In many cities, in addition to cultural and historical attractions, the coastal zone deserves special attention; not visiting it means missing out on a lot of interesting and worthwhile things. We invite you to take a promenade along the most picturesque embankments in the world: from France to Singapore and from Greece to India and the USA.
Boulevard Croisette, Cannes, France
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Perhaps the most famous embankment. This is where the Festival Palace of the most important film festival in the world, Cannes, is located. Next to it is the Old Port, where cruise ships and yachts of movie stars, millionaires and oligarchs moor. The length of the embankment is 2.8 kilometers. Main attractions: Carlton Hotel and Palm Beach Casino. Well, and, of course, the beaches. Those that belong to luxury hotels are closed, but there are also public ones. There are blue chairs everywhere on the embankment, which are so nice to sit on while looking at the sea and the nearby Lérins Islands. Until the mid-19th century, a country road passed here, which was part of the pilgrimage “Way of the Small Cross” (croisette in French means “small cross”).
Promenade des Anglais, Nice, France
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In terms of glamor, Nice’s Promenade des Anglais (also known as the Promenade des Anglais) is the main competitor of the Croisette Boulevard, which was even built on its model. Just like the Croisette, there are plenty of luxury hotels, restaurants, shops and beaches. True, it is twice as long as the Cannes promenade. Its main decorations are the Negresco, Meridien, and Weltmeister hotels. The embankment begins at Nice Airport, called the Côte d’Azur, and ends at the foot of Castle Hill, at the top of which there are several observation platforms offering stunning views of the embankment and the Bay of Angels. You can get there via the Lesage staircase, starting near the Swiss Hotel building.
Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
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The most famous embankment of the New World. Although, in fact, Copacabana is the central beach of Rio de Janeiro, and the 4-kilometer promenade running along the largest city beach in the world is called Avenida Atlantica. The main decoration of the embankment are sand sculptures, which are constantly updated by local artists. Masquerades, fireworks and other folk festivities are also attributes of Copacabana, the main one of which is the mass celebration of the New Year. Copacabana is also often Brazil’s largest concert venue. Here, right on the beach, the Rolling Stones, Elton John, Rod Stewart and many others performed in front of an audience of millions.
Malecon, Havana, Cuba
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“Malecon” simply means “promenade” in Spanish. But this word has long since become a proper name in Havana. At one end of it is the Havana Riviera Hotel, and at the other is the fortress of San Salvador de la Punta. The 7-kilometer embankment of the capital of Cuba was created as protection from giant waves, which during a storm reach ten meters in height, and eventually became a cult place for local youth and tourists. The main party center on the Malecon is the area where the embankment intersects with 23rd Street (La Rampa),
next to the luxurious National Hotel. The main decoration of the Malecon is its numerous colonial buildings with sometimes shabby, but that makes them even more picturesque facades in pastel colors.
Marine Drive, Mumbai, India
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Mumbai’s Marine Drive is very similar to Havana’s Malecon. It is just as popular with local youth and tourists, just as long and just as picturesque. True, instead of shabby houses, buildings in the Art Deco style, which are quite neat by Indian standards, rise along it. The Marine Drive embankment begins at the so-called “Edge of the World” – Nariman Point, stretches along the Back Bay, passing through the best Mumbai beach, Chowpatty, past the largest aquarium in India, Taraporevala, and ends at the foot of the Malabar Hill, built up with skyscrapers and mansions of rich Indians. Here, at the top of Malabar Hill, is the Hanging Gardens botanical park, which offers beautiful views of Marine Drive and the sunset over the Arabian Sea.
Yokohama Waterfront, Japan
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The second largest city in Japan, Yokohama is located south of Tokyo and actually merges with it. The Yokohama embankment is located on the shores of Tokyo Bay, and this is perhaps the only place where you can go to the seashore without the threat of being surrounded by industrial areas and warehouses. Right on the shore of the bay there is a 112-meter Ferris wheel “Cosmo Clock”, surrounded by an amusement park. But the most remarkable thing here is the view of the Yokohama Bay Suspension Bridge, the city’s skyscrapers and Mount Fuji. The best way to admire all this splendor is at sunset from the roof of the passenger terminal of Yokohama Port – Osambashi.
