About Along the Côte
The Côte d’Azur is easy to fall in love with. Understanding it takes a little longer.
Along the Côte started with a question we hear surprisingly often.
We would like to buy a house on the Côte d’Azur. But where?
And that is actually quite a difficult question.
The Côte d’Azur may not look particularly large on a map, but there is an enormous difference between living in Nice, Cannes or Antibes, choosing a small village in the hills, or settling somewhere close to Saint-Tropez. Sometimes moving only a few kilometres means finding a completely different atmosphere.
We wanted somewhere we could send people who were still at the beginning of that search. Somewhere they could wander around a little, read about different places, watch videos and gradually get a feeling for what might suit them. That became Along the Côte.
MORE THAN FINDING A PLACE TO LIVE
Of course, it didn’t stop there. Because once you start explaining the Côte d’Azur, there is rather a lot to talk about. We describe towns and villages, but also individual neighbourhoods. We look at what daily life is like, whether you need a car, where you can walk and what happens to a place once the summer crowds have disappeared.
There are plenty of Youtube videos too. Sometimes seeing someone walk through a market, along a harbour or through the streets of an old town tells you more than another thousand words ever could. But Along the Côte is not simply about deciding where to buy a house. We also wanted to explain why this relatively small corner of France has fascinated people for so long.
WHY HERE?
Perhaps that is the more interesting question. Why did so many painters come here? What did Matisse see in the light of Nice? Why did Picasso keep returning to the Mediterranean? Why did architects choose this coastline to experiment with houses that still look strikingly modern today? And what is it about everyday life here that makes people want to come back?
Part of the answer is obvious. The sea helps. So does the climate. But then there are the mountains immediately behind the coast, the old villages, the markets, the food, the architecture and the fact that life tends to move outdoors whenever the weather allows it. There is history everywhere too. Sometimes in places where you wouldn’t immediately think to look for it. Those are the stories we like.
So alongside our guides to Nice, Antibes, Cannes, Villefranche-sur-Mer and the many other places along the coast, you’ll find stories about art, architecture and history. And ideas for things to see and do – including places you might easily have driven past for years.
LOCAL KNOWLEDGE, COLLECTED OVER YEARS
Behind Along the Côte is tóco d’azur, an international real estate agency that has been active on the Côte d’Azur since 1998. That explains where much of our knowledge comes from. Over the years we have visited countless houses and apartments and spent a great deal of time showing people around this part of France. And quite often the most important part of that process isn’t the house at all.
A beautiful apartment in the wrong town is still the wrong apartment. And a place that doesn’t immediately look spectacular on a map may turn out to offer exactly the kind of life someone was hoping to find. Along the Côte gives us somewhere to share everything around that search that doesn’t fit into a property listing.
ALONG THE CÔTE
You don’t have to be looking for a house to come along. You may be planning a holiday, looking for somewhere new to have lunch, wondering about that extraordinary villa you spotted from the coastal road or simply curious about the people who made the Riviera what it is today. That’s really what we want Along the Côte to be. One place where we can collect what we know, what we discover and what we think is worth knowing about this rather extraordinary stretch of France. And if, somewhere along the way, you discover the part of the Côte that feels right for you, all the better.