Did you know? · French Riviera
French Riviera fun facts
Things you might not know about the Riviera. Every fact comes from an official or primary source, named alongside it.
Updated October 2026
A World Heritage winter resort
“Nice, Winter Resort Town of the Riviera” was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2021, for the town shaped by its winter visitors (whc.unesco.org).
The festival that never was
The first Festival de Cannes was due to open on 1 September 1939 and was cancelled by the war. Its Palme d’or was finally awarded 63 years later, in 2002, to Union Pacific (festival-cannes.com).
How the Tarte Tropézienne got its name
Alexandre Micka opened his bakery in Saint-Tropez in 1955; Brigitte Bardot, filming Et Dieu… créa la femme, suggested he call his cream tart La Tarte Tropézienne (latartetropezienne.fr).
Nine weeks in the Yellow House
Paul Gauguin joined Van Gogh in the Yellow House in Arles on 23 October 1888 and stayed about nine weeks (Van Gogh Museum).
Nine gardens on Cap Ferrat
The Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild has nine themed gardens: French, Spanish, Florentine, Sèvres, lapidary, Japanese, exotic, Provençal and a rose garden (villa-ephrussi.com).
Old ports and new
Construction of Nice’s Port Lympia began in 1750 (Région Sud heritage inventory). Cannes’s Port Pierre Canto, opened in the 1960s, was the first private port built in France (Cannes tourist office), and the quai Saint-Pierre of the Vieux-Port dates from 1838 (Ville de Cannes).
A hotel from 1870
The Hôtel du Cap-Eden-Roc was founded in 1870 by Antoine Sella as the Grand Hotel du Cap (the hotel’s own website).
Questions and answers
When did Nice become a UNESCO site?
In 2021, as “Nice, Winter Resort Town of the Riviera”.
Who named the Tarte Tropézienne?
Brigitte Bardot, in 1955 (latartetropezienne.fr).