Top 6 Instagram Spots in Menton.
Menton aka “The Pearl of France” A must see if you are visiting the French Riviera. It’s known for its citrus groves, pastel-colored buildings and breathtaking views of the Mediterranean. It’s on the border of France and Italy. You can easily take the train from here to Italy in two stops. However, you may never want to leave if you come here and may find yourself falling in love with every little corner of this stunning quaint town.
Quai Imperatrice Eugenie
If you are looking for that perfect iconic spot to take a picture with the beautiful colorful buildings in the back - this is it! You can either just walk on the path and stand or sit right there or venture a little further down the path and to the left and go onto the rocks to get an even better viewpoint picture.
2. Rampe Saint-Michel - AKA the Yellow Stairs
Rampe Saint-Michel is a golden yellow staircase that zig zags from the seaside promenade up to Saint-Michel Basilica. They get pretty busy with tourist taking pictures here, so it’s best to go as early as possible. For best photo-op, I would suggest sitting on the thick “railing” as shown above (of course safety first) don’t do anything you aren’t completely comfortable with. I saw people taking pictures standing on it, but I chickened out. Also, because of the way they are zig zagged and the height of the “railing” it’s hard to get a picture walking on the actual stairs itself - I tried and you could barely see the top of my head.
3. Basilique Saint-Michel Archange de Menton
To get that “Instagram Worth Picture” with the charming 17th century catholic church, instead of walking to it, I recommend going to the Quai Imperatrice Eugenie and stand on the wall at the beginning of the walkway, then have the person taking the picture stand far away and use a 5x zoom. This is called a compression shot. It fills the person into the frame of the picture and makes the background appear closer and larger. This not only emphasizes the beautiful basilica, but you also don’t have to worry about being to close to it to get a picture with it.
4. Orange Buildings Street with Vintage Lamp
Why not get a picture with some of the beautiful orange buildings with a vintage lamp in it? This street will get busy, so I suggest going early. If there are many people trying to take a picture here, I suggest changing to portrait mode to help blur some of them out. As you walk from Old Town to Rampe Saint-Michel you will go through this street to get to the top of the stairs. Once you get off the train, just put Rampe Saint-Michel in your GPS and it should take you through this street on your way to the famous yellow stairs.
5. The Beach
Remember how I mentioned earlier that Menton was on the border of France and Italy? Well when you are relaxing on the beach you can also see Italy out a far. Shown in the second photo - if you look past the second little hill that has buildings on it, is Italy. This is a great beach to relax and swim at, if you don’t mind the water being a little chilly. You also have the beautiful Promenade and colorful buildings behind you as shown in the first picture.
6. Lemon Colored Houses
Menton is known for it’s Lemons, I mean they are all over as you walk through Old Town. They have fresh lemons and lemonade to buy, they were even selling little lemon trees. The souvenir shops were filled with different fun lemon things. Our favorite was the lemon soap. To get to this spot walk through Old Town back up to the Rampe Saint-Michel and instead of taking the picture towards going to the zig zag stairs, turn the opposite way towards the tunnel walkway you walked through to get here.
In summary - Is Menton worth visiting? Absolutely!
It was our favorite town we visited in the French Riviera. And if you are planning to stay in Nice as a home base like we did, don’t let the almost hour train ride scare you away. It was totally worth it and a very doable day trip!