Nice-Côte d'Azur Airport — Nice, Alpes-Maritimes, France

The French Riviera's glamour depends on an airport squeezed between the Mediterranean Sea and the Alpes-Maritimes foothills, much of it built on land reclaimed at the mouth of the Var river. NCE ranks as France's third-busiest airport after the two Paris fields, a reflection of the Côte d'Azur's enduring pull for tourists and the wealthy travelers who fly into nearby Cannes, Monaco, and Saint-Tropez. Two terminals handle the mix of scheduled airline traffic and the surge of private jets that arrives each May for the Cannes Film Festival and the Monaco Grand Prix, along with a steady flow of business travelers throughout the year. The final approach along the coastline, with the Baie des Anges visible from the cabin, counts among the more scenic landings in Europe. Beyond leisure traffic, the airport supports a dense regional economy built on tourism, technology firms clustered nearby, and cross-border commuting toward Monaco and Italy.