Reasonable hotels near the beach in French Riviera area

You'll probably get more answers that are useful to you if you tell us what "reasonable" means to you in euros per night. In addition, your trip is coming up in about a month, so the very best-value places people are likely to recommend may well be full at this point, rendering their recommendations of only academic interest. That you are looking for five nights rather than just two or three may further complicate matters; hotels get cancellations all the time, but would a cancellation free up a room for all the nights you need? (Yes, I've run into precisely this problem myself.)

While waiting for suggestions from others, you can check on what hotels in likely cities have rooms available for your specific dates on booking.com. You can set filters for things like air conditioning (essential) and price range. Nice itself has a huge number of hotels. The area around the Nice Ville train station is not glamorous. Some blocks are attractive enough while others can best be described as "plain". Lodging rates are lower there than in parts of the city closer to the beach. I've stayed in that area myself (female and 65 years old at the time), and I'd stay there again to save money.

Nice has good public transportation, so you could select a hotel or other lodging well away from the coast and easily get down there by bus or tram if you didn't want to walk. Alternatively, you could hop on the train at the Nice Ville station and travel to other towns along the coast.

sandy beaches are rare, and often they are private - they have shipped in tons of sand to go over the sharp sand, pebbles, and shingle. That is most definitely the case in and near Nice.

There are few natural sandy beaches that I am aware of, such as on Cap Ferrat, but fronted by residences and not hotels.

I believe Antibes has a natural sandy beach - is that too far away from where you want to be? How much is what you expect to pay? The French Riviera is many miles long - where do you want to be? Or will you travel from Nice?

I just remembered that at the Menton end of Monaco is a small sandy beach. I forget if it is private or public.

this is one of two similar threads from this OP. It is often easier to keep track of one, both for the poster and the responders.

Most of Menton is rock, but there is sand now at the newly redeveloped end.

We stayed at the Ibis Styles Nice Centre Gare. It is an easy walk from the train station. The hotel was very clean and the best hotel beds we have ever slept in. The breakfast were plentiful, and the staff awesome. We took an Uber from the Airport to our hotel.It was an easy stroll for us to the beaches and Old Nice. The train station is less than a five-minute walk, and perfect for day trips to Antibes, Cannes, Menton, Monaco, etc. The public beaches in Nice are pebble, not sand.

Thanks can u still swim at the beaches and did u encounter any sand beaches in your travels to Cannes Antibes, etc.?

As Nigel mentioned above, Antibes has a sandy beach.

So does Juan-les-Pins

By the way, obviously it depends what your idea of "reasonable" is, but the Cote d'Azur is probably the most expensive region in France. It's not the kind of place that comes to my mind when I think "reasonable."

Yes you can swim at the beaches. But in Nice, laying out on a tile might be a bit tricky. As mentioned Antibes does have a sandy beach - it's an easy 20 minute trip up the tracks from Nice.

Juan-les-Pins has a good stretch of public beach but that means that it has the least Riviera-y vibe along that part of the ocean, more working class. Check the fine print regarding what is included when you book a hotel because those that have their own areas staked out may have additional charges to be able to use them, and/or require reservations, like a restaurant. I think Antibes does have the best combination of atmosphere and access and cost if you don't want to spring for a chair rental.