French Riviera recomendations

I enjoyed beautiful coast walks on a day trip from Nice to Saint Jean Cap Ferrat. There are also villas you can tour in the St. Jean area. Otherwise, I can only recommend places you have already been. I was interested in Biot, described as a fortified medieval hill town near Antibes and home to the Leger museum and crafts studios, but didn't get there.

Aix-en-Provence is a nice city. I've been told it's a place where French people go to on vacation. Cagnes-sur-Mer makes a good day trip from Nice (Renoir's home and studio)

I don't know about special events around Easter, but:

• Antibes for sure

• Maybe Biot, but I wouldn't especially recommend it for folks not interested in glass or the Leger Museum.

• I was intrigued by the tourist-free streets of nedieval Vence, a town of 20,000 located beyond St-Paul-de-Vence (and thus a longer bus ride). However, one person's "untouristy" could be another person's "dead". It was extraordinarily quiet during the early afternoon on the day of my visit (May 2017).

• The privately operated Train des Pignes https://www.traindespignes.fr/en/ connects Nice to the spa town of Digne, with stops along the way. I think medieval Entrevaux is the most picturesque intermediate stop. You'd want nice weather for this, and you need to look carefully at the schedule to figure out the best way to have some time in Entrevaux and/or Digne. The train doesn't run all that often.

• Perhaps head to one of the Italian towns right across the border. I haven't done that myself, so I have no personal recommendation to offer.

We liked the area of Agay and Le Dramont--some small beaches, hiking, and plenty of great views. We also drove over to Saint-Raphael. Can't speak to it at Easter, though!

Here are some things to consider and some comments on the others:

• The Train des Merveilles is running weekend and holiday trains with commentary, up to Tende in the hill/Alpine towns that border with Italy.
• Consider a drive or a tour to see back country villages like Tourettes-sur-Loup (best lunch stop), Gourdon and the Gorge du Loup (there is a series of small waterfalls as well and a garden outside of Gourdon maintained by the monks). Also Vence has a very nice old town center, the Matisse Chapel, and a Fete du Paques (Easter Festival) that weekend. It can be tacked on or reached by bus.
  
• La Turbie, above Eze, has the Trophee des Alpes with a terrific view down on Monaco. It you have a car or want to hike, you can go up to the Tete du Chien. With a car, continue a loop into the backcountry that includes Peillon (and Peille)
• With a car, you can journey Mougins is another nice stop, often paired with Valbonne.
• You can take a Ferry from Cannes to St. Honorat (I would check on Easter hours due to the active Monastery that populates the island). They also make wine.
• There is a wine region (Bellet) in Nice but most head out to the Var or to San Tropez. Tours sometimes reach the Var or stay close to Nice/Menton like Saint-Jeannet.
• You can take the train the Vintmille (Ventimiglia) or transfer to see Sanremo or Bordighera. There are actually some really other nice towns on the coast, and the drive is wonderful. Inland from Ventimiglia is the stone village of Dolcecqua and then Apricale
• Often paired with Cap Ferrat/Villa Rothschild is Villa Kerylos in Beaulieu-sur-Mer.
• Walks around Cap Ferrat and Cap d'Antibes (sentier littorel) are great, as is the hike up Mt. Boron to Fort Alban
• Biot as noted for their glass and Leger, Valluris for their pottery and Picasso.
  
• The Renoir and Hauts de Cagnes are nice in Cagnes-sur-Mer, but the actual central town is not great (seaside is better).