About
Riviera Secrète is a personal scouting notebook on the French Riviera, not an official guide. The starting point: most guides send everyone to the same ten places, while the region has plenty of others worth the detour where you still get some peace.
What's in it
43 places across 34 towns, from Menton to Saint-Tropez, grouped into 6 ready-made itineraries — plus an itinerary builder if you'd rather put together your own. Each place lists what you can actually do there (208 activities in total), with duration, indicative price and a link to the source.
How places are chosen
The criterion is simple: is the place worth the trip without already being on every list? A perched village the tour coaches don't climb to, a coastal path you get to yourself off-season, a chapel you can visit on request. A few unmissable places remain (hard to talk about Èze without Èze), but the angle stays the same: what you actually do there, and when to go to avoid the crowds.
How it's verified
The site is written and maintained by hand. In practice:
- Each place's GPS coordinates are checked one by one against real sources — several were off by a few kilometres to begin with.
- The badges (beach, hiking, mountain biking, diving, restaurant) describe what's practicable at that exact place, not somewhere in the same town. Èze village has no beach badge: the beach is down below, at Èze-sur-Mer, which is a different place.
- Photos are either personal or Creative Commons-licensed, found on Wikimedia Commons — each one credited with its author and licence.
- No affiliate links, no commission, no sponsored content. Booking links point to the tourist office, the venue's own site, or a booking platform, with no referral ID attached.
What this site isn't
Prices and opening hours change, especially off-season, and a hand-maintained scouting site falls behind. Always check with the venue before travelling, particularly for paid visits and closing days. If a place disappointed you or a detail is wrong, it isn't a deliberate omission — just a page that has aged.
Reporting an error
A reporting form will arrive along with the final domain name. In the meantime, if you spot an outdated price, a wrong opening time or a place that has closed, make a note of it — it'll be fixed on the next pass.