Five-star hotels in Menton, beside the Italian border

A border town on the Mediterranean

Menton lies on the Mediterranean at the Franco-Italian border, across from the Ligurian town of Ventimiglia, which is 11 km away, and 7 km from Monaco. Nicknamed the Pearl of France, the commune covers 14.05 km², and INSEE counted 30,604 residents in 2023. Its temperate Mediterranean climate is especially favourable to citrus, and the town is strongly identified with the fruit.

Its history runs through Monaco. In 1848, together with its neighbour Roquebrune, Menton seceded from the Principality, at least in part because of a tax on lemon exports, and the prince of Monaco renounced his rights in perpetuity on 2 February 1861. In the early 1860s the English doctor James Henry Bennet, who had settled in Menton in 1859, began publishing books that presented it as a winter resort, and the town's popularity grew quickly. Winter residents followed, and with them the gardens that still define Menton.

Writers came too. The New Zealand writer Katherine Mansfield lived and worked in a street that now bears her name, and W. B. Yeats died in Menton in 1939.

Villa Genesis, Menton's five-star address

Hotel Villa Genesis stands at 7 avenue de la Madone. According to the hotel, the building went up in 1885 as the Hôtel Aiglon, one of the symbols of Belle Époque Menton, and its design follows an eclectic classicism, with ornament that pays homage to the Louis XV and Louis XVI styles. The sea is about 100 metres away, Menton station about 900 metres, and the Casino de Menton and the pedestrianised shopping street are a short stroll.

The 14-metre swimming pool, with sun loungers and parasols, is open from May to October. Breakfast is a buffet of viennoiseries, fruit, eggs, meat, cheese and salads; room service runs 24/7 with hot meals, snacks and desserts; and the bar is open to hotel guests and the public. The concierge can give regional advice, book dinners and arrange babysitting.

The Cosy Room measures 18 m², with a queen-size bed for one or two people; the hotel also lists Deluxe, Deluxe Privilege, Junior Suite and Family Junior Suite categories. For drivers there is a charged private car park within the hotel's walls and a valet service, and transfers to and from the hotel can be arranged for a supplement.

Hotels in Menton: where to stay by district

Menton's seafront is the Baie du Soleil, 3.2 km long. The Casino de Menton, with terraces opening onto the sea, stands between that bay and the Jardins Biovès; Rue Saint-Michel is the town's pedestrian street, and Menton station stands immediately beside the town centre. The old town rises around the Basilica of Saint-Michel-Archange. Garavan, towards the border, is known above all for its villas and the gardens around them, and has its own station, Menton-Garavan.

Avenue de la Madone is home both to Villa Genesis, at number 7, and, a few hundred metres away at number 3, to the Palais Carnolès, built in 1717 for Antoine I Grimaldi, third prince of Monaco. Its garden, labelled a jardin remarquable in 2005, holds the main citrus collection in France; the palace, a fine-arts museum since 1977, is closed for works: the town plans a rehabilitation starting in 2026 and a reopening to the public in 2028.

Without a car, the simplest bases are within walking distance of a station: Menton station beside the centre, or Menton-Garavan for the eastern districts. Garavan suits travellers who come for the gardens, and it is the closest district to Italy. Our guide to checking a hotel's location and transport before booking explains how to weigh these trade-offs.

The gardens of Menton

Drawn by the mild climate and by winter residents' enthusiasm for the town, botanists, many of them English, introduced tropical and subtropical species that adapted remarkably well here. The tourist office names Maria Serena, Serre de la Madone, Fontana Rosa, the Waterfield garden at the Clos du Peyronnet, the Val Rahmeh botanical garden and Les Colombières among Menton's remarkable gardens, and notes that almost all are open to the public, several through guided visits. Two stand out for their history:

• Val Rahmeh: Sir Percy Radcliffe settled here from 1905 with his wife Rahmeh, whose name the estate bears. Since 1966 it has been managed by the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle. Its nearly 1.5 hectares on avenue Saint-Jacques hold up to 1,700 taxa, with lotus and giant water lilies in a pool.
• Serre de la Madone: created between 1924 and 1939 by Lawrence Johnston, who had earlier made Hidcote Manor Garden in England, it covers 6 hectares on a hillside in the Gorbio valley. The Conservatoire du littoral bought it in 1999 and began restoring it to his design; it opens to the public in the warmer months.

Add the citrus garden of the Palais Carnolès and the villa gardens of Garavan, and a garden-led stay can fill several days without repeating a visit.

The old town, the basilica and Cocteau

In Roman times the Via Julia Augusta, the road from Placentia (Piacenza) to Arelate (Arles), passed through Menton along what is now the Rue Longue in the old town. Above it stands the Basilica of Saint-Michel-Archange: the first stone was laid on 27 May 1619, the church opened for worship in 1653, and its present façade was completed in 1819 in the spirit of the Baroque. Majestic flights of steps lead up to it. The basilica and its forecourt have been listed as historic monuments since 3 March 1947, and in 1999 Pope John Paul II raised the church to a minor basilica.

Since 1949 the forecourt has hosted a classical music festival every August; the 2026 edition of the Festival de Musique de Menton ran from 25 July to 7 August. The town has held the Ville d'art et d'histoire label since 1991, and its heritage tours are led by guides approved by the Ministry of Culture; outdoor tours are cancelled in rain.

Jean Cocteau left a strong mark. The Bastion in the port, which he decorated, is one of the sites of the Musée Jean Cocteau, alongside the Séverin Wunderman collection, and the wedding room at the town hall was painted by Cocteau in the 1950s.

Lemons and the February festival

The Fête du Citron, Menton's Lemon Festival, takes place every February. Motifs built from citrus fruit are displayed in the Jardins Biovès, a garden promenade laid out over the covered course of the Careï at the town's north-western entrance, which has taken on the festival's colours since 1936, and the Corsos des fruits d'or by day and the Corsos nocturnes by night parade floats made of citrus, accompanied by musical groups. The organisers say the festival draws more than 250,000 visitors each year, and in 2019 it was entered in France's inventory of intangible cultural heritage.

Staying in Menton itself, rather than travelling in along the coast each day, makes the most of a festival that also runs night-time parades, and keeps the Biovès displays within walking distance.

Arriving, and crossing into Italy

Nice Côte d'Azur Airport is the gateway, and intercity bus 80 leaves from both terminals for Monaco and Menton. By rail, Menton station, opened on 6 December 1869, stands next to the town centre; between 2022 and 2024 major works turned it into a transport hub, with the bus station about 400 m away. Menton-Garavan, in the Garavan district, is the last station before the Franco-Italian border. By road, the Basse Corniche runs along the shore from Nice and ends at the Italian border in Menton, and the Pont Saint-Ludovic crossing links Menton with Ventimiglia.

One stop west by train, Carnolès station already lies in the neighbouring commune of Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, and beyond Monaco the line reaches Beaulieu-sur-Mer. Our French Riviera hotels page covers five-star stays along the rest of the coast.