Fifteen minutes inland · Village and art
A hill village that Picasso kept coming back to. Galleries, a classical art museum, and lunch in a garden with the coast somewhere below you.
20 places in 5 sections
Market mornings, and the shops worth carrying something home from.
Mougins · Village entrance
Heritage · Free · Built 1894, in use until 1970
The lavoir at the entrance to the village, kept as it was and now used for small temporary exhibitions. Two minutes of your time and a good indication of how recently this was a working village rather than a destination.
Valbonne · 15 min from Mougins
Village Market · 🚗 30min · Friday · 08:00–13:00
Friday market in a pretty Provençal village square. Good produce, regional foods and crafts. A pleasant reason to drive out for the morning.
The free public swims first, then the coast paths, then the clubs if you want a lounger.
Mougins · Parc de la Valmasque
Walking · Free · Lotus flowers in July and August
A large wooded park below the village with marked trails, and a lake that carries one of the biggest stands of lotus in Europe. They flower through high summer. Flat, shaded and almost empty on a weekday, which makes it a good antidote to the coast in August.
Mougins · Below the village
Old Village · On foot · Park below and walk up
The village winds up its hill in a spiral, which is unusual and immediately obvious once you are in it. Galleries, artists' studios and around forty restaurants in a very small area. Picasso spent his last twelve years just outside it, at Notre-Dame-de-Vie, which you can see from the road but not enter.
Museums, galleries and the buildings worth going inside.
Mougins · Village entrance
Museum · €16 · The first major museum in Europe devoted to women artists
Around a hundred works by ninety women artists, in the building that until recently held the classical collection. Paintings, sculpture and photography, hung with more argument than most museums of this size attempt. It takes about ninety minutes and is the strongest reason to come up here.
Mougins · Beside the church
Photography · €6 · Three exhibitions a year, no permanent collection
A small, seriously curated space next to Saint-Jacques-le-Majeur and the Porte Sarrazine, showing contemporary photography three times a year. Half an hour, well spent, and it changes often enough to be worth checking before you drive up.
Mougins · Throughout the village
Open-air Sculpture · Free · From spring each year · 2026 is Beth Carter
Every year the village gives its lanes and squares over to one sculptor. You come round a corner and there is another piece. It costs nothing, needs no ticket, and turns a twenty-minute wander into an hour.
Mougins · 15 min inland
Museum · Women Artists
The first private museum in Europe given entirely to women artists, opened in 2024. Four floors, from the Impressionists to the present. Small, expensive, and the best reason to come to Mougins.
Mougins · 15 min inland
Museum · Free
Ancient arms and armour hung against modern art, which sounds wrong and works. Free, small enough to see properly, open daily.
Mougins · 15 min inland
Contemporary · Combined Ticket
Changing contemporary shows in an old building on Place du Commandant Lamy, with a joint ticket to the photography museum for around eight euros. Staff will talk you through it in English.
Mougins · 15 min inland
Gallery · Rue du Maréchal Foch
The best of the village galleries, run by Nathalie, who will talk properly about the work rather than the price. Worth twenty minutes even if you are not buying.
From counters you eat standing up to the tables worth booking a week out.
Mougins · 15 min by car
Tasting Menu
The serious kitchen in the village. The set lunch is the way in, and the sommelier is worth listening to. Closed Wednesdays.
Mougins · 15 min by car
Village Bistro
Low beams and tables very close together on Place du Commandant Lamy. Generous, traditional, and warm with it.
Mougins · 15 min by car
French · Peruvian
A French chef and a Peruvian kitchen, which sounds like a gimmick and is not. Closed Sunday and Monday, and it fills up.
Mougins · 15 min by car
Terrace · View
The terrace with the view over the plain to the sea. The setting does most of the work, so come for lunch and the outlook rather than for fireworks.
Valbonne · 20 min by car
Grill
Down a quiet lane in Valbonne village, one thing done very well. Dinner only, closed Sunday and Monday.
Valbonne · 20 min by car
Korean · Changing Menu
Donna cooks and serves alone, changes the menu weekly, and was a pastry chef in Grasse and Sydney before this, so save room. Korean cooking with a Provençal hand.
Where to start the morning, and the bakeries worth a detour.
Mougins · 15 min inland
Coffee · Vegan and GF
On the Avenue de Tournamy, Salvadoran coffee roasted by a Salvadoran owner, and genuinely good vegan and gluten-free cakes. Small, so book or take away.
Mougins · 15 min inland
Bakery · Sells Out
On the Chemin Saint-Barthélémy. Sourdough, raspberry croissants and sandwiches worth taking on a train. Go before ten or the croissants are gone.
