Where to buy on the French Riviera (Côte d’Azur), from Menton to Saint-Tropez: towns, prices, rules

The Estérel: Théoule, Mandelieu or Saint-Raphaël?

Between Cannes and Fréjus, the Estérel massif plunges into the sea in red rocks, followed by the Corniche d’Or coast road. The coast is wilder here; past Théoule, prices fall sharply towards Saint-Raphaël and Fréjus.

• Théoule-sur-Mer: villas facing the bay of Cannes, the Port-la-Galère estate, the hamlets of Miramar and Le Trayas; apartments at around €6,700/m².
• Mandelieu-la-Napoule: the harbour and castle of La Napoule, the residences of Cannes-Marina, the golf courses, right next to Cannes.
• Saint-Raphaël: a year-round town with its TGV station, the pines and golf courses of Valescure, the villas of Boulouris, Agay and Anthéor; houses at around €5,500/m².
• Fréjus and the Pays de Fayence: Port-Fréjus and Saint-Aygulf on the water; inland, Fayence, Seillans and the Terre Blanche estate at Tourrettes, for a house with land.

The massif is forested: the brush-clearing duty and the commune’s risk prevention plan should be read before the offer.

Gulf of Saint-Tropez: the village, the peninsula or the north shore?

The Gulf of Saint-Tropez is a market apart: an international clientele, villas that often sell without a listing, a season that keeps the village alive. In Saint-Tropez, the median house reaches €25,000/m², and one in ten sells above €53,200/m²: see buying a villa in Saint-Tropez.

The peninsula: Saint-Tropez, Ramatuelle, Gassin, La Croix-Valmer

Les Parcs de Saint-Tropez, a private gated estate, holds some of the most sought-after properties on the coast. Ramatuelle unrolls villas and estates from Pampelonne to Cap Camarat, at a median of €18,200/m² for houses: scarcity there is first of all administrative, between the coastal law and protected sites. Gassin, a hilltop village, and La Croix-Valmer, between vineyards and protected capes, complete the peninsula.

The north shore: Grimaud, Sainte-Maxime, Les Issambres

Across the gulf, life is simpler and prices are lower: Port Grimaud and its houses with private moorings, Beauvallon, Sainte-Maxime, a year-round town facing Saint-Tropez, with houses at around €8,100/m², then the villas under the pines of Les Issambres. In the Maures hills, Grimaud village and La Garde-Freinet offer peace and quiet.

The Maures: Le Lavandou, Bormes, Le Rayol, a more natural coast?

West of the gulf, the Maures corniche runs past coves, pines and beaches facing the Hyères islands. Cavalaire-sur-Mer, Rayol-Canadel-sur-Mer, Le Lavandou and Bormes-les-Mimosas form a more family-minded, more natural French Riviera, far cheaper than the Saint-Tropez peninsula: houses sell for around €8,500/m² in Le Lavandou and €6,000/m² in Bormes.

Rayol-Canadel, home to the Domaine du Rayol and its gardens of Mediterranean landscapes, recorded only 22 sales over the period; Bormes combines a hilltop village, the harbour of La Favière and Cap Bénat. The trade-off is distance: Toulon-Hyères airport is close, Nice airport nearly two hours away by road.

Living on the French Riviera: access, seasons, schools

The French Riviera is very well connected, provided you choose your address around your journeys.

• By air: Nice Côte d’Azur airport links the region to Europe’s major cities and, depending on the season, to North America and the Gulf; Cannes-Mandelieu and La Môle, near Saint-Tropez, handle business aviation, and Toulon-Hyères serves the western Var.
• By helicopter: Monaco is a few minutes from Nice airport, Saint-Tropez about twenty minutes.
• By train: the TGV high-speed train serves Saint-Raphaël, Cannes, Antibes and Nice, and regional trains run along the sea to Monaco and Menton; the Gulf of Saint-Tropez has no station, the nearest being Saint-Raphaël and Les Arcs-Draguignan.
• By road: the A8 motorway crosses the region to Italy; allow about an hour and a half out of season from Nice airport to Saint-Tropez.
• Schools: Mougins School, the Centre International de Valbonne, the International School of Nice and, in Monaco, the International School of Monaco welcome international families.

All year round or as a second home? Nice, Antibes, Cannes and Le Cannet, Menton, Saint-Raphaël and Sainte-Maxime live all year; Saint-Tropez, Ramatuelle and part of the capes follow the season, and many shops there close in winter. The second home guide helps you weigh use, upkeep and resale.

Which rules should you check before buying on the French Riviera?

Here, a house is worth as much for what its land allows as for what stands on it: everything is checked before the offer.

• Coastal law and planning: under France’s coastal law (loi Littoral), nothing may be built within a hundred metres of the shore outside built-up areas, and outstanding natural sites are protected; near a historic monument or in a listed site, the state heritage architect (Architecte des Bâtiments de France) has a say. An extension or a pool is checked against the local zoning plan (PLU) before it is paid for in the price.
• Coastal path and public domain: a seafront property may carry the pedestrian right of way along the shore, a three-metre strip open to the public; a jetty on the maritime public domain rests only on a temporary, revocable permit.
• Wildfire: near woodland, the owner must clear brush within fifty metres of buildings, sometimes a hundred, including on a neighbour’s land; some communes have a forest-fire risk prevention plan.
• Flooding: the lower valleys of the Siagne, the Brague and the Argens are exposed; read the property’s risk statement and the commune’s prevention plan.
• Drainage: in the hills, many houses have a private septic system; its inspection report must be less than three years old, and any compliance work required falls to the buyer within a year.

In an older building in Nice, Cannes or Menton, read the minutes of the general meetings, the works plan and the state of the façades: the guide to checking a co-ownership before buying details these checks. In a gated estate, from Les Parcs de Saint-Tropez to Port-la-Galère, the estate rules set the charges, the building rules and sometimes those on letting.

When and how should you buy on the French Riviera?

The market calendar

Spring and autumn are the best times to view; in summer, second homes are occupied, and many sellers make up their minds at the end of the season. In late spring, the Cannes Film Festival and the Monaco Grand Prix saturate roads and hotels. From accepted offer to final deed, allow three months as a rule, and 7 to 8% in notaire’s fees and taxes on an older property.

How Home Select searches on the French Riviera

1. The brief: budget, use, season of stay, schools, access; the area is often chosen at this stage.
2. Daily watch and off-market: listings, local agents, notaires and owners, within a network of 15,000 agents and partners; on the capes and in the estates, a large share of the finest properties circulates without a listing, as our guide to buying off-market explains.
3. Pre-viewings: we visit first, by video if you are far away; you only travel for the properties that live up to their promise.
4. Due diligence and negotiation: planning, easements, brush clearing, drainage, co-ownership, then an offer argued from comparable sales.
5. Signing: notaire, surveys and financing, up to the final deed.

If your search reaches beyond the French Riviera, see buying property in the South of France.