The Riviera is a warm stretch of coast that people visit for holidays — sea, sun, and often expensive hotels. English speakers use it most of all for the Mediterranean coast of south-east France (Nice, Cannes, Monaco sit on what people call the French Riviera) and for the Italian coast next to it. People also stretch the name to other sunny holiday coasts that feel the same. With a capital R it often points to that famous French and Italian strip; some writers use 'a riviera' for the type of place. It sounds a little glamorous — not a word for a quiet fishing village with no tourists. It is a coast, not a river.