Aerial view, mountain, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur.

Roquebrune-Cap-Martin is a great place to paraglide above the French Riviera. It is a popular site in the winter and visually stunning with the snowcapped Mercantour peaks to the north and the azure Mediterranean to the south. At this site, paragliders can fly above some of the world’s most expensive villas or medieval villages where time stands still. Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, Alpes-Maritimes, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France.

Paramotor over the Blue Gulf of Roquebrune-Cap-Martin. The French Riviera is one of the world’s most famous tourist destination, seeing it from above is breathtaking. Paramotors are slow with a maximum air speed rarely exceeding 50km/h but they maybe the most fun to fly of all flying machines. Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, Alpes-Maritimes, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France.

Paramotors above the Mediterranean near Menton. In the history of aviation, paramotors are relatively recent, The first flight with a motorized paraglider took place in England in 1980 while 1783 saw the first hot-air balloon flight, 1903 the first airplane flight, 1907 the first helicopter flight, 1910 the first seaplane flight, and 1923 the first gyrocopter flight. Menton, Alpes-Maritimes, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France.

Hydrofoil kitesurfer on Lake Serre-Ponçon. The lake in the Durance Valley of the southern Alps is a great spot for kitesurfing, the valley wind is consistently strong during midday in the summer time. And in winter, kitesurfing enthusiasts can still enjoy their craft by swapping their surfboards for snowboards and snowkite in one of the most spectacular alpine scenery at the nearby Lautaret pass (elevation: 2058 meters). Crots, Hautes-Alpes, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France.

Kayakers exploring the stunning landscape of Cap Dramont in the Estérel massif. The jagged massif on the Mediterranean shores is of volcanic origin, it is composed mainly of red rhyolite. It is a popular destination for outdoor enthusiasts and its seabed is also a favorite destination for divers. The massif offers an oasis of tranquility on the shores of the overcrowded French Riviera. Saint-Raphaël, Var, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France.

Walkers strolling leisurely in a hostile terrain. Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat is a 3km-long peninsula with a very scenic trail meandering along its entire shoreline. At the end of the peninsula, the weather-swept landscape is made of razor-sharp limestone ridges. Saint-Jean Cap Ferrat, Alpes-Maritimes, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France.

Hiking on a trail "in the sky" under the watchful eye of the sandstone Guardian. The Guardian is so convincingly looking like a man's profile, no imagination required, that one may think it is man made. Well, it is not. It is mother nature's version of Mount Rushmore. Annot, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France.

The #ILoveNICE sign was erected in 2016, a few months after the deadly attack that left 86 dead on the Promenade des Anglais. For the city of Nice, the goal was for everyone to post on Instagram and other social medias something explaining why they love Nice. The rallying landmark weighs nearly 2 tons and was made from car body parts. Nice, Alpes-Maritimes, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France.

The peloton at the stage 2 of the 2020 Tour de France at the 1km mark before the finish line on the famed Promenade des Anglais. Nice, Alpes-Maritimes, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France.

Arrivals of celebrities at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival with the traditional posing for photographers before going up the 24 steps leading to the Louis Lumière Theater for the official screening. Cannes, Alpes-Maritimes, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France.

The Valensole Plateau is an important agricultural region for the production of lavender and durum wheat. In July, at the peak of the flowering season, the purple fields provide an additional tourist attraction in an already very popular region with Lake Sainte-Croix to the south and the Verdon Gorge to the east. Moustiers-Sainte-Marie, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France.

Introduced to France by the Phocaeans, lavender found ideal growing conditions in Provence. Cultivation has since flourished, and in the 1920s, lavandin, a hybrid plant resulting from a cross between true lavender and spike lavender, appeared. From lavender and lavandin, essential oils are extracted and used for the production of perfumes. Puimoisson, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France.

Every February, the city of Menton organizes a lemon festival. It is a festival that started in 1875 to enliven the city in the winter for locals and wealthy foreign residents drawn to the mild winters of the French Riviera. In the Biovès Garden, visitors can admire an exhibition of structures decorated with imported lemons and oranges. Surprisingly, lemons are grown at the 43° latitude of Menton but are reserved for the region’s gourmet restaurants. Menton, Alpes-Maritimes, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France.

Every year in June, shepherds walk their sheeps to the high pastures of the southern Alps. Here the transhumance passes on a narrow bridge, 80 meters above the Var River in the Daluis Gorge. Transhumance, the seasonal droving of livestock was inscribed in 2023 on the UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Guillaumes, Alpes-Maritimes, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France.

Castillon Dam is a concrete dam built in the Verdon Valley. Its construction which started in 1928 was only completed 20 years later due to numerous setbacks: the construction company went bankrupt, a fire broke out, and World War II occurred. Standing 92 meters high, the dam created Lake Castillon, it has a capacity of 150 million cubic meters. Castellane (right bank) and Demandolx (left bank), Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France.

Solar park of La Colle des Mées. Created in 2009, the park has continued to expand since then, accommodating installations from various operators. As of 2025, it is the largest solar park in France covering a surface of about 2 km² and produces over 100 MW in a region benefiting from 2,800 hours of sunshine per year. France produces only 4.3% of its electricity from solar energy (in 2025). Les Mées, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France.

The Northern Extended Millimeter Array (NOEMA) is a radio telescope located in the Dévoluy Massif on the Bure Plateau at an elevation of 2550 meters. This large array of 15-meter antennas can spread over distances of up to 1.7 kilometers, and effectively working as a giant telescope with a technique called interferometry. Montmaur, Hautes-Alpes, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France.

Alteo, a world leader in producing alumina (an aluminum oxide used in aluminum production), has its historic headquarters in Gardanne since 1894. Alteo is located a short distance form the Centrale de Provence as the production of aluminum is energy intensive. However, France having no bauxite reserves (a sedimentary rock with a high aluminium content), it is imported from Guinea. Gardanne, Bouches-du-Rhône, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France.

The Centrale de Provence was a coal-fired power station. Between the late 2010s to early 2020s, it was converted to burn biomass instead of coal. France had set a goal of closing all its coal-fired power plants by 2022 for environmental reasons. It has a capacity to produce 150 MW of electricity. The chimney, with a height of 297 meters, is the tallest in France (as of 2019). Gardanne, Bouches-du-Rhône, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France.

ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) is an international project involving many countries whose ultimate goal is to prove the feasibility of producing energy from nuclear fusion rather than nuclear fission. It is the second most expensive international collaboration after the International Space Station ($150B) with an estimated final cost that could reach up to $65B according to some sources. Saint-Paul-lès-Durance, Bouches-du-Rhône, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France.

FRANCE