France / Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
Menton
Menton is a coastal resort area in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France. Its longest mapped beach (Plage du Marché) stretches about 678 m and has a pebble surface. The sea averages 24.5 °C in August, its warmest month, and 13.3 °C in February; it is 21 °C or warmer in June–September.
Average sea surface temperature by month. Current month outlined.
The beach is tagged as supervised.
Services in the resort
- 221Restaurants, cafés & bars
- 13Public toilets
- –Showers
- 12Drinking water
- 39Car parks
- –Lifeguard stations
- 38Hotels & guesthouses
- 1Campsites
- 48Grocery shops
- 3Water-sports spots
- 1Marinas & slipways
- 133Bus stops (1.5 km)
- 12Pharmacies & clinics
- 4Cash machines
- 1Bike rental
- 3Viewpoints
- 1Historic sites
Food and drink mapped within 1 km: 186 restaurants, 14 cafés, 15 bars and 6 fast-food outlets. Accommodation: 38 hotels and guesthouses.
Counted within 1 km of the beach (bus stops 1.5 km) from OpenStreetMap features and Overture Maps places, release of 2026-10. Unmapped does not mean absent.
Bathing water quality
The official EU bathing-water site “Fossan”, 150 m from the beach centre, was rated Good for the 2025 season. It was Excellent in 3 of its 11 classified seasons since 2015.
- 2015Excellent
- 2016Excellent
- 2017Excellent
- 2018Good
- 2019Good
- 2020Sufficient
- 2021Sufficient
- 2022Sufficient
- 2023Sufficient
- 2024Good
- 2025Good
Source: European Environment Agency, EU Bathing Water Directive assessments · national site profile. Classes are based on four seasons of bacteriological sampling.
Month by month
October at Menton
Beach-day index 4.8/10 · France median 4.9
| Measure | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sea °C | 13.7 °C | 13.3 °C | 13.5 °C | 14.6 °C | 17.4 °C | 21.0 °C | 23.6 °C | 24.5 °C | 22.1 °C | 19.6 °C | 17.2 °C | 15.1 °C |
| High °C | 9° | 9° | 12° | 15° | 19° | 23° | 26° | 26° | 23° | 18° | 13° | 10° |
| Low °C | 4° | 4° | 7° | 10° | 13° | 17° | 20° | 20° | 16° | 13° | 9° | 5° |
| Rain mm | 54 | 54 | 64 | 64 | 57 | 39 | 26 | 33 | 50 | 86 | 132 | 80 |
| Cloud % | 60 | 58 | 53 | 53 | 52 | 39 | 28 | 30 | 41 | 52 | 59 | 57 |
| Wind m/s | 3.9 | 4.0 | 3.7 | 3.1 | 2.8 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.8 | 3.3 | 3.7 | 3.9 |
| Daylight h | 9.3 | 10.5 | 11.8 | 13.4 | 14.7 | 15.4 | 15.2 | 14.1 | 12.6 | 11.1 | 9.7 | 9.0 |
| Record high/low | 20°/-2° | 17°/-6° | 21°/-3° | 23°/3° | 26°/6° | 34°/9° | 32°/15° | 33°/15° | 29°/10° | 26°/5° | 22°/2° | 17°/-3° |
| Beach index | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 4.6 | 8.0 | 9.5 | 9.4 | 7.9 | 4.8 | 3.0 | 2.8 |
Long-term monthly averages: air from NASA POWER (2001–2020), sea from NOAA OISST (1991–2020); records are the extremes of 2001–2020. How the index works.
When to go
The beach-day index peaks in July–August; July scores 9.5/10 with highs of 26 °C, sea at 23.6 °C and 26 mm of rain.
In July that is 1.6 points above the median of the 625 beaches in France covered by this atlas.
At its warmest the water here is 2.4 °C warmer than the France median for August (22.1 °C).
Across the year the sea averages 18.0 °C, cooler than 58% of the coastal beaches in the atlas.
