Côte d’Azur / France
Grasse
World capital of perfume, classified as UNESCO Intangible Heritage.
On request
Côte d’Azur
Liberty House selection
Discovering Grasse
Grasse stands three hundred and fifty metres up, twenty minutes from Cannes, and it smells of something other than the sea. The town has been the cradle of French perfumery since the seventeenth century, when its tanners began scenting gloves. The perfume-related know-how of the Pays de Grasse — cultivating the plants, knowing the natural raw materials, composing the scent — was inscribed on the UNESCO intangible cultural heritage list in 2018.
It shows in the landscape as much as in the houses, and centifolia roses are picked in May, jasmine from late July to October, by hand and at first light. The dense medieval old town keeps its cathedral, which holds three Rubens canvases, and the international perfume museum tells the rest.
On request
villas
Côte d’Azur
Region
France
Country
Cartes T & G
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Where to stay in Grasse
The old town
Dense, medieval and steep, around the cathedral and the Place aux Aires, where the market is held.
The perfume houses
The historic manufactories and the international perfume museum, open to visitors all year.
Plascassier and Magagnosc
The residential hamlets on the commune’s hills, terraced and facing the sea.
Saint-Antoine
The southern slope of Grasse, more open and brighter, halfway between town and countryside.
The growing plateau
The rose and jasmine fields around the town, several of which open to visitors during the harvest.
When to visit Grasse
May
The month of the centifolia rose, picked by hand, early in the morning, over just a few weeks. The truest moment to understand Grasse.
June - July
Temperatures climb, but altitude tempers the nights. Jasmine picking begins at the end of July.
August - October
The jasmine harvest runs into autumn, at dawn. Days stay hot and the town breathes more easily than the coast.
November - April
Winter is felt at three hundred and fifty metres, and it runs cooler than Cannes. The town returns to being a town, with no tourist season.
Getting to Grasse
- Cannes and the sea
- 17 km, 25 to 30 minutes
- Nice Côte d’Azur airport
- 40 km, 40 to 50 minutes
- Station
- Grasse, the end of the line from Cannes
- Valbonne and Sophia Antipolis
- 15 km, 25 minutes
The year in brief
May
The centifolia rose
The harvest lasts a few weeks and is done by hand. Several estates open their fields for the occasion.
August
Jasmine
The flower is picked at dawn, from late July to October. The town devotes its festival to it in early August.
All year
The international perfume museum
It traces three centuries of local know-how, extended by its gardens of perfume plants below the town.
Good to know
Grasse is not a seaside town. The sea is twenty-five minutes away, the altitude is felt, and summer nights run distinctly cooler than on the coast.
Harvests start before daylight and finish mid-morning, and a field visit is booked early, or not at all.
The historic centre is dense, steep and stepped; the commune’s residential pockets are up on the hills, a few minutes away by car.
Nearby
Other Riviera addresses, minutes from Grasse
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