'Avignon".

Aix-en-Provence

Aix-en-Provence is an elegant university town and the historic capital of Provence, laid out around tree-lined boulevards, fountains, and stately Baroque townhouses. It is best known as the birthplace and lifelong home of painter Paul Cézanne, whose studio and favorite motifs can still be visited around the city.

Marseille

Marseille is France's oldest city and its second largest, founded by Greek settlers around 600 BC as the port of Massalia. Centuries as a Mediterranean crossroads have given it a fiercely diverse identity, visible in the working Vieux-Port, the hillside neighborhoods, and the hilltop basilica of Notre-Dame de la Garde watching over the harbor.

Gorges du Verdon

The Gorges du Verdon is a spectacular river canyon in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, often called the "Grand Canyon of Europe." Carved by the turquoise Verdon river, it cuts up to 700 metres deep through limestone plateaus, ending at the vivid Lac de Sainte-Croix. It has surged in popularity as one of France's most photographed inland destinations, drawing road-trippers, kayakers, and via-ferrata climbers each summer.

Cannes

Cannes is a glamorous resort city on the French Riviera, world-famous for the Cannes Film Festival held each May at the Palais des Festivals, where the red-carpet steps draw crowds year-round. Beyond the festival, it retains a working fishing-port history visible in the hillside old quarter of Le Suquet.

Nice

Nice is the capital of the French Riviera, a city where French and Italian influences meet along the sweeping Baie des Anges. Belle Époque palaces line its seafront, while the Old Town, Vieux Nice, keeps a tighter grid of baroque churches, pastel facades, and market streets behind it.

Monaco

Monaco is a tiny sovereign city-state on the French Riviera, wedged between the Mediterranean and the Maritime Alps. Famous for its casino, its Grand Prix street circuit, and the Grimaldi royal family, it packs opera houses, superyacht marinas, and a medieval old town onto barely two square kilometres.

Road charges and rules along the way

France

Mandatory equipment: Safety vest (reflective, high-visibility), Warning triangle, Spare bulbs (headlights), Breathalyzer (disposable or electronic), Snow chains

Driving in France: full guide →

Monaco

No motorway vignette or environmental sticker is required for passenger cars in Monaco; motorways are free or distance-tolled.

Mandatory equipment: Safety vest (reflective, high-visibility), Warning triangle, Spare bulbs (headlights), Breathalyzer (disposable or electronic)

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