My wife and I are going to be in the South of France September 21-27 and are either staying in Nice or Cannes and were looking for a 4 Star hotel recommendation in both cities. Also which city would you recommend in stay in for the week. We also want to tour the area - Monte Carlo to St. Tropez and wanted to use a drive for transport and touring. Who would you recommend and what would be a reasonable cost. Thank you for your assistance. Best regards, Gary Stanko
Definitely stay in Nice. Not only is it much larger and more interesting with more to see and do, but it's central to the region. Except for St. Tropez, Nice is in the middle of the area, while Cannes is on the edge. Did you want to hire a car with driver (very expensive), or rent a car and drive it yourself? You can also get everywhere easily and inexpensively with trains and buses. The buses are only €1 (yes, one euro, precisely to encourage people to use them instead of driving), and the trains aren't too much more. But if you want to take the scenic drives along the Middle Corniche (with Eze Village, among other places) and High Corniche (with La Turbie), a car works well, since the buses are much less frequent than on the Low Corniche (sea level towns). If you do want to take trains and buses, be sure to get Rick Steves Provence And The French Riviera. Not only does it have much more detail on this region than his general France book, but it has very detailed directions about getting from place to place without a car.