Hyères

Hyères is a French town on the Mediterranean coast. Its hillside old town features the remains of a medieval castle and centuries-old walls. Nearby is the modernist arts center, Villa Noailles, set in a 1920s building with gardens. Salt marshes on the Giens peninsula attract scores of waterbirds. Just offshore, Porquerolles is one of the Golden Isles, a group of islands with beaches, trails and underwater shipwrecks.