Best Town as a base for visiting the French Riveria?

Nice is great for exploring the riveria.. easy fast and cheap transport options to visit a slew of small towns.. Eze, Villefranche, etc etc plus biggies like Cannes and Monaco.

Nice will work if you like a big city, but if a smaller town is something you might like check out St. Maxime. It is a great place with lots of restaurants, shopping, a market and a beautiful beach as well as the iconic carousel on the water. It has a number of nice hotels and although I always have a car, I am sure there must be plenty of public transportation. Really nice ambience.

Stayed in port saint laurent ,beautiful beaches 5 minutes to the airport , 10 minutes to nice by train and 25 minute train rides to Monaco and Cannes .

So glad you've asked that question. I'm also looking for a suggestion near Nice.
It's our last night in France in July. We are a family of 4--thinking of staying in Villefranche or Eze and will have a car.
Do you have a recommendation for a special place (with a/c) to stay that is somewhat reasonable for that area or
is just worth the cost. How long will it take for us to get to the airport in Nice? Merci beaucoup!

I've been happy enough using Nice as my home base a couple of times, with good transport options, as well as sights such as the Russian church and Chagall and Matisse museums. Moving around from Antibes (town) or Villefranche-sur-Mer (village) may sometimes require an extra bus or train connection in Nice. Not all trains stop at Villefranche.

If time allows, my favorite, separate beach destination is Cassis, with its famous Calenques - but not a good home base for the rest of the coast.