Motorcycle trip on the Côte d’Azur and Maritime Alps

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Motorcycle trip on the Côte d’Azur and Maritime Alps
Gerhard Eisenschink

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Motorcycle trip on the Côte d’Azur and Maritime Alps

Motorcycle tour Côte d’Azur and Maritime Alps
Way of life, beach, rocks, hills, blue sea

Lonely mountain roads between white limestone mountains with endless curves – what more could you want than the French Maritime Alps? Sure, the combination with the Côte d’Azur to also experience the coast and the blue sea.


Gerhard Eisenschink

07/07/2021

C’est le parking de la moto – this is the parking space for the motorcycle”, says Madame Sophie Longo in “Hotel Villa Saint Hubert”. Yes, the handlebars of the BMW G 310 GS just fit through the wrought-iron entrance door of the old villa. There is just a little space for the machine in a bulge in the wall next to the bistro tables. She drove here 850 kilometers across Switzerland and Northern Italy. Then fell over the foothills of the Maritime Alps and the Col de Tende in blissful curvature to the Mediterranean. And into the tangle of the streets of Nice, where the heat is still hot at night. That’s the south, that’s the answer to rainy German summers.

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Way of life, beach, rocks, hills, blue sea

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Dream streets in the east of Nice

The next morning, breakfast right next to the G 310 GS at the bistro table in the garden. Croissant and cafe au lait at eye level with the clutch lever. And then let’s go. On the recommendation of Madame Sophie it must “les Corniches” be when you want to see what the Côte d’Azur is all about. Way of life, beach, rocks, hills, blue sea, everything on these dream roads in the east of Nice. So down towards the sea and left, where you can’t go on in front of all the palm trees, skateboarders, joggers, cyclists, towel carriers and luxury hotels. The Promenade des Anglais is a lifeline of Nice that you could only look at for hours. Following her I get to the harbor, framed by the castle hill and a round of magnificent houses and filled with an impressive selection of luxury yachts. But the dream routes lie behind the harbor on the Corniche in the direction of Villefranche. I have to go on.


Motorcycle trip on the Côte d’Azur and Maritime Alps


Gerhard Eisenschink

In principle, the coast’s favorable climate makes it a touring area as early as March.

As a reward, a few kilometers later, the dream view of the bay of Villefranche-sur-Mer, framed by limestone hills with luxury villas and traversed by Cap Ferrat, a protruding peninsula with the highest property prices on the Côte d’Azur. May be well, whoever wants, I want to drive instead of paying. There are three Corniches east of Nice. On the lower one, the Corniche Inferieure, I followed the sea, now I drive one floor higher to the middle one, the Moyenne Corniche, which widens my view of this beautiful bay.

North to the mountains of the Maritime Alps

I come through Èze Village with its lovely alleys and the location on a steep rock. But I want to go higher and drive behind the town up to the Grande Corniche, which curves on the back of the hills that border the bay. The view over the sea and the entire stretch of coast from Monaco to Cannes is far. But there is also the view to the north of the mountains of the Maritime Alps, which seem close enough to touch. I want to go there.

Via La Trinite and La Turbie I thread into the valley of the Paillon de Contes to get north into the mountains. In principle, each of these Alpine rivers leading here to the Côte is an ideal threading track into the mountains. Whether Vesubie, Tinee, Loup or the arms of the Paillon rivers, they all have wonderful little roads in their valleys, which lead curvy northwards, often interspersed with spectacular sections of gorges. The D 5 in the valley of the Paillon de Contes leads me past the name Contes and via Coaraze further into the Maritime Alps.


Motorcycle trip on the Côte d’Azur and Maritime Alps


Gerhard Eisenschink

In a wild zigzag it goes spectacularly into the rocks. Tunnels and overhangs spice up the curves.

