Mala Beach, Cap d’Ail

Mala sits in a notch of cliff between Cap d’Ail and Monaco, reachable on foot only by a long stair, which is why it looks the way it does. The rock walls hold the sun and the water turns the flat blue-green of a pool by mid-morning.

It is small, and by lunchtime in August it is busy. Come early, swim, and move on to somewhere with more room — or come late in the afternoon when the day boats have gone home and the light comes down the cliff.