FRENCH RIVIERA - gratefully seeking tips, travel advice, suggestions

Prepare to be disappointed in Nice and Cannes. I am from California and was surprised at the small rundown beach communities. Walks along the water were rather difficult, even in November, since the beaches are comprised of small rocks - not sand. However, Monaco! Wow, that was something else. Never cared about the beaches since the people-watching and castle-touring was spectacular. Leaving from the old, dirty, dilapidated train station in Nice and arriving in Monte Carlo was a trip from the ridiculous to the sublime. You could picnic on the floors in Monaco. Just sit in one of the cafes in front of the Casino - drink very slowly - and enjoy the cavalcade of the rich and beautiful. Nice is very centrally located on the French Riviera and all those cities can be accessed in a day. But be aware of train schedules! Reading the schedule boards was a challenge that required assistance from locals. Thereafter we left for Paris, and I fell in love with the City that I have yearned to see since I was 18 years old (46 years ago). Next month we leave for a vacation in Italy but I am planning an anniversary trip next year back to Paris. Enjoy!

Nice makes a great base for your trips to Monaco and Cannes. Travel by either train or bus is frequent and cheap. If you visit any hilltop perched villages, you'll need to take a bus. If you are art lovers, don't miss the Chagall and Matisse museums in Nice. Stroll through Vieux (Old) Nice and check out the market on the Cours Saleya. I didn't get to see it myself, but I've read that the Orthodox cathedral is the best of its kind outside of Russia.

You didn't ask for an opinion about Monaco and Cannes, but I'll give you one anyway. The oceanographic museum and aquarium in Monaco is worth a visit. Otherwise, both Monaco and Cannes are "famous for being famous" and all you'll get for your efforts is to say you've seen how the super rich live. Antibes with its walled old town & market, Picasso museum, and sandy beach makes for a much better day trip.

There is no train service to St-Tropez. The fastest way to get there from Nice is to take a train to St-Raphael and either a bus or a ferry from there. See this page. It's one hour to St-Raphael by train and just under two hours from St-Raphael to St-Tropez by bus.

You might consider stopping at St-Tropez on your way to Marseille rather than backtracking to Nice. From St-Tropez you can take a bus to Toulon and a train from there to Marseille.

When traveling, if I have a choice I will always stay in one town and day trip to the other. Packing and moving takes much of the fun out of travel. Those towns are close together and wont take much travel time.

If you like Roman Ruins and have time be sure to visit Pont du Guard, the TRIPLE acqueduct East of the Riviera. It is the only one I have ever seen in Europe.

We visited Nice and Marseille in 2006. We would recommend Nice but would advise axoiding Marseille, as it has little to offer. A small and enjoyable town is Narbonne.

3 years ago we stayed in juan les pins/antibes area, the beach was nice and we took day trips to nice, biot,cannes and grasse i have heard that eze is very nice also, i suggest skipping cannes, since there is not much to see there. then you could spend a few days in provence, you can stop in st tropez on your way. and go to the pont du guard, avignon, aix en provence. provence is very nice you would enjoy it more than marseille i think! have fun!

Thank you everyone for your input and advice. I really appreciated the time that you have taken to reply. I'll get back to the drawing board and see where I can tweak my itinerary. Thanks again.

We spent a week in Villefranche-sur-mer last month. It's a great location, 10 minutes from Nice and 12 from Monaco. A small town with a great beach, without the immense crowds of Nice, Cannes, or Monaco.

An above post says Pont du Gard is east of the Riviera and seems to suggest seeing the Pont du Gard while in the Riviera. The Pont is 200 miles west and northwest of Nice--better seen as part of a Provence trip, not a good day trip from Nice.

I'd also recommend staying outside of Nice, in either Antibes or Villefranche-sur-Mer. They're both close enough to make it very easy to visit Nice, Monaco, or any other Riviera location as a day trip. I haven't been to Marseille yet, but I think you would want to travel & stay there separately, as I would consider it too far for day's visit.

Sonia, I agree with a few of the above posters that Villefranche sur Mer -- which RS recommends -- is a great place to stay.

I'd scrap the Riviera all together. I spent 14 days in France 2 years ago and the 3 spent based out of Nice were the worst. In the week that you are allowing you could spend 1 night in/around Nice, 2 nights in Arles and 2 nights in Beaune before heading back to Paris. A much more enjoyable time in my opinion.

My husband and I spent a week based in St. Tropez several years ago. Although we loved the location, it was not particularly convenient for day trips to Monaco, Nice, Cannes, etc. We had a car which really improved our flexibility. Truly the most enjoyable part of the vacation was driving along the coast from St. Tropez to Monaco. We did it twice, stopping at different sites along the way. Nice and Cannes, as far as I am concerned, deserve about an hour apiece max - primarily along the water. Monaco was well worth the 1/2 day we spent there - more if you have time. Antibes was charming and worth several hours - 1/2 day. Villefranch-sur-mer has an absolutely lovely setting and I agree with others that it would make a great place to stay. Although touristy, we really loved St. Paul de Vence, a hill town to rival those in Italy. We never made it to Eze but wish we had. We also enjoyed the town of Grimaud near St. Tropez and driving through the countryside in that area. Also loved the hour drive west of St. Tropez along the coast. We never made it to the Gorges du Verdon, but again, wish we had - hear it is really lovely.

We spent 3 weeks in France last September, with the last 3 nights in Nice. We found it easy to take day trips by train from Nice to the coastal cities nearby, and loved Nice. Monaco is about 1 hour, Cannes about 1 hour, Antibes 1/2 hour, and each was easy to walk into from the train stations. St. Tropez is about 2+ hours so we didn't go there.