The French Riviera boasts around 40km of beaches, mostly comprised of public ones. These are very well maintained and usually provide fresh water open-air showers plus toilet facilities - all for free. At about equal distance between public beaches you'll find private ones. These are usually owned by hotels and you'll be charged an entrance fee if you want to use them.

There are about 150 private beaches from Menton to Théoule-sur-Mer. They are rated by marker-buoys (one to four) which indicate the level of their services, comfort and amenities. Some stay open all year round. Here you can rent a parasol, sun lounger and towels as well as having a drinks' service close at hand. As a byline, you should know that you can't bring any food with you as you're expected to use their restaurant and snackbar facilities.

Pebbles or sand?
From the east, from Menton to the Fort Carré in Antibes, pebbles or shingles reign supreme. Nice is of course best known for its pebble beaches. To confuse you, there are some fifteen beaches on the 8 km stretch from Rauba Capeu to Nice airport. Their names recall southern, even exotic places: Bambou, Beau-Rivage, Blue Beach, Castel, Florida, Forum, Galion, Lido, Miami, Neptune, Opéra, Régence, Sporting and Voilier. The beaches are strictly marked out and do not encroach beyond their boundaries.

The smooth pebbles are known as Galets in French. Generally oval in shape they come in varying shades of grey, sometimes even blue, as well as different sizes. They are also layered fairly deep which makes walking across them a little difficult and more so in the heat of summer when they become hot and can burn tender soles. (A note of warning here: you should be aware that the pebbles drop abruptly into the sea making it easy to lose your footing. Once in the sea, it is also a little difficult to climb back up to the pebbled shoreline as the pebbles slip back down into the sea while you try to move up to reach the shoreline.)

Sandy beaches are to be found from Antibes onwards with Juan-les-Pins, Golfe-Juan, Cannes, La Napoule, St Raphael, Fréjus and St Tropez having some good ones, though St Tropez is considered to be the best.

You'll also find the coastal road between La Napoule to Fréjus has some wonderful and numerous sandy coves, often quite secluded, that make for magical places to swim, snorkel or just sunbathe. The larger seaside resorts have pedalos, windsurfers, dinghies, water skis,  wind surfing and jet-skies for hire.