Until 1860, the river at Saint-Laurent-du-Var marked an international frontier. On the west bank lay France; on the east bank lay the County of Nice, part of the Kingdom of Sardinia, and travellers along the coast had to cross the wide, shifting bed of the Var to pass from one to the other. For centuries there was no proper bridge, and the village made its living from the men who carried travellers across on their backs or guided them through the shallows. When Nice became French, the border vanished, but the river is still the dividing line between the town and the city.
Today Saint-Laurent is a busy suburb on the west bank, facing Nice's airport across the river mouth. It has a marina, a long pebble beach, the large Cap 3000 shopping centre and a small old village up the hill with a church and narrow streets. It is not especially beautiful, but it is lively and practical, with plenty of cafés and restaurants along the seafront.
The Var itself is a wild Alpine river, prone to sudden floods, and its broad gravel bed is now partly a nature reserve, home to herons and other birds. Following it north, the road leads into the mountains, and the gorges of the Vésubie, the Tinée and the upper Var all branch off within an hour. This is the way you will have come down if you are finishing a ride from the Col de Turini or the Mercantour, perhaps tired and dusty after a day of hairpins.
Coming back to the coast at the end of the day, expect a sudden shift from empty mountain roads to the dense traffic of the Nice agglomeration, with roundabouts, scooters and impatient drivers. Take it slowly. There are fuel stations and food everywhere, and the beachfront is a fine place to end the day, with the sun setting behind the Esterel and planes landing over the bay. In summer, the evenings stay warm and the beaches are busy until late; in winter, the coast is mild and quiet, and the mountains behind are often white with snow.