Provence Alpes Cote d'Azur Population and Demographics

• Population: 4,506,151
• Pop.density (people per km2): 144

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Three principal communes

Marseille-Aix-en-Provence (1,349,772)

Gregarious Marseilles is France's second largest city and an important seaport, the largest European port after Rotterdam. It has a reputation for being dangerous, with drug-money laundering, racial tension, prostitution and shoot-outs, but although many social ills can be found, underworld activities flourish just as much in the ritzier parts of the Cote d'Azur. Walking around the bustling, vibrant streets is far from intimidating and it's a lot safer than most of the Western world's major cities. The Vieux-Port is surrounded by roads and exhaust fumes and from this port steeply climbs the Le Panier which is the oldest part of the city. It's a charming, if slightly grotty and far from ungentrified (surely not for long now that the rich Parisiens now able to make weekend trips on the recent TGV link) area. Under the German occupation this was a hot bed of resistance fighters, Jews and Communists, until the Germans came and gave the 20,000 inhabitants one day to evacuate before laying down dynamite and blowing the area closest to the port to smithereens. The North African area - where buckets of colourful spices, cloths and metalware are traded - is certainly worth a visit. The outskirts of Marseille's sixteen arrondissements are surrounded by high-rise sixties housing estates, which would look grim in the grey light of Peckham but are not such an eyesore in the sharp Mediterranean sunshine. It's hard to believe that the conglomeration extends to Aix-en-Provence, an extremely pretty but exceedingly bourgeois town with a rich cultural life and plenty of squares with ancient fountains and outdoor cafés.

Nice (888,784)

Nice is capital of the Riviera and the fifth largest city in France. It has been one of Europe's most fashionable resorts since the 18th century when Russian and English aristocrats built their mansions here. Later, wealthy Victorians enjoyed its winter climate. Today it's enjoyed by many heavily-perfumed old dears and their diamanté collar wearing miniature poodles. The pretty old town with Italiannate facades has lots of pleasant eateries and shady outdoor places to sit and watch the tourists go by. It has a pleasant enough beach, which is clean in the morning but gets dirtier throughout the day, until the evening when you can't see the pebbles for cigarette butts.

Toulon (519,640)

Half destroyed in the last war, Toulon is dominated by the military and associated industries. The arsenal that Louis XIV created is today one of the major employers in south-east France. The port is home to the French Navy's Mediterranean fleet, although the shipbuilding yards are redundant. The town is controlled by the Front National and compared to the many gorgeous places nearby it is not an attractive place and it's centre is somewhat run-down. Like many ports, the town is full of lively drinking holeswhere you can find interesting characters with plenty of stories propped against the bars.

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