My husband and I will be in the Cote d'Azur for 4 nights the first days of September. We are 28 and 30 and love to travel. We will have travelled in Paris and Western Provence before arriving in the Riviera and am looking for both beaches and sightseeing. Can anyone give a little more insight on the areas and advice on where to stay ? I was looking at Nice, Antibes or Villefranche-sur-Mer.
Thank you!
When I went to Provence and the Cote d'Azur in 2005, I bought the Rick Steves regional guidebook and the Lonely Planet regional guidebook. While I was happy with the RS book, I found the LP book to be more thorough and to include more things for younger adults. A new edition of the LP book has just come out. See here.
I suggest that you go to a good bookstore and take a look at both guidebooks.
I agree with Steve that Nice, Antibes, and Villefranche-sur-Mer would all be good choices. Since you mentioned the beach, you should know that Nice has a shingle beach (large pebbles). Antibes has a sandy beach.
If you were to tell us some of your interests, it would be easier to give you a list of suggested things to see and do. For example, if you are art lovers, you'll be happy to know that, outside of Paris, Nice and the surrounding area have the best art museums in France.
Andrea, we stayed in Juan les Pins (very close to Antibes), the beach is nice (sandy), lots of restaurants, you can take easy day trips to Nice, Cannes by train, we had a car and we took daytrips to Grasse and Biot, all short driving distances. There is the Picasso museum in Antibes, and they have a nice outdoor market too.
Have fun!
I've stayed in Villefranche sur Mer twice and loved it. You can easily take the bus to Nice and other places in the area. The Hotel de la Darse has great views and is not expensive. The town of Villefranche is charming and has a decent beach. If you are Renoir fan, you can take the bus to Cagnes sur Mer and see his house, studio, and garden. You can walk to Cap Ferrat from Villefranche and see the Rothschild mansion and gardens as well as walk around the peninsula. Rick's Provence book has lots of good info on what to see in this area.
If you're planning on the beach I'd say either Villefranche or Antibes. The beaches in Nice isn't sandy. Its pebbles .
For Nice and Monaco, I'd definitely stay in Villefranche. It's small and the bus is right there and it's very close to Nice and Monaco.
When I go to the Cote d'Azur I always make Nice my home base and then take trains along the coast for day trips. That way you can see all of the cities/towns/beaches along the Riviera very easily.
I second everything that Grier said adding that from Villefranche-sur-mer its also an easy bus or train ride to Monaco.
I was thinking of going to the beach in the morning and staying until around 12:30 on most of the days. I know i want to see the sights of Nice(markets, one museum and promanade d anglais). I also want to visit Monaco and possible see one more village along the riviera. If those are my "things to do" of the three places: Nice, Antibes, Villefranche...where would you stay. We are also looking for a place that is around $150 USD per night.
The small beach towns are nice, but there is nothing like being in Old Town Nice and walking back to your hotel in the late, warm evening. So lively and so many choices...definitely not a quiet choice but one of my favorites, ever.
We have stayed in Villefranche-Sur-Mer several times at Hotel de la Darse, great hotel and great price, but this Sept. we have booked a different hotel. Hotel Patricia is at the other end of town, and at 60 Euros a night for a twin room, a great find. Hopefully the Tripadvisor reviews are accurate! We find this is a perfect town to use as a base for exploring the whole region. Don't miss spending a few hours in Eze-le-Village.
What Jenna said. Nice is the cheapest area of the expensive Cote d'Azue. Ibis hotel we stayed at was 150 yards from the train station. Around 75 Euro per night. Look at Accorhotels.com and they might have a deal on now. The hotel is a bit hard to find at the start. Its entrance is up a set of esculators on the 1st floor (second to us). It will be on the right, just past the train station and a small car park. The elevator entracne is under the esculators and reeks of urine. Probably not go that way at night by self. Two or more would be ok. I use an electric scooter and had to use elevator.
Can anyone give me a little more insight as to the beaches in Villefranche? How sandy are they? Will you need watershoes? Are they walkable and free from hotel?
Same insight for Antibes would be great.
The beach in Villefranche is sandy, free, and walkable from anywhere in the village. Not sure about water shoes.
