"Tiny perched village above Roquebrunne" Gorbio by NiceLife

Truly off the beaten track, this tiny perched village high above Roquebrunne has one church, one restaurant and one bar. It was the latter that served a life-saving bierre pression panache after the more than three hour walk to the village from La Turbie, passing through sensational views above Monaco from Mont Gros on the GR51 - Grand Randonee 51.

From Gorbio its only a further 90 minutes walk down hill all the way to the medieval village of Roquebrunne and below a world away to Cap Martin and its millionnaires mansions. Still further up the mountain is its sister village St Agnes, overlooking Menton.

Its a different pace, homes seemingly carved into the rock, everyone must know everyone elses business - like what time you got home from the bar last night. Only a thousand souls live here so I guess its kind of difficult if you fall out.

"Hava nice stay"

The cobbled town square at the entrance to the village shows off its restaurant Beau Sejour, opposite the only bar.

Deep in the valley below winds the A8 toll motorway. Lorries and cars race to and fro the Italian border ten miles east, oblivious to the world above.

On a clear day, you can see...err.. the sea?. All the way up the Italian coastline. And lovely it looks.

SH Raza (b. 1922) Untitled work

Gorbio is second home to Syed Haider Raza, a famous (in France at least!) contemporary Indian artist who divides his time between here and Paris.

This apparently is what his contemporary Indian art looks like. Well its looks pretty contemporary as there's no "elephant gods" in the classical Hindu manner. To me it looks a bit IKEA catalogue, but then what do I know about art? Or indeed, IKEA?

• Pros:Fans of medieval perched villages will love it
• Cons:Hard to reach, if you even knew it existed