Today, the boundaries of the French Riviera, especially its western side, are unclear. For the die-hard ‘Azuréens’, the border lies along the Monaco-Nice-Cannes line, where Saint Tropez is tolerated.
The Geo magazine describes the French Riviera as the Mediterranean shore running for 200km from Bandol to Menton. The Routard Guidebook published a map which encompassed the departments of the Var and Alpes-Maritimes. The Larousse dictionary uses the definition given by Stéphen Liégeard – all of the coast between the Italian border and Cassis, the closest seaside resort to Marseilles.
This boundary is so unclear that the French find it difficult to pinpoint: according to a poll released in 2009, over half of respondents thought that the ‘French Riviera’ meant the department of the Var, in front of the Alpes-Maritimes.
However, that’s not important! The name remains attached to the mythical and idyllic image created by its inventor at the end of the 19th century. Don’t we come here, whether consciously or not, to seek this lost paradise described by Stéphen Liégeard ?