How to get there?
One of the advantages of the Sophia Antipolis science park is the ease of access since it is located at the heart of an international communication node:

• Nice Riviera Airport: 22 km from Sophia Antipolis lies the second French Airport after Paris - over 70 direct destinations in 26 countries and direct flights to four continents. Coming by plane, hiring car… read more.

• A8 autoroute: the fast coastal highway connects Sophia Antipolis with many cities in Southern Europe. Barcelona, Milan, Marseilles, Genoa, Rome are just a few hours drive away.

• The TGV-train: This 300kph train train TGV connects the region with Avignon, Lyon, Grenoble, Geneva. Paris is less than six hours away.

• The port of Marseilles: This busy port gives direct access to the Middle East and Africa

Click on each map, for a more detailed image or for printing!

When in Sophia - how to find your way.
This is not a paved-over concrete cityscape, laid-out on an urban planner's perpendicular grid. Sophia Antipolis is a more like a park in the true natural sense - a logical extension of the idea of a widespread campus in the pine-scented valleys and hills in a very special part of the French Riviera; between the mouth of the Var River to the east and the Esterel mountains to the west. This area - no more than 50 square kilometres, is blessed with a unique topography and vegetation consisting mostly of rolling hills and indigenous parasol-shaped pines above the Mediterranean Sea. This undulating landscape, where nature and not straight roads and square cut blocks has shaped the park. Maybe an analogy with the basic ideas behind Sophia where creativity cannot be planned, where new knowledge cannot be centralized.

Practical hints - read more…

Quality of environment The Sophia Antipolis Science Park stretches over 5700 acres. The quality of the environment was seen as a priority as this aspect enhances the quality of life at work. Two-thirds of the area of the park is therefore maintained as green space and one-third is devoted to business activity, residential dwellings and recreational areas. In order to better accommodate new companies, the Science Park is set to increase substantially in the future, while retaining its character as a protected area. Festivals The Côte d«Azur, the European cultural, research and leisure capital, offers each year, events that enjoy a world-wide reputation, such as the Cannes Film Festival, the Jazz Festivals in Juan-les-Pins and Nice. The Côte d«Azur has today 70 museums and some 80 art galleries.