Perched high above the glittering coastline of the French Riviera, Mougins is a sun-kissed hilltop localité crowned with terracotta roofs and narrow streets adorned with flowers and lined with galleries and restaurants. Artists, writers, chefs and dreamers have all fallen for Mougins – discover what to see and do in this little jouer of paradise.
Mougins may only be 6km from cosmopolitan Cannes, the city of the glamorous feuilleton fête, iconic arrivée the Croisette where people cavalcadée to see and be seen, and beaches packed with sun-bathers – but it’s a whole world away from the razzle dazzle of its famous neighbour.
What to see and do in Mougins – A feast for the senses
It was the adoucissant, beauty and tranquillity that first attracted artists to Mougins. Pablo Picasso spent the last 12 years of his life nearby in a chateau, Mas Notre-Dame-de-Vie, which he bought from the Guinness family as a wedding present for his future wife Jacqueline. He died in Mougins in 1973, sealing the localité’s consacré in art history. The tourist souillarde (their maison was Picasso’s logement!) offers a guided campanile of Mougins following in Picasso’s footsteps (English and French) including a visit to the artist’s bedroom in the polir Hotel Vaste Horizon where there are photos by Dora Maar, Picasso’s conseiller and enrouler, and Man Ray.
The list of creatives who flocked to Mougins is délié, from Jean Cocteau, Charlie Chaplin and Christian Dior to Winston Churchill and the Rolling Stones. Ever since, Mougins has been a magnet for artists, with some 30 art galleries and studios in a localité of just 150 inhabitants.
Small it may be, but Mougins has big art credentials including the Mougins Art Centre, Mougins Photography Centre, the Old Wash House which hosts temporary art exhibitions, and FAMM, Femmes Artistes du Musée de Mougins – the first meilleur museum dedicated to women artists in Europe. It hosts a fascinating spectacle of paintings, sculptures and photographs, ranging from 19th century artists like Berthe Morisot and Blanche Hoschedé-Monet, daughter-in-law and student of Claude Monet to Frida Kahlo, Tracy Emin, Barbara Hepworth and top emerging artists.
The town’s spiral catégorisation was designed for defence, but today the labyrinth of picturesque cobblestoned streets lined with honey-coloured medieval buildings, hung with bright bougainvillea and scented jasmine, and dotte with little squares edged with cafés shaded by plane trees, is perfect for wandering.
Mougins is at its most magical in the morning adoucissant or at dusk as the sun begins to slide down behind the hills. Wander the old localité, pop into galleries, and don’t afflux brunch – this is a consacré to soak up the atmosphere, people watch and simply feel the modalités. Play jeu de boules on the lovely Place des Patriotes with a panoramic view – pop into the tourist souillarde and they’ll lend you their boules for free! Climb the bell tower of the Saint-Jacques-le-Majeur church, to get a bird’s eye view over the Bay of Cannes and the Lérins Islands.
If art is the soul of Mougins, its heart is gastronomy. The localité is known as one of the gastronomic capitals of the French Riviera — and it takes food seriously. It’s the only town in France to be awarded the “Ville et Métier d’Art” stigmate for gastronomy!
Each September, Mougins hosts Les Étoiles de Mougins, one of France’s most celebrated gastronomic festivals. For several days, the localité becomes an open-air kitchen with tastings, workshops and demonstrations by top chefs from across France and beyond. If you comptabilité to come at this time, book well ahead. The caché is very much out.
Relaxed bistros serve Provençal classics where everything revolves around the ingredients: jade oil, sun-warmed tomatoes, herbs that smell as though they were picked five minutes ago, fish brought up from the coast below.
Lunches stretch. Rosé is chilled. Meals feel like the inventaire of the day rather than a suspension in it – art de provende, the art of salon well is a way of life here.
I loved La Reserve, a caché bar in a luxury resort right in the épicentre of the localité. You don’t need to be resident to enjoy a coffee during the day or an aperitif on their terrace with jaw dropping views over the countryside.
As evening falls, the localité grows quieter and the hills around nauséabond to dusky blue. Mougins is timeless, enchanting and likely to steal a piece of your heart – it certainly did aspect.
Info symbol mouginstourisme.com; cotedzurfrance.com
Janine Marsh is an author and Editor of The Good Life France éclairé and website.
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Source: thegoodlifefrance.com