Are there mosquitoes on the French Riviera? Yes, and they bite in daylight.

Yes. The Asian tiger mosquito was first found in mainland France in the Alpes-Maritimes in 2004, and it now lives along the whole coast, from Menton to Saint-Tropez. It bites in daylight, and in 2025 it spread the largest local chikungunya outbreak Europe has recorded, with Antibes and Fréjus among the hardest-hit towns. The Riviera was much quieter in 2026, and a daytime repellent habit handles the bites and the small chance of infection.

Chikungunya, town by town

The Riviera spans two departments, the Alpes-Maritimes (Nice, Antibes, Cannes, Menton) and the Var (Fréjus, Saint-Raphaël, Saint-Tropez). In its final report on 2025, published May 6, 2026, Santé publique France, the national public health agency, counted 209 locally acquired chikungunya cases in the Alpes-Maritimes and 129 in the Var, out of 809 nationwide. Antibes had the largest cluster in France, 144 cases with onsets from July 9 to November 13. Fréjus had 84, Nice 23 and La Croix-Valmer, on the Saint-Tropez peninsula, 20.

In 2026 the Alpes-Maritimes had no local cases at all. In the Var, Cavalaire-sur-Mer had 26 cases with onsets from September 8 to October 11, and Saint-Raphaël had 2, according to the agency's bulletin of October 21. Both clusters were still active, so those counts may rise.

Dengue comes in smaller clusters. The Alpes-Maritimes had local dengue in six of the seven summers from 2018 to 2024, including 14 cases in Vallauris in 2024, when the Var had 25 in La Crau and 15 in Fréjus. In 2026 the only Riviera case was in La Farlède, inland from Toulon, in October.

West Nile travels on Culex mosquitoes, which bite in the evening and at night. The Var had 19 cases in 2026, with onsets from late July to late September, and 9 in 2025; their towns aren't published. The Alpes-Maritimes had no human cases and no animal outbreaks in either year, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the European Food Safety Authority. Most infections cause no symptoms, and ECDC notes that severe illness falls mostly on people 65 and older. CDC has no travel notice for mainland France and recommends no malaria medicine, and the yellow fever vaccine is neither recommended nor required.

A daytime biter, from breakfast to the terrace

The tiger mosquito bites in daylight on terraces, in gardens, in shady old-town lanes and on restaurant patios. It hides under café tables and bites indoors. Santé publique France puts its active season at May to November. Window screens tend to be rare in older hotels and apartments, and the Var's West Nile cases mean the night biters matter as well, so choose a room with air conditioning or screens and keep the windows shut at night.

Put repellent on over sunscreen at breakfast, reapply after swimming and again before terrace drinks. Sea water and sweat shorten any product's protection time, and our repellent duration guide has the numbers.

June has the fewest cases. The 2025 clusters began in early July in Fréjus and Antibes and ran into late October or November, and the 2026 Var clusters started in September, so a July–September trip falls in the stretch when local clusters appear. May and October still have tiger mosquitoes, with fewer bites.

Where you're staying

Here is how the main stretches of coast compare for a June–September trip.

The France briefing covers Provence, the Camargue, Bordeaux and Paris. Driving on into Italy? Our Italy briefing covers the same mosquito there.

What travelers report

Paraphrased from TripAdvisor threads and linked so you can read them in full. None is dated, and none describes a summer during the 2025 outbreak.

• Nice · April to October

  A Nice resident said tiger mosquitoes are present locally and that their season has stretched to run from April into October. TripAdvisor ↗

• Cannes · October

  In an older thread (roughly ten years old), a visitor asked whether tiger mosquitoes were still a problem for an October trip. One reply said there were more mosquitoes than usual but mostly the ordinary kind; another had seen none that week and said Cannes runs a spraying program each May. TripAdvisor ↗

• Antibes, Juan-les-Pins, Golfe-Juan and Vallauris · April onward

  A poster said mosquitoes had been around since April and are most active at dusk and dawn; another was bitten indoors at lunchtime and warned that they lurk under restaurant and bar tables and in air conditioning during the day. A third had noticed more tiger mosquitoes and found larvae in their air-conditioning unit, but called the problem far smaller than in Arles and the Camargue. TripAdvisor ↗

• Juan-les-Pins · October

  A traveler asked whether tiger mosquitoes would still be a problem in October; a reply said they are all over the south, and posters treated repellent as the main defense. TripAdvisor ↗

One rule outlasts the trip. A fever during the trip or within two weeks after it, especially with severe joint pain or a rash, means a doctor visit, and you tell the doctor you were on the Riviera, where local chikungunya and dengue clusters occur.

Traveler questions