The oldest resort town on the French Riviera predates its flashier neighbors by centuries. Hyères built its reputation in the 1800s when British aristocrats and writers — Queen Victoria and Robert Louis Stevenson among them — wintered here for the mild climate and therapeutic sea air. That legacy survives in the medieval old town's winding passages, the Belle Époque villas climbing the hillside toward the ruined castle, and the remarkable modernist Villa Noailles, a 1920s cubist landmark that now hosts contemporary art exhibitions.
The Golden Islands — Porquerolles, Port-Cros, and Le Levant — lie just a short ferry crossing from the Giens peninsula. Porquerolles draws visitors to its car-free tracks, eucalyptus groves, and hidden coves with Caribbean-clear water. Port-Cros, France's first marine national park, protects underwater seagrass meadows where grouper and barracuda patrol. Back on the mainland, the Almanarre beach stretches for five kilometers, a gathering point for kitesurfers when the mistral blows. Dining here leans toward the catch of the day — sea bream, red mullet, violet sea urchins in season — served at portside terraces in the fishing quarter of La Capte or beneath the plane trees of Place Massillon.
