Where is a good place to stay. We were looking at Villefranche sur Mer, but heard that it'a little remote and quiet and that the beach is rocky. A friend told us to stay at Best Western Cristal, Cannes. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
HK
antibes is a good place with many choices. beach is small, but good markets and restaurants. cannes has good sandy beaches but that's about it. villefrache is a quiet town and very beautiful with a small castle. it's on the trainline so it's not remote, but no good beach. you should ask locals for good beaches and you may find them in small towns all on the trainline.
I recently returned from Villefranche sur Mer as a base for the Riviera as recommended by RS in his Provence guide book. I absolutely loved it! While I don't swim myself, there were lots of people doing so very happily and it was definitely much more sandy than the beach at Nice, which was actual rocks. If I were you I would do some looking on Trip Advisor. But it really depends on how long you will be on the Riviera and whether you have a car and if so (or not) do you intend to take day trips? I didn't have a car and found Villefranche to be a perfect central location. Both the bus and train make frequent 5-10 minute trips to Nice, for transfers to some of the other popular hill towns- and getting to Monaco for the day in the other direction was also quick and easy. I also walked, another RS suggestion, to the Rothschild gardens from Villefranche. It sounds like you need to do a little more research to make sure what suits YOU best! But you are so fortunate- I wish I was going again!
My vote is for Villefranche sur Mer. We were there for a couple of days the first week of October last year and it is gorgeous. We liked it so much we didn't even bother with Nice, yet it is easy to travel to Nice, Monaco, etc. from there.
We just returned from a stay in Arles and stayed at a great farmhouse B&B (Mas Petit Fourchon) outside of town. A beautiful area and lots of friendly (not tired of tourists) locals ready to tell you about their world. Arles proved to be a perfectly central location to really explore Provence (but you MUST have a car!)
What about Cannes? Our friends are telling us that Cannes is really fun. We're in our early 30's and like too go out and have fun.
Thanks for your input!
HK
I just returned from French Riveria this wk. Every town is diff and offers tourists diff opportuniities.
And also costs can be vastly diff. You def will want to be on train route so you can easily go from town to town. For beauty I would pick Monaco or
Villefranche sur mer, for bustling day and nightlife Nice. A car can be a nightmare in FR during peak season. Beaches are not what we Californias are used to, most are rocky, pebbly and small with wall to wall people. Make sure your hotels offers a/c if going during hot seasons.Go thru RS guidebook for ref to a hotel you may like and for rates that you are willing to pay.
Another beautiful possibility is Cassis. We stayed there a couple of years ago on a RS tour (our vacation from our vacation.) A beautiful harbor, a beach, restaurants, cafes, etc. Driving distance to Arles, Aix-en-Provence, and St Tropez. Doable for Cannes, Nice and Monaco, but maybe too long a day. Check it out!
Cassis (previous post) is a long way from the Nice/Cannes area--the original poster states they want to stay somewhere in the French Riviera.
Cannes is the most expensive resort on golden cost.
Unless you are willing to pay big bucks, I would suggest to try to stay in Nice. In 2002 we stayed in a nice hotel with kicken for 55 euros/night. Now since the dollar is very weak in comparason with the euro, 55 euros means about $70, but it's cheaper than Cannes. We booked thru the a tourist office in Nice.It's somewhere on the main boulevard, I can't recall exactly the location, but you should see a sign or ask somebody.Staff was very nice and helpful.
Or check online if you know exactly when you are there.
I use onetravel.com to book my flights and i believe they have good rates for hotels and cars too.
Have fun!
