Attracting a sophisticated crowd, including many guests who just hopped of their yachts, Anjuna still makes for a low-key evening in a relaxing setting. The pebbled private beach and restaurant is best reached by boat, and is particularly enjoyable for a candlelit family-friendly dinner. The unfussy cuisine—mostly sashimi and seafood—is reliably excellent and always fresh.

Set back on the scenic, winding coastal road of the Cap d’Antibes, this family-run, one-Michelin-star restaurant serves up some of the tastiest, authentic bouillabaisse in the area. The seafood is straight off the boat, and the sea views from the dining room’s bay windows are spectacular. Other superb options include a creamy garlicky soup; the catch of the day grilled with fennel; and sea perch served with truffles or the house-made aioli.

Indagare members and editors agree that Barbarac is the best spot for ice cream in the port of St. Tropez.

This lunch hot spot is perched right on the Croisette. The all-white décor lightens up the atmosphere but the space still boasts a major Riviera wow factor. The chef merges a typical French brasserie menu with international dishes. The best place for coffee or a light snack is in the garden, which is set with loungy armchairs.

This is a quiet beach lounge by day, and, at night, one of those rare places where you can dine with your toes in the sand. The international food is well prepared and the atmosphere is more romantic than wild.

The vast terrace of scarlet canvas chairs is a thoroughly entertaining place for aperitifs and yacht-gazing. Once frequented by the likes of Colette, Sartre and Cocteau, it still attracts a French showbiz crowd at sunset. Indulge in a tarte tropezienne from the café’s pastry shop (the rather filling cream cake was introduced to St.-Tropez by a Polish baker in the 1950s). Best for lunch or pre-dinner drinks as the food is not fabulous.

The Hotel du Cap’s outdoor Eden Roc Grill opened in spring 2007 with light fare—think goat cheese salads, grilled sea bass and sushi—creating a welcome alternative to the fussy formal restaurant upstairs. No white tablecloths or hovering waiters here: you dine on an ocean liner-style teak deck jutting out over the Mediterranean, with a terrific view of the infinity pool for star ogling.

Jilali B, perched just above the coastal road that faces the tiny port of Figueirette, is a hotspot for well-heeled locals who come for the refined Mediterranean-inspired dishes whipped up by chef Jilali Berrekama.

If you’re cruising the Riviera coast by yacht (or ready to escape the buzzy St.- Tropez scene via helicopter) make a stop at this idyllic, Michelin-starred hideaway at the tip of Porquerolles. Although veteran chef Joel Guillet has stepped down, the classic southern French cuisine has remained reliably excellent. Among the new tantalizing dishes: open artichoke ravioli; roasted crayfish and marinated capon with a bouillabaisse-inspired sauce; and a light peach soufflé topped with roasted peaches.

This little beach club on the sea in Beaulieu is just a few steps from the Royal Riviera. It rents umbrellas and loungers for €15 for the day and towels €6. The bar serves drinks and light lunch food such as pizzas and salads.

The terrace restaurant of the old school Hotel Belles Rives is a summer favorite thanks to sensational Mediterranean dishes and a spectacular setting on a terrace overlooking the sea. This is quintessential South of France splendor in the sun. For those who want an equally fabulous setting right over the sea but a lower-key and less expensive lunch, head to the more casual beach restaurant at the hotel, Restaurant Plage Belles Rives.

Nice’s most stylish restaurant is actually two-in-one: a bistro downstairs and a gastronomic haunt upstairs, in a revamped seaside landmark Belle Epoque white villa, situated right at the water’s edge. The young chef’s signature dishes include classic bouillabaisse as line-caught sea bass as well as inventive gastronomic dishes. The bar lounge has a small romantic terrace with the best view in town.

The arrival of talented two-Michelin-star chef Yannick Franques to the elegant seaside hotel La Réserve transformed this long-established, formal restaurant into a veritable gastronomic mecca. The unforgettable seven-course menu features the chef’s exquisite, inventive cuisine. Highlights include “the Egg Mystery,” a combination of egg whites, brioche crumble and creamed truffles; slowly cooked lamb served with goat cheese, zucchini cannelloni and black garlic candy; and refreshing Menton lemon iced yogurt meringue with citrus sorbet.

Dine with your toes in the sand on this wild sanctuary of vineyards and pine forests, where you feast on lobster with onions and wild rosemary, homemade bouillabaisse, and sample the award-winning homegrown wine produced by the resident Cistercian monks. Boats to St. Honorat island depart from Quai Laubeuf in Cannes.

On the second floor of a historic portside hotel, this pub is frequented by local mariners year-round. No flash here—just nautical nostalgia, model-sailboat décor and worn leather booths. Grab a seat on the balcony for a ringside seat of the yachts.

The outside terrace of this staple has a prime view of the yachts across the quay; inside, the red velvet booths and ornate chandeliers set the tone for theatrical entrances. A favorite rendezvous spot for the bronzed Parisian set.

Across the street from La Garoupe Beach is the restaurant Le Pavillon, at the Hotel Imperial Garoupe. The hotel, a Florentine-style palazzo, is run by Gilbert Irondelle, son of the well-known (and now-retired) director of the Hôtel du Cap-Eden Roc, Jean-Claude Irondelle. Chef Philippe Jégo (formerly of La Tour d’Argent, Paris) serves his flavorful, exquisitely presented Mediterranean cuisine in a sunlit atrium. Try dishes such as a blue lobster confit, the sea bass, steamed and seasoned with curry or simple in-season vegetables sautéed over a fresh ricotta gnocchi. The hotel also boasts a private beach and seafront restaurant, decked out with minimalist-modern lounge chairs and a cocktail lounge.

The bronzed and beautiful drape themselves across giant daybeds around the pool here as they recover from clubbing all night. Peak hour is around 5 p.m., when the throbbing basses reverberate all the way down the beach. Revelers have included Pamela Anderson and P. Diddy.

This cavernous restaurant and lounge is fast becoming a popular nightspot thanks to an enchanting, oasis-like setting. Guests sit under palm trees on a large wooden deck surrounding a blue-marble basin with a gurgling fountain and graced with decadently oversize daybeds. The menu is a mix of Mediterranean-cum-Polynesian cuisine, but most people come for the film-set atmosphere.