French Riviera is Top Pick for Billionaires

A new travel article from Yahoo reveals the vacation spots favored by billionaires and celebrities, with the French Riviera and Monaco topping the list in a spring report from Maui Elite Property.

While the French Riviera has no shortage of superyachts and palace hotels, many of its best experiences cost little or nothing at all.

Public beaches, scenic train rides, market lunches, coastal walks, and public transportation make the region surprisingly accessible for travelers on ordinary budgets.

And some of the Côte d’Azur’s greatest pleasures don’t require a luxury hotel reservation or a yacht.

Travelers can day trip between French Riviera towns by regional train, wander through old villages such as Èze and Antibes, pick up food at a local market, and plop down at a beach for a swim and sunshine.

If you’d like to see the coast by boat, consider ferries such as this round-trip Nice to Monaco journey, which show off the same scenery as superyachts at a fraction of the cost.

And this new seasonal flight from London to Toulon offers a less expensive alternative to flights into Nice.

Even Monaco, often associated with Formula 1 and haute couture, offers public gardens with amazing views, affordable museums, and public transportation so easy and inexpensive you won’t need to rent a car or pay for parking.

That’s not to say the report is wrong. The French Riviera has long attracted royalty, celebrities, and the world’s wealthiest travelers.

But one of the reasons the region remains so enduringly popular is that many of the same views and Mediterranean experiences enjoyed by billionaires are available to everyone.

With a little planning, it’s possible to create Côte d’Azur memories for far less than its glamorous reputation suggests.