Taelet, Tel Aviv, Israel
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The multi-kilometer strip of Tel Aviv city beaches is called Tayelet in Hebrew. It is continuous, but topographically divided into several parts. There are a total of 16 beaches in Tel Aviv. For every taste: there are beaches for the Orthodox, for swimming with dogs, a beach protected by artificial breakwaters, Drummers Beach, where they beat drums on Fridays and many others… The promenade usually starts at the port of Jaffa and ends at the Old Port of Tel Aviv, along the way admiring the hotels – masterpieces of modern architecture, having a snack in numerous fish restaurants and plunging from time to time into the waves of the Mediterranean Sea.
Chania embankment, Crete, Greece
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Perhaps the smallest, but at the same time the most comfortable embankment in our review. Built by the Venetians, Chania, which they called Canea, resembles, above all, Venice. The same as the palazzos there along the emerald waters, only smaller. But, unlike Venice, Byzantine, Greek and Turkish features are also mixed in the local architecture. Thus, exhibitions are held in a former Turkish mosque, and a reconstructed ship from the era of the Minoan civilization is displayed in the Venetian docks. The entire embankment is enclosed inside a tiny bay, bounded at one end by a medieval fortress, and at the other by a lighthouse resembling a minaret.
Victoria and Alfred Waterfront, Cape Town, South Africa
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The most picturesque embankment in Africa is named after Queen Victoria and her son Alfred, who personally took part in its construction in 1867. A red and white, almost toy-like clock tower, preserved from the Victorian era, a miniature drawbridge, a huge Ferris wheel, an aquarium with tame penguins, four funny big-headed statues of Nobel laureates from South Africa, with whom tourists take photographs, nightly performances of various black artists… From here you have a stunning view of one of the main symbols of Cape Town – Table Mountain. And the best way to admire the embankment is from the terrace of the Victoria Wharf shopping center.
Hong Kong Embankment, China
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Hong Kong’s most famous promenade, Tsim Sha Tsui Promenade, is located at the southern tip of the Kowloon Peninsula, on the shores of Victoria Harbor. Its main attraction is the Chinese Walk of Stars, created like the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In the center is a monument to Bruce Lee, the most popular Hong Kong artist. At eight in the evening, the embankment turns into an auditorium: the skyscrapers on the opposite bank are illuminated to the music, and the sky is illuminated with laser beams of all colors of the rainbow. The best place to see this amazing show is next to the Hong Kong Museum of Art.
Waterfront in Atlantic City, USA
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The first thing you’ll notice about the Atlantic City Boardwalk, North America’s most famous boardwalk, is its parquet-like boardwalk. And then – bright, fabulous houses of the most incredible shapes and colors, which house hotels, restaurants and casinos (Atlantic City is the second American gambling center after Las Vegas). There is also an amusement park, an aquarium, one of the tallest lighthouses in America, turned into an observation tower, many magnificent (and free!) museums and shows, and, as usual, stunning beaches of the Atlantic Ocean.
Bosphorus Embankment, Istanbul, Türkiye
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The Bosphorus Strait between the Black and Marmara Seas is 30 kilometers long and about a kilometer wide. The entire southern part of the Bosphorus is located within the city, forming one of the most picturesque embankments in the world. It, of course, does not run along the strait in a continuous line and consists of many small areas facing the sea, each of which has its own character and its own unique flavor. Such, for example, is the embankment near the Ortakoy Mosque, where the whole of Istanbul comes to eat potatoes baked according to a special recipe, or the embankment near the Rumeli-Hisar fortress with many fish restaurants, the promenades near the Dolmabahce and Beylerbey palaces, Cemil Topuzlu or Fyndikli parks. But the best way to admire the embankments of Istanbul is from a pleasure boat during a tour of the Bosphorus.
Convenient hotel booking aggregator – OneTwoTrip.
Text author: Dmitry Rzhannikov
Preview photo: Heracles Kritikos/Shutterstock.com
