It runs from the Alps in the north, a region in which it passes over Mont Blanc, down to the Mediterranean coast in the south.

The boundary then follows a general direction towards south, to the Mediterranean, it reaches the sea at Menton in France and Ventimiglia in Italy.

The points of paved road crossings between the two countries are quoted in this exhaustive list, from North to South: In 1999, there was a large fire in the Mont Blanc Tunnel after a truck crashed into other vehicles.

In 1860, the Treaty of Turin links the Savoy and County of Nice to France; the border between the French Empire and the Kingdom of Sardinia was surveyed the following year.

In the 21st century, an ongoing issue to be resolved concerns the demarcation of the border at the top of Mont Blanc.