November is the wettest month (132 mm) and July the driest (26 mm); the yearly total is about 740 mm.
Daylight runs from 9.0 hours in December to 15.4 hours in June; in mid-July the sun rises at 06:00 and sets at 21:10 local time.
Orientation, sun and shore
The shore faces south-east (140°). Open water fills about 47% of the horizon close by, which makes it an open stretch of shore.
At no time of year does the sun set over the sea here: sunset bearings run from 238° to 304°, behind the land.
Sunrise is over the sea in every month.
Straight out to the south-east the next coast is roughly 120 km away, so waves are mostly wind-driven sea rather than ocean swell.
About 1 km offshore the sea is roughly 30 m deep and 80 m at 3 km. Behind the beach the ground is about 60 m above sea level 500 m inland and 119 m at 1.5 km, so the beach is backed by steep slopes or cliffs.
Within 1 km, the land is 65% built-up land, 28% tree cover and 3% bare ground, sand or rock (satellite land-cover map, 2021): an urban beach. Water makes up 42% of that circle.
- Built 65%
- Tree 28%
- Bare 3%
Land cover: ESA WorldCover 2021 (10 m). Orientation from OpenStreetMap land polygons sampled in 36 directions; depths and heights from the GEBCO 2020 grid (about 450 m cells), indicative only.
Getting there
| Airport | Code | Distance | Direction |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nice-Côte d'Azur Airport Nice, Alpes-Maritimes | NCE | 26.5 km | south-west |
| Cuneo International Airport Levaldigi (CN) | CUF | 86.4 km | north |
| Genoa Cristoforo Colombo Airport Genova (GE) | GOA | 128 km | north-east |
Straight-line distances from the beach; road distance is usually 20–40% longer.
Local transport: 133 bus stops within 1.5 km, rail station Menton (790 m), rail station Menton - Garavan (1.6 km) and 39 mapped car parks within 1 km.
22 towns and villages of 1,000+ people lie within 10 km (about 184.9K residents); within 30 km there are 108 (about 1.1M).
Around the beach
Viewpoints
- Le Trabuquet 480 m NE
Attractions & museums
- La Salle des mariages - Mairie de Menton museum 30 m N
- Carrousel de Menton attraction 170 m E
- Musée de la Préhistoire Régionale museum 180 m N
- Fortino - Museo Jean Cocteau museum 310 m NE
- Musée Marabini-Martac museum 430 m W
- Museum Jean Cocteau museum 450 m E
Historic sites
- Rampes Saint-Michel monument 440 m NE
Marinas
- Centre Nautique Ville de Menton 660 m NE
Diving & boat hire
- Mer passion 560 m E
- Jet Rent Menton 560 m E
- Greenlines 610 m SW
Campsites
- Camping Saint-Michel 580 m NW
Map
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Data on this page
- Air temperature, rain, cloud, wind, humidity: NASA POWER climatology 2001–2020, 0.5° grid.
- Sea temperature: NOAA OISST v2.1 monthly normals 1991–2020, nearest ocean cell 19.4 km away.
- Beach outline, surface, rules and public facilities: OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), feature w73549168; restaurants, cafés, bars and lodging: Overture Maps places (CDLA-Permissive-2.0).
- Towns and time zone: GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Airports: OurAirports (public domain). Sunrise and sunset: NOAA solar equations.
- Satellite view: Copernicus Sentinel-2 (ESA), scene S2A_32TLP_20230926_0_L2A.
- Orientation: OpenStreetMap land polygons (ODbL). Depth and terrain: GEBCO 2020 grid.
- Bathing-water quality: European Environment Agency (site FRL0306083M006705).
- Settlements: GeoNames places with 1,000+ inhabitants.
- Land cover: ESA WorldCover 2021, 10 m (CC BY 4.0).
- Search popularity: about 2.9K Google searches a month for the name (KeywordTool, October 2026).
Data compiled 2026-10-13. Something wrong? Report a data error.