Valbonne · 20 min by car
Pâtisserie · Closed Mon-Tue
On the Boulevard Carnot in Valbonne, a family up at four to make the croissants, and it shows. The éclairs are the other reason to stop.
Mougins · Village entrance
Heritage · Free · Built 1894, in use until 1970
The lavoir at the entrance to the village, kept as it was and now used for small temporary exhibitions. Two minutes of your time and a good indication of how recently this was a working village rather than a destination.
Valbonne · 15 min from Mougins
Village Market · 🚗 30min · Friday · 08:00–13:00
Friday market in a pretty Provençal village square. Good produce, regional foods and crafts. A pleasant reason to drive out for the morning.
Mougins · Parc de la Valmasque
Walking · Free · Lotus flowers in July and August
A large wooded park below the village with marked trails, and a lake that carries one of the biggest stands of lotus in Europe. They flower through high summer. Flat, shaded and almost empty on a weekday, which makes it a good antidote to the coast in August.
Mougins · Below the village
Old Village · On foot · Park below and walk up
The village winds up its hill in a spiral, which is unusual and immediately obvious once you are in it. Galleries, artists' studios and around forty restaurants in a very small area. Picasso spent his last twelve years just outside it, at Notre-Dame-de-Vie, which you can see from the road but not enter.
Mougins · Village entrance
Museum · €16 · The first major museum in Europe devoted to women artists
Around a hundred works by ninety women artists, in the building that until recently held the classical collection. Paintings, sculpture and photography, hung with more argument than most museums of this size attempt. It takes about ninety minutes and is the strongest reason to come up here.
Mougins · Beside the church
Photography · €6 · Three exhibitions a year, no permanent collection
A small, seriously curated space next to Saint-Jacques-le-Majeur and the Porte Sarrazine, showing contemporary photography three times a year. Half an hour, well spent, and it changes often enough to be worth checking before you drive up.
Mougins · Throughout the village
Open-air Sculpture · Free · From spring each year · 2026 is Beth Carter
Every year the village gives its lanes and squares over to one sculptor. You come round a corner and there is another piece. It costs nothing, needs no ticket, and turns a twenty-minute wander into an hour.
Mougins · 15 min inland
Museum · Women Artists
The first private museum in Europe given entirely to women artists, opened in 2024. Four floors, from the Impressionists to the present. Small, expensive, and the best reason to come to Mougins.
Mougins · 15 min inland
Museum · Free
Ancient arms and armour hung against modern art, which sounds wrong and works. Free, small enough to see properly, open daily.
Mougins · 15 min inland
Contemporary · Combined Ticket
Changing contemporary shows in an old building on Place du Commandant Lamy, with a joint ticket to the photography museum for around eight euros. Staff will talk you through it in English.
Mougins · 15 min inland
Gallery · Rue du Maréchal Foch
The best of the village galleries, run by Nathalie, who will talk properly about the work rather than the price. Worth twenty minutes even if you are not buying.
Mougins · 15 min by car
Tasting Menu
The serious kitchen in the village. The set lunch is the way in, and the sommelier is worth listening to. Closed Wednesdays.
Mougins · 15 min by car
Village Bistro
Low beams and tables very close together on Place du Commandant Lamy. Generous, traditional, and warm with it.
Mougins · 15 min by car
French · Peruvian
A French chef and a Peruvian kitchen, which sounds like a gimmick and is not. Closed Sunday and Monday, and it fills up.
Mougins · 15 min by car
Terrace · View
The terrace with the view over the plain to the sea. The setting does most of the work, so come for lunch and the outlook rather than for fireworks.
Valbonne · 20 min by car
Grill
Down a quiet lane in Valbonne village, one thing done very well. Dinner only, closed Sunday and Monday.
Valbonne · 20 min by car
Korean · Changing Menu
Donna cooks and serves alone, changes the menu weekly, and was a pastry chef in Grasse and Sydney before this, so save room. Korean cooking with a Provençal hand.
Mougins · 15 min inland
Coffee · Vegan and GF
On the Avenue de Tournamy, Salvadoran coffee roasted by a Salvadoran owner, and genuinely good vegan and gluten-free cakes. Small, so book or take away.
Mougins · 15 min inland
Bakery · Sells Out
On the Chemin Saint-Barthélémy. Sourdough, raspberry croissants and sandwiches worth taking on a train. Go before ten or the croissants are gone.
Valbonne · 20 min by car
Pâtisserie · Closed Mon-Tue
On the Boulevard Carnot in Valbonne, a family up at four to make the croissants, and it shows. The éclairs are the other reason to stop.
Nothing here under that name. Try another word, or choose Everything.
Riviera Séjour
Notes from the coast, now and then. Nothing more.
Thank you, you are in.
