I'm looking to travel somewhere for nine or 10 days in late January or early February. Warmth and sun would be amazing, but anything will be better than where I live (a bitterly cold and dark part of North America that time of year). I'm torn between two ideas.
South of France
- Fly in/out of Nice
- Stay in Nice 5-6 nights - using several days here to see the art museums and explore the old town
- Take a few day trips from Nice to places like St. Paul de Vence, Eze, Antibes, Villefranche-sur-Mer? -- but which ones? Monaco? It doesn't appeal to me but I'd like to see every country in Europe at some point so it would be more of a check-off... is there are a Monaco for the quiet, low-budget art-museum lover?
- Spend two nights in Menton (which looks like it has some surprisingly affordable nice hotels that time of year?)
Umbria/Tuscany
- Fly in/out of Florence
- Stay in Perugia - 5-6 nights, take day trips to Assisi, Spello and Folignon, Arezzo, Spoleto (but which ones?)
- Stay in Pisa - 2-3 nights, visit Pistoia
- Do we expect Jubilee-year travel to affect Tuscany and Umbria much in January/February?
Other options... Puglia? (But I think this would be hard without a car... the bus routes between, say, Lecce and Matera look quite convoluted...) Basque region of Spain/France?
I'm on a modest but not shoestring budget (two-star hotels about $60/night for accommodation or less each night... which looks doable both places, honestly). I'll be relying on public transit. I love art museums, churches, architecture, walkable places, hiking, and I've been on a big Medieval kick lately.
Not really into shopping. Good food is great but food options aren't going to steer me one way or the other. I speak some French and a serviceable amount of Italian, so that's not really a factor.
I've previously visited Marseille, Avignon, Villeneuve-les-Avignon, Aix-en-Provence, and Arles in the South of France (in March a couple years ago, during a major train strike!) -- it was a bit cold, I know it's unpredictable! I've also been to Andalusia in February (lovely...) and Sicily in February (beautiful weather but, outside of Palermo, everything was deader than dead).
Thank you for your kind advice --