Èze

The Jardin Exotique, the Nietzsche path and the beach below Èze

Spend one day in Èze and start early. Take the first bus 82 from Vauban in Nice, see the Jardin Exotique before the coaches arrive, then visit the church and a perfume workshop. Walk down the Chemin de Nietzsche to Èze-sur-Mer, about 45 minutes, for a swim and the coastal train to Beaulieu, Nice or Monaco.

Early morning. Catch the first bus 82 from Vauban in Nice so you reach the village close to opening time. Walk straight up through the lanes to the Jardin Exotique while the terrace is still empty and the light is soft on the water. On a clear day you can follow the coast west past Cap Ferrat towards the Esterel hills, and sometimes make out Corsica on the horizon.

Mid-morning. Wander back down the other side, stopping at the baroque church, with its ochre facade and sundial, and in a few of the galleries. If you want a souvenir with a story, book a slot at one of the perfume workshops and mix your own scent; the Fragonard factory by the main road also runs short free tours of its production rooms.

Late morning. By now the coaches arrive. That is your cue to leave by the Chemin de Nietzsche, about 45 minutes downhill through pine and scrub to Èze-sur-Mer. Carry water, as there is nothing on the way.

Afternoon. Swim off the pebble beach and eat at one of the beach restaurants, then take the coastal train. Westbound, stop at Beaulieu-sur-Mer for the Greek-style Villa Kérylos on its point, or ride on to Nice. Eastbound, Monaco is a few minutes away.

Evening. If you can stretch to it, come back up for a sunset drink on a hotel terrace in the village, when the lanes are almost empty again.

Dining at Chèvre d'Or or Château Eza, and simpler Niçois food

Eating in Èze means a splurge or a picnic. Château de la Chèvre d'Or and Château Eza have terrace restaurants with views over the drop; book ahead and go at lunch. For Niçois dishes such as socca, pissaladière, petits farcis and tourte de blettes, buy a picnic at the Cours Saleya market in Nice before you set out.

Èze eats the food of the Nice hinterland, and the real choice is between spending a lot up on the rock or eating simply below. The village has a few cafés and crêperies for a quick lunch, but its reputation rests on two hotel restaurants. Château de la Chèvre d'Or, with its terraces hanging over the drop, is one of the most acclaimed tables on the Riviera; Château Eza, a few lanes away, has a similar view. Book both well ahead and go for lunch if you want to see what you are looking at.

For everyday Niçois cooking, look for dishes that come from these hills. Socca, a thin chickpea pancake baked in a wood oven and eaten with black pepper, is street food in Nice and turns up in the coastal villages. Pissaladière is an onion tart topped with anchovies and black olives. Petits farcis, small vegetables stuffed with meat and herbs, and daube niçoise, beef braised in red wine, are the family dishes. The oddity is tourte de blettes, a sweet tart of Swiss chard, raisins and pine nuts, which surprises nearly everyone who tries it.

A good plan is to buy a picnic in Nice before you set out: socca and fruit from the Cours Saleya market, a pan bagnat, the local tuna and vegetable sandwich, from a bakery. Eat it on the Nietzsche path or on the beach at Èze-sur-Mer, where the restaurants concentrate on grilled fish and salads facing the water.

La Turbie, Fort de la Revère and Cap Ferrat near Èze

The best trips from Èze follow its three roads. On the Grande Corniche above, the Fort de la Revère trails and the Roman Trophée d'Auguste at La Turbie are best reached by car. At sea level, Villa Kérylos at Beaulieu and Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild on Cap Ferrat are a short train or bus ride away.

Èze sits halfway up a staircase of three roads, and each level has its own excursion.

Above the village, the Grande Corniche follows the ridge between Nice and Menton. Here the Parc de la Grande Corniche protects the open limestone hills around the Fort de la Revère, a 19th-century fort with marked trails and one of the widest views on the coast. A few kilometres east, the village of La Turbie keeps the Trophée d'Auguste, a huge Roman monument raised in honour of Augustus after he subdued the Alpine tribes, standing above Monaco. Both are best reached by car, and both are much quieter than Èze itself.

Down at sea level, the coast road and railway run west to Beaulieu-sur-Mer, where Villa Kérylos recreates an ancient Greek house on a rocky point, and to the Cap Ferrat peninsula. There, the pink Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild has terraced gardens with a musical fountain, and a coastal footpath circles the cape past small coves. Allow a full day for the cape on foot.

For the walk that defines Èze, though, the Chemin de Nietzsche is the one to do. Go downhill unless you are fit and the day is cool. Uphill, the climb from Èze-sur-Mer gains roughly 350 m in 90 minutes on loose stone with little shade, and in July and August only an early start makes sense.