The Best Golf Courses in the French Riviera
Golf arrived on the Cote d'Azur before almost anywhere else in continental Europe: a Russian Grand Duke laid out the Old Course at Cannes-Mandelieu in 1891, and Monaco's club has perched on Mont Agel since 1911. Today the Riviera plays as a winter escape of umbrella pines, sea light and one world class modern resort in the Provence backcountry. Here are the six courses that matter, ranked, with the access truth and 2026 fees for each.
Photograph: Old Course Cannes-Mandelieu, via Google
How we chose
This ranking weighs architecture and setting first, then what a traveling golfer can actually book. The Riviera's golf is not Scotland and does not pretend to be: the courses here earn their place with history, glamour and views, and the trip works because the golf shares a day with Cannes, Antibes and Monaco. We stretch the map inland once, to Terre Blanche in the Var backcountry 45 minutes from Cannes, because it is the one course complex of true international class attached to the coast, and we say plainly which doors open with a booking and which belong to members and hotel guests.
Every fact and fee below was checked in June 2026. Fees on the Riviera swing hard between high season and the quiet, beautiful winter, when the same courses cost a fraction of the summer rate and the light is at its best. All fees are indicative and move with season and demand; always confirm directly before booking. For the national picture, see our best golf courses in France ranking and the France destination hub.
The six best, ranked
Old Course Cannes-Mandelieu
The grandfather of Riviera golf and still its most charming day. Laid out in 1891 at the behest of Grand Duke Michael of Russia and later refined by Harry Colt, the Old Course rolls flat and easy beneath a canopy of umbrella pines beside the Bay of Cannes, with the Siagne river cutting through the round and the Esterel hills turning red behind the back nine. Nobody comes here for length; you come because golf has been played on this ground longer than almost anywhere on the continent and the place wears it lightly. Indicative 2026 green fee about 130 euros, with advance booking required.
Access: book direct, visitors daily. Check tee times.
Terre Blanche, Le Chateau
The modern flagship, 45 minutes inland from Cannes in the oak and lavender country above Fayence. Terre Blanche runs two 18 hole courses across a vast five star estate: Le Riou is reserved for members and hotel guests, while Le Chateau, the championship course, takes outside bookings, with a published 9 hole offer at 114 euros including a GPS cart and access to the Albatros performance center hinting at the polish of the whole operation. Stay a night and the resort becomes the best pure golf address in the south of France. Fees move by season; always confirm directly before booking.
Access: Le Chateau bookable; Le Riou with a resort stay.
Royal Mougins
The Riviera's tournament course. Robert von Hagge carved Royal Mougins through a tight valley in the hills behind Cannes in 1993, all sculpted mounding, water and theater, and from 1995 it hosted the European Tour's Cannes Open. Access is the catch and the charm: the club is private in spirit, open to members, guests of its own hotel and a limited allowance of outside rounds, with maximum handicaps of 28 for men and 32 for women. Indicative fees run about 165 euros in high season including a cart, nearer 95 in the low months. Sleep at the resort and the door opens easily.
Access: hotel guests preferred; handicap limits apply.
Monte Carlo Golf Club
No course in Europe has a stage like this one. Founded in 1911 on the summit plateau of Mont Agel, nearly 900 meters above the principality, the Monte Carlo Golf Club plays short, quirky mountain golf while the entire Riviera unrolls below, from the Italian border to the Esterel. On a clear morning you can see Corsica; on any morning you can see why Monaco's golfers have never wanted to play anywhere else. Indicative visitor fees have run around 130 euros midweek and 160 at weekends in high season. The drive up the mountain is part of the round.
Access: book direct, visitors welcome.
Golf de la Grande Bastide
The sensible round of the trip, and the one the locals play. Grande Bastide sits in the perfume country below Grasse, an open, well kept parkland with views to the village of Gourdon stacked on its cliff, and it prices like a club that wants you back: published 18 hole fees run roughly 49 to 95 euros by season and time of day. It is the right second or third round of a Riviera week, forgiving enough for the mixed ability group and 20 minutes from both Cannes and the Nice backcountry villages. Book online and confirm the seasonal rate.
Access: book direct or online. Check tee times.
Golf de Saint Donat
Saint Donat completes the Grasse valley pairing with Grande Bastide, a modern, water laced layout in the lee of the hills that books easily online and keeps a Riviera trip honest on budget. The course plays firm and quick in summer, the clubhouse terrace earns its lunch, and its position makes it the natural same day partner to a morning in old Grasse or an afternoon in Mougins village. For traveling golfers it is the proof that the Cote d'Azur is not only a luxury postcode: real golf, fair fees, ten minutes from the perfume capital of the world.
Access: book direct or online.
Fees and access verified June 2026 from club and booking sources, indicative for 2026 and subject to change without notice. Always confirm directly before booking. The six courses sit within an hour's drive on the map from Mandelieu west of Cannes to Mont Agel above Monaco, with Terre Blanche the one inland outlier.
Plan a French Riviera golf trip
Tell us roughly when and who is travelling, and one concierge sequences the Old Course, Mont Agel and a Terre Blanche or Royal Mougins stay, books the coast hotel and costs the trip to the head. We reply within one working day, with no obligation.
Building the trip
The Riviera works best as a five night, three or four round trip based in one place. Cannes puts the Old Course ten minutes away and Mougins, Grasse and the valley courses inside half an hour; Monaco suits the Mont Agel round and the grand hotel version of the week. October to May is the connoisseur's window, when fees drop, tee sheets open and the light sharpens; July and August belong to the beach. For the wider country, start from France golf holidays, compare the capital's classic clubs in our best golf courses around Paris, and see where von Hagge's other Mediterranean drama, Sperone on Corsica, fits a longer southern swing. Mountain course collectors should cross reference Mont Agel with our best mountain golf courses in the world.
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Researched and written by the GolfForKings editorial desk. Fees and access verified June 2026. Last reviewed June 2026. See how we rank.