The extension of the TGV line to Marseille means there is now a direct, high-speed service all the way from London to Provence – door-to-door from Marseille St-Charles to London St Pancras now takes just 6½ hours (or you can stop off in Paris, Avignon and Aix-en-Provence along the way, should you wish). Formidable!
At the time of writing, the Côte d'Azur's most prestigious strip of sand was bidding for World Heritage Status, placing it on the same list of importance as other local sites such as Palais des Papes, Pont du Gard and the Roman monuments in Arles and Orange.
At long last, the powers that be in Nice and Cannes have declared several city beaches smoke-free zones – meaning the days of finding cigarette butts underfoot are happily a thing of the past.
After several years of expensive renovations, the Musée Cantini and Musée des Beaux Arts have reopened to great fanfare, while the city's much-lauded Musée des Civilisations de l'Europe et la Mediterranée continues to draw new visitors to the city's revitalised harbourside.
Monaco's fabulous new food court on place d'Armes is symptomatic of a growing trend for farm-to-table dining across the south of France. Local producers, seasonality, sustainability and low food miles are what matter most these days.
The risqué paintings of the Grasse-born artist Jean-Honoré Fragonard scandalised 18th-century France. The artist lived in this stately house in Grasse for a year in 1790, which is now a museum devoted to his work. It reopened in 2015 after extensive renovations.
This disused railway line in the Luberon has been reinvented as a super bike path, running for a scenic 28km between Beaumettes and La Paraire. There are plans to extend the route further west and east in the coming years.
While millions are spent on a facelift for the prestigious Hôtel de Paris, the luxury boutiques of the Sporting d’Hiver have a new home on the lawns of the Jardins des Boulingrins, in the shape of giant ice-white 'pebbles'. The construction work is scheduled for completion in 2018.