marinamiller

Hello!

This is my first time posting here, although I have scoured the message board for years looking for answers

My husband and I are spending 18 nights (!!!) in France this May (May 20-June 5), with 8 of them in the Provence area. Although I have a separate question on a base area to stay in Provence, I wanted to call out Cote D'azur on it's own. We will have a car, and after spending time mainly in Western Provence, thought it might be nice to spend 2 nights in a beachy town before flying out of Nice. We are planning on REALLY doing Cote D'azur seperately on a different trip, but wanted a taste for two nights just to relax and get a taste.

What we love and are looking for from these two days: A charming town feel, be on the waterfront/beach area, be west of Nice, love good food, strolling, people watching and WINE (especially excited for Rose in this area). For these two days less interested in museums and anything that takes us indoors.

So far I have researched:
-Villefranche sur Mer - looks like it fits the bill most closely but is East of Nice and I don't want to have to travel beyond that this trip (maybe that is silly -- tell me if it is!)
-Antibes/Juan Les Pines - This looks okay but the areas sort of appeared less charming/quaint (again, tell me if I am being nuts)
-St Paul de Vence looks amazing but not on the water which is something that I don't want to trade off for these two days
-Toulon mainly for the Rose but it looks a bit more industrial

Are there other areas that I have missed that would fit the bill, or perhaps my assumptions about some of the above places are wrong? Thanks so much for the advice!

Calabria62

We stayed in Villefranche on our last trip to the Nice area. We had a car, and it took us about 20 mins-30 mins. to get to the Nice airport, if I remember correctly.

Antibes, is charming, and I wouldn't hesitate to stay there at all! Especially since it's only for a couple of days. It's fairly small, however, but again if you want to relax, it would be fine.

Also, I wouldn't discount Nice for your two days. There are the pedestrian areas that are so entertaining...just strolling and people watching, the boardwalk, the Old Port, you'd find plenty to do outdoors for 2 days. You could even take the bus to Cimiez (about 20 minutes) to see the Roman Ruins.

Can't comment on St. Paul de Vence or Toulon.

marinamiller

Thank you!

Micheline

Our last trip to the Cote d'Azur we stayed 7 nights in Nice and 2 nights in Villefranche sur Mer. We love both Nice and Villefranche so I don't think you can go wrong with either of these. Villefranche is only approx. five miles from Nice and has the most beautiful views on the way there.

Christina

Antibes is fine, but I wouldn't consider it charming. It is full of boat owners, for one thing, as it's a resort town. But it has an old area that is fine for walking around. It isn't small at all, the city is over 50,000 population.