Corniche and Èze Dawn
A 21 km loop
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Why this ride
Built for flow, views and useful stops rather than navigation busywork. 21 km round from Nice - plan on about 23 min of riding. The plan has 1 food stop marked.
Roadbook
- Nice
start
Nice rises from a wide bay of pebbles and blue water, with a ridge of hills behind it, and it has been a seaside resort since the English began wintering here in the eighteenth century. The Promenade des Anglais, the seafront boulevard they paid for, still runs for several kilometres along the shore, lined with palms, pale hotels and deckchairs, and the old town, Vieux Nice, behind the Cours Saleya flower market, is a tangle of ochre and pink houses with laundry hanging out of windows. Castle Hill, a wooded bluff at the eastern end of the bay, gives a view over the whole sweep of the coast. Italian influence is strong, as the city only became French in 1860, and the food shows it. Try socca, a chickpea pancake, a pan bagnat sandwich or a proper salade niçoise.
The Grande Corniche starts from here, the highest of three roads that climb the cliffs between Nice and Menton. It follows the line of the Roman Via Julia Augusta, and at La Turbie, around five hundred metres above the sea, the ruins of the Trophy of Augustus, built in the first century BC to mark Roman control of the Alps, stand on a ridge with a view down to Monaco. The road then passes Èze and other perched villages, where the bends are tight, the views are huge and the sun glints off the Mediterranean far below.
Riding here needs a bit of planning. Nice is large and busy, with heavy traffic, one-way streets and scooters weaving at every light, and the road along the coast is slow at any hour. Parking for bikes is easier than for cars, but be careful of theft and use a secure garage if you are staying. Fuel is plentiful in a city of three hundred and thirty thousand, though some stations in the old centre are limited, so use the ones on the outskirts. The Grande Corniche itself is best ridden early on a weekday, before the tourist coaches and the cyclists, and it can be windy on the open stretches.
Spring and autumn are lovely here. In midsummer the heat and crowds make the coast tiring, but the light is spectacular at dawn.
- Èze
food
Èze is a village built like an eagle's nest, perched on a sharp rock about four hundred and twenty metres above the Mediterranean, with the sea spread out below on three sides. A tangle of stone lanes, stepped passages and vaulted alleys climbs the rock to the summit, where the ruins of a medieval castle have been turned into an exotic garden full of cacti and succulents, with views that stretch along the coast from Cap Ferrat to the mountains of Italy on a clear day.
The village dates back to the Middle Ages, when it was fortified against pirates and rivals, and its streets were carefully designed to be defended and shaded. Today the old houses are filled with art galleries, craft shops and small restaurants, and a perfume factory offers free tours. A famous hotel occupies a clifftop castle, and the village has long been a magnet for artists and the wealthy, so prices are what you would expect.
Below the village, a steep footpath known as the Nietzsche Path winds down to the coast at Èze-sur-Mer. The German philosopher is said to have composed part of Thus Spoke Zarathustra while walking it in the 1880s, and the path takes around forty minutes to descend, with views through pines and aloes. The climb back is harder than it looks, so be sure you have the time and energy.
For the rider, Èze sits on the Moyenne Corniche, one of the three coast roads between Nice and Monaco, and the approach is a pleasure: wide curves above the sea, dramatic views of the coast and tunnels cut through the rock. The surface is generally excellent, but traffic is heavy in the summer months and tour coaches fill the village car parks by late morning. Early mornings and early evenings are the best times to visit, when the crowds thin and the light turns golden.
The old village is entirely pedestrian and the lanes are cobbled and steep, so wear sensible boots. There is parking at the entrance, but it fills quickly and is not cheap. For fuel, La Trinité, a few kilometres away, and the larger town of Beausoleil have stations, and there are none in the village itself.
- Nice finish