Let’s be honest: planning a trip around giant sculptures made entirely of lemons is not everyone’s cup of (lemon) tea. But for me, I can’t think of a better excuse to visit the glamorous French Riviera.

Nice to Menton

After a wee two-hour flight from Edinburgh to Nice, we jumped on the train to Menton. I’d assumed it would simply be a means of getting from A to B, but it turned out to be a bonus part of the trip. I love a train journey anyway but this train snakes along the coast, alternating between views of the Mediterranean Sea and lengthy tunnels through the cliffs.

Oh look! A lemon sculpture!

Alighting from the train, we, along with the other tourists queued up to snap a pic with the first lemon lemon sculpture (oooh look – lemons!) at the taxi rank, bought a doughnut from the station shop and then we were on our way to the hotel via more citrus.

Maybe it’s just me, but I found the information about the Lemon Festival on the official Fête du Citron website quite opaque. I really don’t think that it’s because it’s Google Translate nor my grasp of written French.

It’s not your average village fête. In the main boulevard, The Jardin Bioves, the enormous citrus sculptures are displayed, trust me you cannae miss them! The theme changes each year, 2026 was “wonders of life”. How a person becomes a lemon engineer, I would love to know! Please if anyone is a lemon sculpture/engineer reading this – do let me know your career path in the comments!

If you just want to turn up and look at the street sculptures, they are accessible 24/7 and there’s no charge to look at them up close and personal. During the daytime, especially at the weekends, the street sculptures get very busy. But we went at night and had the place pretty much to ourselves, plus they really popped against the night sky.

The grand (lemon) parade

On the day of the Grand Parade, we were rudely awakened by the crashing and banging of workers closing off the town centre. Overnight, sleepy Menton had transformed into a hive of activity, with crowds of day-trippers pouring in from across the region.

We’d pre-booked parade tickets, which gave us access to the route but not the grandstand seating. Undeterred, we headed in early, found a spot as close to the kerb as possible and settled in to wait.

Beside us sat an apparently abandoned float. Eventually, a troupe of performers in vaguely Butlins-esque pirate costumes clambered aboard. Europop began blasting from oversized speakers, the float lurched into life and rumbled down the street.

Then the parade properly began.

Around the corner came enormous carnival floats festooned with lemons and oranges, pumping out music and accompanied by dancers, acrobats and performers assaulting the crowd with bubble machines and confetti.

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For the parade to do a full loop of the town took 3-4 hours standing in the street. Some of the shops and cafes remained open during the parade so you could have got refreshments.

I love that unlike the UK, the marshalls and stewards pretty much let the crowds sort themselves out with some people climbing trees for a good view and others sitting on the kerbside, only reluctantly moving their feet to avoid the carnival floats squashing their toes.

As soon as the parade came to an end, we made a dash for the beach area for the round the bay to get some food as we were starving by this point! Now whilst the French may be more liberal with their carnival stewarding, they strictly adhere to serving food at meal times only. By 4pm most places has finished serving lunch and hadn’t started their dinner service. Luckily for us we found this cute pizzeria (“I’m afraid we’re only serving pizza”) and ordered fantastic fresh pizzas and beer. By the time the maitre’d came to check if we were enjoying our food, it was history.

More than just lemons

Menton is worth visiting regardless of the festival. Perhaps fortunately, Menton’s glamorous neighbours Nice, Cannes and Monaco draw the crowds, so it has a more relaxed feel. The narrow streets of the old town are packed with restaurants cafes and cute shops, colourful buildings and hidden viewpoints. The waterfront has stunning views across the Med with lots of cafes and restaurants along the boardwalk.

Because Menton sits so close to the Italian border, there’s plenty of both French and Italian food, architecture and culture and I found out from a local that “they” call Menton the most Italian town in France.

On the day of the grand parade, having been rudely awoken at 5am, I made the most of the early morning sunshine and headed against the crowds flooding in for their dose of lemons for a walk along the boardwalk to enjoy a croissant and a cafe au lait in the early morning sunshine on the beach.

Of course I chose Lemon Bay cafe. Even in February, the weather was a welcome break from a Scottish winter. Sitting outside with a coffee overlooking the sea felt delightfully smug while friends back home were scraping ice off their windscreens.

Sqeezing in a day trip to Monaco

With a day to spare, we also squeezed in a day trip to Monaco.

Rather than taking the train again, we hopped on the local bus from Menton to Monte Carlo for the princely sum of €2.50 each way. The journey alone was worth it, winding along the coast and negotiating a series of hairpin bends that offered spectacular views of the Riviera. Sadly we shared our bus window with a very sweaty snoring guy who slobbered on the window and ruined my panoramic pics. Huh!

Once in Monaco, we wandered parts of the Grand Prix circuit, admired the famous casino and were treated like peasants stopping for a drink overlooking the harbour (clearly not rich or good-looking enough to occupy the tables at the front of the restaurant, nor the middle, finally being stuffed at the back behind a plant).

I’m glad we visited, but if I’m honest, the blingtastic wealth on display isn’t really my thing.

Know Before You Go

Official Festival Website

The festival programme, tickets, parade dates and visitor information are all available on the official Fête du Citron website:Fête du Citron Official Website. Book tickets in advance if you’re planning to attend one of the daytime or evening parades, particularly at weekends, as these are the most popular events. If you don’t book seated tickets you’ll be standing for hours so plan accordingly!

Getting There from Nice Airport

One of the things I loved about this trip was how easy it was to do without a car. When you arrive at Nice Côte d’Azur Airport, take the free airport tram connection to Nice Saint-Augustin station. The tram stop is directly outside the terminal and the journey only takes a few minutes.

From Nice Saint-Augustin, regular TER regional trains run along the coast to Menton, passing through some of the Riviera’s most scenic towns including Villefranche-sur-Mer, Èze and Monaco. The journey takes around 40 minutes. The people at the station ticket office were really helpful and recommended the best value option for a weekend return ticket (from memory around 30 Euros per person).

There are lots of trains between Nice and Menton and TER tickets are generally flexible for the day of travel.

Timetables and tickets can be found here: SNCF Connect (Official Rail Website)

Where to Stay

If you’re visiting during the festival, book accommodation early. Menton itself is compact and walkable, so staying anywhere near the seafront, old town or station makes it easy to explore on foot.

What to Pack

Being from Scotland, I can sometimes over promise about relatively cool weather. I went in to a Carrefour to buy some breakfast supplies and had a laugh with an old guy about my bare arms and his thick puffer jacket. My high-school French just about got me through with “j’aime le soliel et en Ecosse c’est l’hiver et FROID donc ici je pense que il fait chaud”* He laughed and nodded. Mornings and evenings can be cool, daytime temperatures I was in t-shirt and jeans. As ever, layers, comfortable walking shoes and sunglasses are your friends. It did threaten to rain at one point so if you’re pessemistic, pack a waterproof.

*I love the sun, and in Scotland, it’s winter and cold, so here I think it’s hot.”