French Riviera Christmas Holidays Family-Friendly Ideas

By Access Riviera

French Riviera for Christmas

With the start of Christmas school holidays, we’re counting down to Christmas with a whole range of family-friendly activities or places to visit during school holidays. If you’re thinking two weeks is a looooong time to keep your kids entertained, then take a look below for my suggestions for Christmas holidays on the French Riviera.

Holiday Markets

There are special Marchés de Noël all along the Côte d’Azur with plenty of animation for entertainment. In lovely Antibes, the Christmas market is spread out over three parts of the old town. Most of these markets run right through until the first week of the new year. Here, is a link for the Côte d’Azur Christmas markets by town/city.

Creches and Santons

According to Access Riviera, Lucéram is an understated village on the French Riviera. However, it’s worth visiting during Christmas because the entire town is decorated in a magical nativity scene. The ‘Circuit des Crèches de Lucéram’ is a chance to visit holiday-themed displays of santons throughout the village. This event includes over 450 festive installations.

More on Christmas Traditions the Santons of Provence.

Water Events

Look for Santa’s arrival in Juan les Pins on the water. Organized by Belles Rives Ski Nautique Club, Père Noel arrives on water skis. He lands on the beach by Plage de La Jetee (Reve Plage) and hands out a candies bonbon to the kids.

Cool-weather swims – bains de noël – are fun to watch even if you don’t wish to get wet. Look for local events in Cagnes-sur-Mer, Nice and Villeneuve-Loubet.

For more information, please read A Round-up of Holiday Festivities on the French Riviera.

…Continue reading here for the original contributor blog post by Access Riviera

Rebecca Whitlocke

New Zealand born and raised, Rebecca moved permanently to the French Riviera when she fell in love with an Englishman working on a super yacht.

With 10+ years background in the travel industry, she left the rat race and founded Access Riviera after realising there was a lack of travel information in English for expats and tourists.

Access Riviera is her blog providing general travel advice regarding sightseeing, transport and festivals focusing on families and persons with reduced mobility mixed in with a healthy dose of posts about 'la vie en France' as an expat.

When not writing for her blog and collaborating with companies such as FlipKey, Lonely Planet Kids and Wanderant, Rebecca consults globally in tourism and media. She enjoys stand up paddleboarding on the Riviera coastline, and searching for the best tarte aux citron in the region.

You can connect with Rebecca via her blog Access Riviera.