A corniche is a road on the side of a cliff or mountain, with the ground rising up on one side of the roadway and falling away on the other. The English language has adopted the word from the French term ' or "road on a ledge", itself derived from the Italian ', for "ledge".
Three famed corniche roads of the Côte d'Azur in the French Riviera run between the sea and mountains from Nice eastward toward Menton. They are known as the ' (or ') along the coast, the ' slightly inland, and the ' along the upper cliffs.
The ' passes through the principality of Monaco. The ' featured prominently in the Alfred Hitchcock film To Catch a Thief.
The Amalfi Drive, along the Amalfi Coast south of Naples, is a road carved into the cliffs along the Tyrrhenian Sea, and can be classified as a corniche. It runs between Sorrento and Amalfi and was originally built by the Romans.
The coastal road facing the Atlantic Ocean in the capital city of Dakar is called the Corniche Ouest and runs along a cliff above the beaches and rocky shores.
Many of the roads running around the Cape Peninsula, south of Cape Town, have been constructed in the form of corniches. A good example is part of Victoria Road running through the suburbs of Clifton and Bantry Bay.
The Tripoli Corniche, also known as Al-Fatah Street, runs along the Mediterranean from the Waddan Bridge to the roundabout at Tripoli's sea port entrance.
Any waterfront passage along a body of water is classed as a corniche in Egypt. Most Nile valley and Delta cities overlooking the 1000 km river course and two branches in the country have one or two corniche streets (east and/or west banks). For example "Corniche Giza" and "Corniche Cairo", the longest Egyptian corniche. Other cities such as Mansoura, Damietta and Luxor also have corniches.
Though the word itself comes from French, the Egyptian usage has led neighboring Arab countries, which are not francophone and have no French influence, to adopt the word. These include Sudan, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar.
In the Middle East the word is used for several waterfront roads that are not true corniches, as they are near sea level and do not follow a cliff line.
The Doha Corniche is a waterfront promenade extending for along Doha Bay in Qatar's capital city, Doha. Annual celebrations of national holidays such as Qatar National Day and National Sports Day are centered on the Doha Corniche. It is a popular tourist and leisure attraction within Qatar.
The avenue that runs along the western and northern coast of the Beirut peninsula is colloquially called Corniche Beirut.
The promenade along the waterfront in Muttrah, Muscat, is known as The Corniche.
Dammam corniche, Qatif corniche, Khobar corniche, Ras Tanura corniche, Jeddah Corniche, Yanbu corniche, Al Jubail corniche, Khafji corniche.
In Basra, the corniche runs along the Shatt al-Arab.
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