Riviera Pebbles Blog: Activities on the Riviera: Paddleboarding & Flyboarding

Posted on 16th May 2018 in Go & Do

Just stand-up and paddle to join the Riviera's latest craze

It looks like fun, doesn’t it? That lone paddleboarder, standing atop a glassy surface, somewhere between San Remo and St Tropez. Well you can do it too! There are dozens of hire places along the Cote d’Azur.

The attraction is obvious. With a paddleboard you can cruise past Cannes, explore the eight beaches of Cap Ferrat, or putter past the €2,000-a-night haven that is the Hotel du Cap Eden-Roc.

Boarding is done is silence. There’s birdsong for company. Fish dart under the Neptune grass below. Apparently SUPs (stand up paddle boards) build core strength and abdominal muscle so what could be better?

Best of all, paddleboarding is a breeze to learn. Unlike surfing (which can take over a week to get to grips with) these boards are wide, light and buoyant so it’s almost (!) impossible to fall in.

For history head to Plage Marquet near Monaco. Their Base Nautique hire centre now rents paddleboards for a standard €15 per hour. A ten-minute paddle along the coast is Villa La Rock, a favourite haunt of Greta Garbo. Nearby is La Capponcina, where Winston Churchill loved to spend his summers.

This sunny stretch ends at Cap d’Ail’s Plage Mala, which has another hire centre (also €15 per hour) on the beach.

For celebrity the Cap d’Antibes is a must. Well-established outfit Cap Kayak (€15 per hour) in Juan-les-Pins’ Port Gallice can assist. Hit the Villa Aujourd’hui, a modernist mansion frequented by Ava Gardner and Charlie Chaplin. Plus Plages des Ondes, a beach beloved of Madonna. And the Eden-Roc Hotel, which boasts a seaside swimming pool blasted out of the rock by dynamite. Find Brad Pitt and George Clooney poolside in summer.

Adventure? Choose one of three options. Cannes Stand-up Paddle (€12 per hour) offers expeditions to the car-free Lérins Islands that bob off the coast.

Brand new joint AthletX SUP in Villefranche offers paddleboard yoga, guided tours and hire from €20 per hour.

Nikaia Watersports on Nice’s Place Massena offers the brand new activity of Flyboard – a whole new concept developed by the French jet ski champion Franky Zapata– with the board attached to your feet you are connected to the boat by a long hose which lets you propel into the air jumping & flying like a dolphin! Prices start from €99 for a session.
May 2018