Located just on the Italian border (the other border town is Ventimiglia), but also not far from Nice, Monaco and Cannes, the city of Menton has a very special microclimate that has given it the opportunity to focus its economy on the cultivation of lemons, that's why it has logically earned the nickname "city of lemons". For 75 years, the city has organised the Lemon Festival in February, an event featuring exhibitions of citrus fruit constructions, day and night events, balls, concerts, a carnival, but also gardens of light with all kinds of entertainment. The lemon festival is a highlight of the tourist season in Menton. The city organises cultural events throughout the year, thus presenting itself as a site not only for tourism but also with a high cultural vocation. Numerous events such as the Music Festival, the Mediterranean Garden Days, the Franco-Italian Theatrical Encounters or Operation Christmas in Menton mark out the whole year as pretexts for personal enrichment, for the inhabitants of Menton as well as tourists passing through.

There are several museums in town, like the «Musée de préhistoire régional», which gathers the refers dug on the region’s prehistoric sites, the «Musée Jean Cocteau», which conserves a great part of the works of this artist in love with Menton, mainly crayons and two sumptuous tapestries, the « le Palais des Beaux-arts, located within the «Palais Carnoles», an ancient palace of the Princes of Monaco, one of the most beautiful museums in France.

Another nickname for Menton is «the pearl of France» given to it at the end of the XIXth century, because of its particular geographic location, between two mountains descending on the sea, offering someway a shrine to its splendour. This splendour is blatant while visiting its remarkable architectural heritage, wonderfully illuminated from the evening onwards. The Portes Saint Julien and Saint Antoine open on the villa Moyenâgeuse, resembling an amphitheatre. Other sites to visit are the Parvis Saint Michel, composed by a mosaic of white pebbles and its church whose construction began in 1640 and ended in 1675 and the Campanin that constitutes one of the rare French bell towers that was destined to call the devoted to the service. The Bastion was erected in the XVIIth century to defend the town. Jean Cocteau restored it and decorated it to host his works. Other remarkable monuments in Menton are Villa Maria Serana and it's garden with the beautiful vegetal collection, the Fontana Rosa, dedicated by its owner to writers and Spain, and also the Val Rahmeh, the serre de la Madone, the Palais Carnolès…

Thanks to its particular urban architecture, built on the steep side of a mountain and literally diving in the turquoise waters of the Mediterranean, Menton offers to photo lovers amazing points of view. There are many hotels, as well as other hosting possibilities to satisfy any request: apartment rentals, guest rooms…. As for the fine gastronomists, they will be enchanted to learn that several restaurants have their own private beach, allowing thus to add the pleasures of the food to the lazy days.