Sandi's Great Riviera Rail Trip

Sandi takes a tour of iconic locations on the French coast, discovering the stories of monarchs, artists, and celebrities who transformed the region into a prestigious holiday destination. She starts with a rail journey from Marseille to St Tropez. She taps into her inner Viking with a spot of sailing, hits the beach that launched a sexual revolution in the 1960s, and helps out in the vineyard with one of Provence's biodynamic winemakers.

Sandi Toksvig takes one of the world's most spectacular rail trips, along the French Riviera. Hopping off at iconic destinations like Saint-Tropez, Cannes and Monaco, she explores this great playground of the rich and famous, glimpsing a taste of the high life in its grand hotels, beach clubs and super yachts, and also delving into the region's fascinating cultural history. Sandi reaches Cannes, where she visits an iconic movie hotel and discovers a strange canine film award. In the perfume capital of the world, Grasse, Sandi learns the art of making scent. On the Antibes peninsula, she shares a cocktail in the hotel where Great Gatsby author F Scott Fitzgerald lived in the 1920s and discovers how Fitzgerald and a community of American artists and writers created the modern Riviera. 

Sandi Toksvig hits the big city as she arrives in La Belle Nice - the unofficial capital of the Riviera. She strolls the famous Promenade des Anglais and examines the influence of the English on the development of the city, including Queen Victoria's role in making Nice a magnet for 19th-century European aristocracy. Sandi also meets two modern artists inspired by Nice's special light; stays in the poshest hotel imaginable; and visits two extraordinary villas on Cap-Ferrat, the 'Cape of Billionaires'.

And so Sandi Toksvig concludes her French Riviera rail adventure as she reaches Monaco - the tiny principality synonymous with the Côte d'Azur's luxury millionaire lifestyle. She checks out the famous and opulent casino and its fascinating history, as well as the glam world of fast cars and super yachts. And Sandi also meets Paula Radcliffe, the former marathon champion and sporting great who's made a home up in the Monaco hills.