The landscape changes. Previously there were olive groves and Mediterranean dry vegetation on the mountain slopes, but it becomes greener with increasing altitude, and an initially sparse forest becomes more and more dense. I pass Peïra-Cava, a winter sports resort with a Black Forest ambience. A little later the road turns into a curvy panorama stage, from which you can see the mountains, which now show more and more rocks. I am approaching the three-thousand-meter peaks of the Mercantour National Park, the striking peaks of the Maritime Alps.

Col Saint-Martin at 1,500 meters

But after the 1,607 meter high Col de Turini my drive to the north ends, I first turn west to wag down to La Bollène-Vesubie. I reach Saint-Martin-Vesubie on a stretch of the valley that is also beautifully curvy but brisk. Then the next portion of mountain stretches when it comes to Col Saint-Martin at 1,500 meters. My declared favorite route of the day is this wonderful little, narrow D 30 from Saint-Sauveur-sur-Tinee up to Roubion 20 kilometers later. Sometimes through tunnels, sometimes in a curvy zigzag, it goes spectacularly into the rocks, through overhangs and along high walls. And deep below me a ravine too. Then Roubion. Which madmen build a village in such an inaccessible region? I can only think of motorcyclists who want to go shopping every day.


Motorcycle trip on the Côte d’Azur and Maritime Alps


Gerhard Eisenschink

The dammed Verdon becomes the Lac de Sainte-Croix.

After the Col de la Couillole it goes down again. But how! The Gorges du Cians are considered to be one of the most impressive canyons in the Alps. Red like the Grand Canyon, but even more winding and, above all, with an ingenious road in it, they are yet another increase in this contrasting day. For 100 kilometers I have experienced the sea, palm trees, dry vegetation, Black Forest ambience, alpine panoramas, insane bends and now this gorge.

Grand Canyon du Verdon

The next day a little west in the upper Var valley to Entrevaux: The place has hardly changed for 300 years and still looks like a well-fortified mountain village from the Middle Ages. Then I turn south on the tiny D 911 and D 221 to Saint-Auban, although I can’t believe how lonely and deserted this region is. Before Saint-Auban, in the Clue de Saint-Auban, a gorge is hip again with overhangs, steep walls and a narrow road that circles around rocky outcrops. I finally reach the Loup valley via the 1,430 meter high Col de Bleine.


Motorcycle trip on the Côte d’Azur and Maritime Alps


Gerhard Eisenschink

Medieval villages accompany the journey in the hinterland of the Côte d’Azur almost all the time.

But first I have to give a reference to the region’s most famous gorge, the Grand Canyon du Verdon, even if the journey now takes me far from the coast to Haute Provence. But the deepest gorge in Europe at 700 meters is a great motorcycle route. I thread in via Castellane and first follow the Verdon down in a ravine. Then the road swings up and offers a view of what the actual Grand Canyon is: a furrowed plateau in which the green-blue river is carved far below. The G 310 GS doesn’t seem to want to stop falling from one curve to the next. But I need a break and now stand on the Pont de Galetas and look at the boats below me. That arouses the desire for water.

Yachts of all sizes

The next day I am therefore drawn back to the coast. Not without having stopped by Grasse, the city of scents, and made a detour to the Gorges du Loup. Here, too, there are winding curves that seem to be in the belly of the earth and in the midst of a gallery of rock sculptures on which places like Gourdon or Pont-du-Loup put a crown on top. Then you have reached Cannes, the city of the film festival, the stars, the sophisticated hotels and the luxury yachts. Somehow I missed the sea breeze and the smell of the sea. A lap around Juan-les-Pins and the Cap d’Antibes to the port of Antibes is just the thing.

There I am now sitting and looking at the yachts of all sizes. How many millions are anchored in this harbor basin alone? In addition, my little G 310 GS from Bayerische Motorenwerke, also produced in India and for less than 6,000 euros, a real bargain. But their 34 HP from the lively single-cylinder engine were a lot of fun on these ingenious stretches of the Maritime Alps. Without having to worry about high mooring costs in any port.

