Itinerary Thoughts - Nice and the Area for 7 Nights

If you are interested in a food and sight seeing tour, I highly recommend this tour with Nadia on your first full day (Saturday). My husband, daughter and I spent a week in Nice a few years ago and took this tour on our first full day. Nadia is lovely, and knows her city well. A visit to the market is included as well as a full sit down lunch. She recommended many other restaurants to try which we did during the rest of week. Our family still talks about how much we enjoyed this tour. https://www.nicefoodandwinetours.com/

Some commentary:

Friday/Saturday: Make your way up Le Chateau or Castle Hill. Don't forget the elevator next to the Hotel Suisse if it is very hot and you don't want the walk up. You can possibly squeeze in the Matisse Musee in the afternoon. Although some are disappointed by the Museum's more limited collection, note there is a special exhibition on Matisse and the Mediterranean, with 55 works on loan from throughout the world, including Paris and New York Several museums have special exhibitions on the theme of the Med, due to the big UN conference on the Oceans that is being held in Nice earlier in June.

If you do drive to Eze, I highly recommend continuing up to La Turbie. From the Trophee des Alpes you get a much less crowded sea view and a view down on Monaco.

Driving into Monaco can be challenging. You might be able to add it to Monday by train.

Tuesday -- you can continue past St Paul de Vence to Vence, see the Matisse Chapel and then continue on to Tourettes Sur Loup and Gourdon.

Thursday: Le Galet has the better food and Castel has the best view (but the largest rocks). If you want sand, you may want to day trip to Antibes (the part west of the old town, or through to Juan Les Pin) or add some time to your time in Villefranche (large grain sand)

Thanks to both of you!! Actually, the choice of a beach club is giving us the biggest headache. On the surface, (no pun intended), it would sure make the most sense to pick a club in Nice since it's most convenient and also our hotel claims to be able to get us a reservation. However, the lack of a sandy beach has caused us concern.

Yes, definitely go to La Turbie for the Tophée des Alpes. La Turbie is on the Grande Corniche, the highest one, so that's a convenient time to stop there.
Indeed, the Nice beaches aren't sand but rocks and pebbles. It's nice to go for lunch, though.

I'd only add that you might consider slipping over the border and spending an afternoon in Ventimiglia just so you can say you went to Italy on this trip. It is a sleepy little town, not much action, but it is a pleasant place to spend a quiet afternoon having lunch, getting a gelato, and strolling down to the seaside where there are no crowds or tourists (at least not the times I've been there.).