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The Best Restaurants on the French Riviera

The French Riviera’s dining scene has gone under something of a renaissance in recent years. From Menton to St Tropez and beyond, this stretch of coastline is home to some of the most exciting restaurants in Europe, from three-Michelin-star institutions that have shaped modern gastronomy to recently opened newcomers already making waves. What connects them is a shared devotion to the Mediterranean at their doorstep: its produce, its light and insistence on revelling in the good life. These are the restaurants worth building an itinerary around.

By Rebecca McVeigh

19 June 2026

A French flag flies over a village with terracotta roofs in the foreground, overlooking a sparkling blue bay and distant coastline in the background.

French Riviera Restaurant Guide

Mirazur, Menton

The best restaurant in the world? It was voted that in 2019, so who are we to argue? Mauro Colagreco's pioneering Menton establishment turns twenty this year. A champion of circular gastronomy, the three-Michelin-star chef places nature at the heart of every dish. His plant-based menus follow the rhythms of local biodiversity, changing with the seasons. This is the restaurant that put the Riviera on the gastronomic map, and it continues to inspire a new generation of ecologically-minded chefs.

Dine with breathtaking panoramic views of a colorful coastal town and a bustling marina.

Three square ravioli topped with caviar are served in a creamy green sauce with scattered yellow garnishes, set against a blurred background of a white bowl and a warm, neutral surface.

French Riviera Restaurant Guide

Le Restaurant des Rois - La Réserve de Beaulieu

As its kingly name suggests, Le Restaurant des Rois has been enjoying the company of the great and the good since 1880. Since 2019, Julien Roucheteau has been the man in the kitchen: a former two-Michelin-star chef and Meilleur Ouvrier de France, his cooking focuses on sensation, the terroir of Nice and the produce of the sea, handled with technical rigour and genuine finesse. Dine on the terrace overlooking the presqu'île of Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat. Facing the water as it does, La Réserve is just a tender away.

French Riviera Restaurant Guide

Louis XV – Alain Ducasse à L’Hôtel de Paris, Monaco

Working westward along the coast, next stop is the principality of Monaco. For all-out opulence, nothing comes close to Le Louis XV at the Hôtel de Paris Monte-Carlo, presiding over Casino Square. The three-Michelin-star room is Monaco's most prestigious table, the menu driven by chefs Alain Ducasse and Emmanuel Pilon alongside pastry chef Sandro Micheli. Modern, energetic and unapologetically grand.

Elegant dining tables are set with white linens and ornate chairs in a grand, gilded room illuminated by a massive circular chandelier.

Chefs work diligently in a gleaming open kitchen visible through a frosted glass partition at this elegant restaurant.

A vibrant spread of Italian dishes, including clams, carpaccio, and tomato salad, is set against a bright white tablecloth with lemons and drinks.

French Riviera Restaurant Guide

La Table Gastronomique - Château Eza

Chef Justin Schmitt is a keen cyclist and his love of the outdoors shapes every dish at this Michelin-starred restaurant. The tasting menu here is a treat, and the view from the château, once a Swedish Prince's hideaway, plunging down to the Mediterranean 427m below, takes some beating. Worth the winding drive up to medieval Èze.

Elegant dining tables with orange chairs fill the foreground of a restaurant with a breathtaking ocean and mountain view in the background.

A white textured plate with a small dessert sits on a white surface, with a bundle of vanilla beans and silverware to the right.

French Riviera Restaurant Guide

La Table du Cap Estel

Cap Estel has long been an A-list haunt, drawing everyone from the Beatles to Bono. Situated on the ground floor of the hotel's splendid Manor House, La Table is where Michelin-starred chef Kévin Garcia does his best work. Greek columns, vast bay windows and the Mediterranean stretching out beyond. It manages to feel both epic and intimate at the same time. Quite a trick.

The illuminated city of Monaco glows against the twilight sky, overlooking the tranquil Mediterranean Sea.

Begin Your Journey

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French Riviera Restaurant Guide

Amarines by Mauro Colagreco, Villa Miraé, Cap d'Antibes

Another Mauro Colagreco establishment. He signs the menu at this recently opened boutique hotel hideaway on Cap d'Antibes. Inspired by the Mediterranean, the wealth of regional specialities and the spirit of casting off, Amarines celebrates the spontaneity of the seasons: simple ingredients, handled with care, allowed to speak for themselves. It is, in every sense, a natural fit for the beautiful coastline that surrounds it.

A vibrant orange soup is garnished with a circular arrangement of fresh green nasturtium leaves, set against a textured white plate and a softly lit background.

An outdoor dining area with tables set for meals is in the foreground, while a vibrant orange building and tiled roofs form the background.

French Riviera Restaurant Guide

Il Giardino, Hôtel Byblos, St Tropez

The Byblos is St Tropez at its most unapologetically hedonistic, and has been since the 1960s. Two steps from the Place des Lices and the couture boutiques, it is the beating heart of the town. Under a plant-covered poolside pergola, Il Giardino takes you through Italy: sophisticated, seasonal dishes built around the best local produce. Chef Nicola Canuti draws daily from the hotel's own 300m² garden on the doorstep, home to over 70 varieties of fruit, vegetables and aromatic flowers. Field to fork doesn't get much more considered than this.

French Riviera Restaurant Guide

La Vague d'Or, Cheval Blanc, St Tropez

La Vague d'Or has brought a golden wave of success for Arnaud Donckele, one of the most decorated chefs of his generation. His spectacular cuisine conducts a dialogue with an aromatic wild Provence tinged with sea spray. Delicate, subtle, and utterly refined. A non-negotiable in St Tropez.

A spoon pours green sauce onto a meticulously plated dish of fish and vegetables, with a small glass of the same sauce beside it.

Taste The Coast

Colorful buildings line the harbor where fishing nets and boats await the day's catch under a bright blue sky.

French Riviera Restaurant Guide

La Voile - La Réserve Ramatuelle

On the heights above Ramatuelle, La Réserve is a palace hotel with private villas and longevity focused spa. The restaurant, La Voile, floats between the deep blue of the sea and the azure of the sky. Eric Canino, doubly-starred and true to form, commands a table renowned for its culinary creativity: cooking as light and considered as a breath of air, served under the immaculate shade sails of the terrace with the Mediterranean spread out before you. For a chic beach side lunch tender into Pampelonne and enjoy La Reserve à la Plage.

A warmly lit dining table in the foreground is set for a meal, with a panoramic view of a sun-drenched coastline and ocean visible through large windows in the background.

Rattan-backed chairs surround tables set with white tablecloths in a bright restaurant, with arched windows in the background revealing a view of the blue ocean.

French Riviera Restaurant Guide

Zannier Île de Bendor – Le Grand Large

Technically a little further west than the Riviera's official reach, Île de Bendor more than earns its place here. Originally bought by Paul Ricard, of pastis and racing fame, in 1950, it has been reimagined by Zannier Hotels into a five-star retreat that hasn't lost an ounce of its Provençal soul. Chef Lionel Lévy oversees eight dining options across the island. The gastronomic restaurant Le Grand Large brings in a different young chef each season, with Lucas Antoniotti, formerly of La Vague d'Or Cheval Blanc, kicking off the opening year with considerable promise. One of the season's most exciting openings — and well worth the detour.

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A picturesque Mediterranean harbor bustles with yachts nestled against a cliffside town overlooking the azure sea.

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A refreshing spread of watermelon salad and cocktails awaits on a sunny table at the Carlton Beach Club in Cannes.

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