A week driving from Marseille to Menton on the coastal roads: the calanques of Cassis, the Route des Crêtes, the Gulf of Saint-Tropez, the Esterel's Corniche d'Or, Cannes, Antibes, Nice and the Riviera corniches. You finish in the hinterland, between Saint-Paul-de-Vence and the eagle's nest of Gourdon, half an hour from Nice airport.
Road route calculated from the stops (OpenStreetMap). Driving times assume no stops and no traffic: add time for photo breaks.
May, June, September and October: the sea is warm enough to swim, with fewer traffic jams and full car parks than in July and August. In summer, the Calanques and Esterel massifs may close depending on the fire risk; winter is mild but the sea is cold.
🚗 24 km · 30 min of driving from Marseille
D559 over the Col de la Gineste, through the Calanques massif. Winding descent; in summer, avoid arriving between 11:00 and 15:00.
🚗 121 km · 2h of driving from Cassis
Route des Crêtes (D141) via Cap Canaille, closed to cars on Sundays. Then the A50 toll motorway, Hyères and the D98. Traffic jams in summer before Saint-Tropez.
🚗 86 km · 2h15 of driving from Saint-Tropez
D559 via Sainte-Maxime and Saint-Raphaël, then the Corniche d'Or: 38 km of bends and red rocks via Agay, Anthéor and Théoule.
🚗 40 km · 1h of driving from Cannes
Along the seafront via Golfe-Juan and Juan-les-Pins, round the Cap d'Antibes and old Antibes, then the D6007 or the A8 to Nice.
🚗 33 km · 50 min of driving from Nice
Moyenne Corniche (M6007) via the Col de Villefranche and Èze, down to Monaco, then along the seafront via Roquebrune-Cap-Martin. No tolls.
🚗 57 km · 1h05 of driving from Menton
A8 toll motorway westbound, exit at Cagnes-sur-Mer, then the D36 via Saint-Paul-de-Vence. Nice airport half an hour away.
Start from Cassis (1 night), then Saint-Tropez (1), Cannes via the Corniche d'Or (1) and Nice (2). Èze, Monaco and Menton are day trips from Nice along the corniches; Marseille and the hinterland are dropped.
| Marseille Airport, July | ≈ €41 a day |
|---|---|
| Marseille Airport, January | ≈ €23 a day |
| Nice Airport, July | ≈ €48 a day |
| Small car, annual average | ≈ €38 a day in both Marseille and Nice (Kayak, Sept. 2026) |
| Your own car | The simplest option if you are driving in. Display the Crit'Air sticker: without it, a €68 fine in the Marseille low emission zone. |
|---|---|
| Vehicle | City car: lanes in the hilltop villages, narrow corniches, tight underground car parks in Cassis and Saint-Tropez. |
| Where to pick it up | Marseille Provence Airport, drop-off at Nice Côte d'Azur. One-way: check the one-way fee before booking. |
| Age | At Europcar, from 18 with 1 year's licence; under 26, €40 a day extra. |
⚠️ Car parks are full in summer: in Cassis, avoid 11:00 to 15:00 and park at Les Gorguettes, free, with a paid shuttle.
80 in the Bouches-du-Rhône and the Alpes-Maritimes; the Var has gone back to 90 on 175 km of roads. Motorways 130.
In the centre, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The A55 tunnels and flyover remain open to all.
From 00:00 to midnight, every Sunday since 2024. Also closed in high winds and at red fire risk.
0.2 g/l for probationary licence holders. Up to 0.8 g/l: €135 and 6 penalty points; above that, a criminal offence.
Since April 2025, only Crit'Air 4 and 5 lorries, buses and coaches are excluded.
Calanques from 1 June to 30 September, Esterel from 21 June: level published around 17:00 for the next day.
Traffic jams in summer. Bateaux Verts from Sainte-Maxime or Port Grimaud: €9 one way, €16 return.
Privately driven speed camera cars in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. Detectors banned: up to €1,500 and 6 penalty points.
