Hello,
Our family of 5 plan to travel to The French Riviera for one week 7/2-7/8, 2024. Some of us love the beach and want to spend most days enjoying sandy beaches with warm waters, while others do not like the beach, but prefer city touring and exploration. May I ask for recommendations for a homebase where we can rent an Airbnb that is close to sandy, warm, public beaches, but also is central for taking public transportation to explore different cities of the French Riviera?
Thank you,
Carol
Posted by
L'Occitanie, France
10207 posts
The Riviera has rocky beaches with only a couple of tiny exceptions. I forget where exactly you can find sand, so I'll leave that to someone else to report.
West of the Rhone the beaches are sandy. For example, Montpellier is a vibrant city with a beach 10 kilometers away. It doesn't have the chain of towns to visit by public transportation the way the Riviera does.
Posted by
Chicago
7871 posts
I've been to both of these have sand:
https://www.antibesjuanlespins.com/en/discover/antibes-juan-les-pins-a-mediterranean-city/the-beaches/public-beaches
I'd stay in Antibes it is on the some trainline as Nice, Monaco, etc. all a short ride away
Posted by
2 posts
We love Menton. It's the last stop on the train before Italy. Smaller and less touristy than some places but on 25 minutes to Nice on the train.
Posted by
OP
2 posts
Thank you all!
Posted by
Nice, France & San Francisco
681 posts
The sandy beaches are in the western side of Antibes, Juan-les-Pins, Cannes and further west through the length of the Cote d'Azur. (The best beaches are near Saint Tropez). To the east of Antibes there is mostly rocks and pebbles. Villefranche-sur-Mer is just a bay over from Nice and has a beach of "large grain sand" and Menton as someone mentioned has some sandy beaches (some/many? places import sand in the summer). They all have train station, but I don't recommend Menton if you intend to day trip as it is at the far end of the set of coastal destinations, including the cities.