Information on the Côte d’Azur motorcycle tour

Getting there: Via A 5 (Rhine Valley) to Basel and via Lucerne through Switzerland (A 2, vignette) to Lugano and Como (signposted Chiasso). Or A 81 to Schaffhausen and (with vignette) via Zurich and Lucerne to Bellinzona and Como. Alternatively via Munich on the A 96 to Lindau and with an Austrian and Swiss vignette via Bregenz, Chur and Thusis through the San Bernardino tunnel to Como. In Italy via Milan and either to Savona and on the coast via Monaco to Nice. Or via Cuneo to the Col de Tende and winding along the French D 2204 via Sospel to Nice.

Travel time: The favorable climate of the coast makes it a touring area as early as March, although there is still snow in the mountains. The area is ideal between April and into November. July and August? Totally overrun. The Côte d’Azur has around 300 sunny days a year.

Worth seeing: Nice is an exciting city with a Mediterranean flair and pulsating life. The port and promenade des Anglais are mandatory, but also many museums (Musee National du Sport), squares (Place Masena), churches (Cathedrale Saint-Nicolas), palaces (Palais Lascaris, Palace of Justice) and streets (flower market on the Cours Saleya) wait. Grasse is known worldwide as the city of fragrances, and not just since the classic “The perfume”. In various perfumeries you can find out details about the production process on guided tours. The city is also worth seeing for its magnificent buildings from the Belle epoque. Antibes and Juan-les-Pins are two elite places that have grown together. Antibes attracts with its old town, harbor with mega yachts and citadel, Juan-les-Pins with the Cap d’Antibes, beaches and the jazz festival, where world-famous greats such as Ray Charles and Miles Davis played. Cannes is also attractive with its palm-lined promenade and the harbor with luxury yachts that you can probably only afford if you are lucky in the casino. After all: Cannes has three of them. And then there’s the world-famous film festival. Outstanding art museums are almost a given in a region that has attracted the greatest painters. In Nice it is the Musee Matisse, the Musee du Message Biblique Marc Chagall and the Musee d’Art Moderne et d’Art Contemporain. In Antibes it is the Musee Picasso in the Château Grimaldi, in Vallauris the Château Musee de Vallauris Musee National Picasso and in Cagnes-sur-Mer the Renoir-Museum Villa Les Colettes. Medieval villages almost constantly accompany the journey in the hinterland of the Côte d’Azur, often as eagle nests in a spectacular spur position. Always good for a break are Vence, St-Paul-de-Vence, Tourrettes-sur-Loup, Haut-de-Cagnes, Gourdon, Èze Village, Villefranche-sur-Mer, Touët-sur-Var, Beuil, Entrevaux, La Turbie, Moustieres-Ste-Marie and many others along the way, which may be historically less important, but still exude typical French charm and are worth a coffee break.

Stay: Hidden in the middle of the old town of Nice has that “Hotel Villa Saint Hubert” no space for motorbikes, but a heart for their riders. If you want something more luxurious, you will find it in the luxurious “Grandhotel Negresco” a room from 250 euros. Almost directly on the beach and on Cap d’Antibes, it is comfortable “Hotel Josse” in Antibes ideal for exploring this stretch of coast. There is a garage for motorbikes. If you want to spend the purchase price of a BMW G 310 GS well over two nights, you can go outside at the Cap in the luxury hotel “eden Roc” from the Belle epoque a deluxe suite and at the time of the film festival you can find stars from all over the world there. It is easily accessible and guaranteed to have no movie stars but a lot of motorcyclists “Relay d’Artuby” at the intersection of two lonely country roads near Seranon in very beautiful surroundings.

Literature / map: “Côte d’Azur ”, Michelin, Green Guide, price 24.99 euros. “Provence, French Riviera”, Michelin road and tourism map 1: 200,000, price 8.99 euros. If you have more space in your tank bag, you will find the whole country 1: 200,000 for all possible extra tours at a price of 19.99 euros in Michelin’s France Road and Travel Atlas.

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