Probationary licence: 110 on motorways, 100 on expressways, 80 elsewhere.
From 1 November to 31 March in the mountain communes designated by the prefecture.
Since April 2024, insurance has been checked via the number plate. Keep your licence and the vehicle registration document.
≈ €2.15 per litre of SP95-E10, €2.40 for diesel (23 Sept. 2026)
Price recorded in September 2026: it changes every week, sometimes by 10 to 20 cents in a month. Today's price: prix-carburants.gouv.fr →
⛽ 361 km at 7 l per 100 km: about €50 at September 2026 prices, to share between passengers.
National averages from French ministry data. Motorway and seafront stations are often dearer: compare on prix-carburants.gouv.fr.
| A50 between Roquefort-la-Bédoule and Ollioules | Toll road (La Ciotat and Bandol toll barriers); free as far as Marseille and Toulon |
|---|---|
| A570 towards Hyères, D98, D559 and the corniches | Toll-free |
| A8, westbound from Menton | La Turbie toll barrier; Roquebrune to Menton section free |
| Return from Nice to Marseille on the A8 | ≈ €25.20 (Ulys), Prado-Carénage tunnel included |
| Les Gorguettes park-and-ride (Cassis) | Free, paid shuttle to the harbour |
| Bateaux Verts to Saint-Tropez | €9 one way, €16 return per adult |
| Crit'Air sticker | €3.85 on certificat-air.gouv.fr |
| Route des Crêtes (D141) | Closed to cars every Sunday; also when the mistral blows hard |
|---|---|
| Calanques massif | Access on foot banned on red-risk days, June to September |
| Calanque de Sugiton | Free reservation, every day from 27 June to 30 August 2026 |
| Roads to Sormiou, Morgiou, Callelongue | Closed to cars in summer, and at weekends from Easter |
| Port-Miou path | Detour via Port-Pin (1 hour longer) until June 2027 |
| Esterel massif | Restricted access from 21 June to 30 September |
A week is enough for the coast from Marseille to Menton: 7 stages and 8 nights, with two nights in Nice. In 6 days, sleep in Cassis, Saint-Tropez, Cannes and then two nights in Nice, and do Èze and Menton as day trips. Drives are short but slow: corniches, villages and summer traffic jams.
For car hire, allow around €330 for 8 days in July at Marseille Airport (€41 a day), €185 in January (€23). Budget around €50 of petrol at September 2026 prices for about 350 km. Add the A50, the La Turbie toll barrier and, for the return to Marseille, €25.20 on the A8.
For Marseille, yes: the central low emission zone bans Crit'Air 4, 5 and unclassified vehicles 24 hours a day, and requires the sticker on all others; fine of €68. In Nice, the zone no longer applies to cars since April 2025. The sticker costs €3.85 on certificat-air.gouv.fr, the only official website.
No motorway leads to the village and in summer the access roads are jammed. Arrive early in the morning, or park in Sainte-Maxime or Port Grimaud and take the Bateaux Verts: €9 one way, €16 return. A Zou bus also serves Pampelonne and Gassin from May to September.
Yes, along 15 km between Cassis and La Ciotat, except on Sundays: since 2024, it has been reserved for pedestrians and cyclists from 00:00 to midnight, with a shuttle from Les Gorguettes. It also closes in high winds and, from 1 June to 30 September, on days of red fire risk.
May, June, September and early October: the sea is warm enough to swim, car parks are less full and roads flow better than in July and August. In summer, check every evening around 17:00 whether the Calanques or the Esterel are open: a red fire risk closes the trails and the Route des Crêtes.
Driving rules, prices and closures checked in September 2026; hotels checked on OpenStreetMap and then on Booking. Rules change: read the official source before you leave, and check your own government's travel advice for the country. Stop photos: Wikimedia Commons, authors and licences under each image.
Off We Gooo road trip guide · offwegooo.com/en/road-trips/french-riviera · by Pierrick, updated 1 October 2026
