Grasse - Town of Perfumes in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur

Grasse is a town in the French Riviera known for its perfumeries. There are various ways in which one can reach Grasse from Nice. On weekdays there are direct buses from Nice; the timetable of these buses can be obtained from Transport Alpes Maritimes (TAM) website which runs buses in this area. Grasse is also connected by Train from Nice; In my second trip to Grasse I took the train which came from Ventimiglia to Grasse at the Juan Les Pins station. The bus station at Grasse is close to the perfume shops and museums.

From Grasse

As shown in the above picture a beautiful road from the bus station leads to the museums and perfume shops. There are three main perfumeries in Grasse.

Way to Perfume Factories in Grasse

At any junction you will find directions to each of these three main perfumeries. At times it can get confusing as some of these brands have more than one shop in Grasse.

Perfume Museum at Grasse

I had visited Grasse on the 26th of December, hence, most of the shops were closed and the tourism office was also closed for the Christmas vacation. Luckily the town is small and while walking down from the Bus Station (last Bus Stop in Grasse), we can see the Perfume Museum. The museum was also closed for the vacation, however the Fragonard factory was open.

Fragonard the Painter

The Fragonard brand of perfumes was named after Fragonard the painter. Call it coincidence or excellent branding by the founder that he chose to brand his/her perfumes after a painter whose name will give you an impression that Fragonard is the root for the word fragrance. The factory is a must visit as they and tours are conducted in English and French.

Using fat to absorb the flower essence.	Distill the essence
Filter the essence	Bottle the perfume with alcohol

The above snaps shows the various stages of producing a perfume in the olden days. The flowers or petals were placed in a sheet of odourless fat which absorbed all the aromatic compounds in the petals. The sheet was then distilled and the essence filtered and bottled with alcohol.

Galimardi Store

Along with the Fragonard brand the streets of Grasse are full of stores of various other brands.

From Grasse

The view from Grasse is also breathtaking as one can see the hills and the sea shore of Cannes. The train station is close to the base of the chimney in the above picture. TAM has various buses to Grasse; Bus Number 600 from Cannes, 500 from Nice and 530 from Gare Valbonne Sophia Antipolis (GVSA). The timings can be obtained from the TAM website.