Menton, the lemon town on Italy's doorstep

Menton is the last town on the French coast before Italy, and to me it’s the friendliest of the lot. It has a colourful old town that climbs in stairways from the sea, a Cocteau museum, a market that closes at one and gardens everywhere you look. From Monaco you reach it by train or bus. Here’s what to see, how to get there and how I’d plan the day.

Where is Menton, exactly?

Menton sits in the Alpes-Maritimes, between Roquebrune-Cap-Martin and the Italian border. Menton-Garavan station is 1 km from Italy, and the tourist office boasts of 316 days of sunshine a year (the official figures are in Menton weather). The princes of Monaco left their mark, starting with the pebbled paving of the old town, which bears the Grimaldi arms. Since 1991 it has held the French label of Town of Art and History.

One practical detail hardly anyone thinks about. Menton is France and Ventimiglia is Italy, both in the EU, but the train from Nice runs through Monaco, which sits outside the EU roaming rules. Since Brexit, each UK network decides for itself what it charges in each place, so it’s worth checking your plan before you board.

The old town, from the basilica to the cemetery

The historic centre is a maze of narrow streets, stairways and little squares. At the top, ramps lead to the Basilica of Saint-Michel-Archange, built in 1639 and remodelled in 1819, with a 53-metre bell tower. Next door is the Chapel of the White Penitents, from 1680 to 1687. Between them opens a square paved in pebbles with the Grimaldi arms, relaid in 2006 with 250,000 stones, which hosts the Menton Music Festival in summer.

Turn round when you reach that square. Below you lie Les Sablettes beach (the others are in beaches in Menton) and the old port, and to me that view is the best thing in town. Keep climbing narrow steps and you reach the cemetery of the Vieux Château, with a panorama over the whole bay.

Cocteau in the Bastion and the 1898 market

Jean Cocteau has his museum here, in the Bastion. It closes on Tuesdays; the rest of the week it opens mornings from 10:00 to 12:30 and afternoons from 14:00 to 18:00. Its temporary exhibition, for the 80th anniversary of Beauty and the Beast, runs until 16 November 2026. Entry is €5, and under-18s go free, as does everyone on the first Sunday of the month. It opened in 1966 as the first museum devoted to Cocteau, and I cover it in depth, with the wedding hall, in the Jean Cocteau museum in Menton.

The Marché des Halles dates from 1898, with Saïssi ceramics on the façade, and opens daily but only in the morning, until 13:00, with around forty producers (fewer on Mondays). I’d start the day here, because it’s where you eat well without paying seafront prices. Socca, barbajuans and lemon tart, the same cooking I describe in Monaco’s food.

A town of gardens and lemons

The mild climate filled Menton with gardens, and the tourist office says nearly all of them are open to the public, among them Maria Serena, Serre de la Madone, Fontana Rosa and Colombières. If I could only see one, I’d pick Val Rahmeh, a hectare and a half with 1,700 identified taxa. The garden of the Palais de Carnolès, once the summer residence of the princes of Monaco and now a fine arts museum, gathers 137 varieties of citrus. Hours, prices and which ones need a guide are in gardens in Menton.

The lemon is the town’s emblem. It has held PGI status since 2015, the only French lemon to do so, and it’s picked by hand and left unwaxed. In 1671 Prince Louis I went as far as creating a Magistrat des Citrons to regulate the trade, which says a lot about what the fruit was worth back then.

When is the Menton Lemon Festival?

Every February since 1934, Menton has held its Lemon Festival, and the 2026 edition was the 92nd. In 2027 it runs from 13 to 28 February, with parades of floats built from citrus fruit, night parades, an exhibition of citrus sculptures in the Biovès gardens and an orchid show. It draws more than 250,000 visitors and has been on France’s inventory of intangible cultural heritage since 2019.

I’d go by train. The organisers ask people to use public transport, put on extra ZOU! trains and advise arriving before 11:00 for the Sunday parades and before 18:00 for the Thursday ones, because fifteen minutes after the start they stop letting people in. Under-6s go free but still need a ticket. The 2027 programme and prices are in the Menton Lemon Festival. The rest of the local calendar is in Monaco events.

Getting there from Monaco, Nice or the airport

Menton has two stations, Menton in the centre, with TGV and TER services, and Menton-Garavan, next to Italy. The ZOU! 600 bus covers the whole coast and takes 1 hr 40 min from Menton to Nice, with a €2.20 ticket; at night, there’s the 601. From Nice airport, the 80 express runs through Monaco and on to Menton, for €21.40 bought from a ticket office or by card. Within town, the electric Navette links the station with the market, the Biovès gardens and the Bastion every 20 minutes. The Nice to Monaco leg, in full detail, is in my Nice to Monaco guide.

Hotels in Menton, and where to eat

Among the hotels the tourist office lists are the Best Western Méditerranée, the Prince de Galles, l’Orangeraie and the Ibis Styles Menton Centre, and the rate range each one publishes is in where to stay in Menton. Menton works as a base for the eastern side of the coast, with Roquebrune-Cap-Martin next door and Italy a short ride away. For eating, I’d stick to the market at lunchtime, as I have no source to put my name to a particular restaurant. A day covers the essentials, and if you want to carry on to Ventimiglia on a Friday market day, it’s in my day trips from Monaco.