cmeyer54

My husband will be in Barcelona and Nice in late February. I'm flying over to meet him on March 1st in Nice and then heading to Monte Carlo - that is his dream - for 6 days. I'll fly back from Nice on the 7th and he'll stay in Europe for another week.

We'll have to stay the first night in Nice as he doesn't arrive there until near midnight. I will arrive at 2pm and am wondering if anyone has a good, safe hotel suggestion for that night. Is the area along the promenade safe to walk in the evening alone?

We will head to Monte Carlo the next day and plan to take day trips ( Eze, Cannes, Antibes or Aix) as well as do some touring of his choosing in Monte Carlo (like walk the F1 course), see the casino, galleries, spend half a day at a spa, etc.

A few questions for those who've been there - 1)favorite side trips 2)restaurants that won't break the bank 3)out of the way places or sites not to be missed 4)if you were going for the first time knowing what you know now, what would you do differently? (please don't say skip monte carlo as this is his destination; we've been to barcelona a few times and love it but he's zero'd in on Monte Carlo)

Given what I've read on this board, our best bet may be to take the train from Nice to Monte Carlo rather than a bus or taxi; we'll rent a car for the day trips tho.

Our travel agent is booking the hotels for us in Monte Carloas he spends a month there each year and is very comfortable with the area.

MilenaM

Since you already have included Eze, Cannes, Antibes, let me add another small hilltop village very close to Monaco. Roquebrune Vieux Village (not the Cap Martin part by the sea) has a nice square, a millenary olive tree reached by a pleasant walk with vistas that take one's breath away, a IX-th century Grimaldi castle that is open to visits. There is an upscale restaurant at the Deux Freres Hotel. From the village parking, next to an old lavoir, you just keep walking up towards the castle. It would make for a nice short day trip.

In late February the trees were in bloom on the path just described. Since I love gardens, I visited the Jardin Exotique in Monaco and found it easier to do in February than in the summer heat.

scatcat

Walking on the promenade in Nice at night is safe. I have done it solo dozens of times. I usually leave my handbag in the room and carry only a few euros in my pocket. It will be cool so carry a jacket with you. If you walk with your handbag, put it across your body if it has straps. There shouldn't be a lot going on in early March, so you will be even safer than in summer time when the pick pockets are sometimes there. I have noticed the past couple of years there is an increase of police patrolling either on foot or bicycle. Good to see them. Nice is beautiful...one of my favorite places in the world.

If you would like to stay on the water, there are several hotels. I travel solo most times, and I stay in less expensive places away from the water. So I can't recommend a hotel. My next trip to Nice will be in early May after visiting Italy for a week. I am booked at the Grand Hotel Le Florence for a week.

easytraveler

Gorgeous area.

Watch out for the mistrale at that time of year, but if it does blow, you'll have good weather afterwards.

Enjoy your trip!

zeppole

Me? I'd go to Italy for lunch. It's about a 40 minute train ride from Montecarlo to Bordighera, with a simple switch in Ventigmiglia. Shorter if you go to San Remo, but Bordighera is the more typical Italian Riviera resort town, which Monet liked to paint, with a long promenade, palm-tree lined, and waterside restaurants. This place gets nice reviews (careful, it has a soundtrack):

http://www.magiarge.it/english/index...taurant-01-00/

http://www.intermonet.com/oeuvre/bordig.htm

zeppole

PS: The restaurant I linked to isn't on the waterfront, but the thing to do is eat at a good restaurant, and then enjoy a cup of coffee on the "lungomare".

scatcat

Thanks zeppole. I think I will go there while I'm in Nice. I have never been. Is the town walkable from the train station? Beautiful Monets!

cmeyer54

Wonderful ideas - thank you all so much!

zeppole

The train runs right alongside the coast, and pulls right into the heart of town, right near the waterfront promenade.

I'm not sure how much of an uphill walk from the seafront it is to the restaurant for which I give you a link, but you should be able to find a taxi quite easily it appears daunting. It is worth resisting the temptation to eat right at the seafront because usually places in the Riviera that are tucked away down an alley have the better food. At a minimum, don't eat at a restaurant called Carletto, which one had a grand reputation (perhaps a Michelin-star?) and still costs a fortune.

I should mention too that you should come wanting fish and seafood, but I doubt anybody in Bordighera serves anything else. Pasta with pesto is of course the glory of Liguria if you've never had the real thing, the local olives and olive oil are legendary, and anchovies don't resemble any anchovy you've ever tasted before -- sweet and fresh, either simply dressed with lemon or fried.

Do eat a lot of lemons wherever you go on the French or Italian Riviera, especially if you are near the border of the two countries. Which reminds me: Menton has its lemon festival -- Fete du Citron -- from late February to March. I've never been, but it looks like a hoot:

http://www.avignon-et-provence.com/e...stival-menton/

http://www.fete-du-citron.com/Lemon-...French,34.html

zeppole

http://starfunnn.blogspot.com/2009/0...o-italian.html

julia1

bookmarking

gwan

I used to live in the area, and my favourite thing was walking some of the coastal or hill paths. It's very easy to follow the coast and buses are frequent, so I used to just stop at a bus stop when I was done and catch the next bus back. The walk from Nice Port over Mt. Boron is nice, or around Cap d'Ail or between Beaulieu and Villefranche or around the Cap d'Antibes. Anywhere really!

As for sights, I enjoyed visiting Villas Ephrussi and Kerylos on Cap Ferrat. Kerylos is built in the Greek style by a rich guy who was super into the Greeks, so it's not just a couple of Doric columns and that's it. Ephrussi was built by one of the Rothschilds. Both are in a gorgeous setting and Ephrussi has nice gardens. I was there in late February 2010 and there were already trees in blossom - so considering the mildness of this winter (I don't know in Nice specifically, but I suppose so - it snowed that winter I was there) there definitely should be still. Here's a blog post I wrote on the villas http://gwannelsandiego.blogspot.com/...os-at-cap.html There are tons more blogs on different things I did in the 7 months I lived there.

Cannes is a bit meh. Antibes is nice. You're probably a bit early to go to the beach, I think I went to the beach there in April and it was gorgeous - lying on the beach looking at the snow-capped Alps Eze is nice, and again, if you like walking you can walk down the hill path to Eze-sur-Mer.

In my opinion, you don't really need a car, but that's up to you obviously. When my parents visited, they hired a car and it only took a (should have been) 10 minute drive from the airport to their hotel in which we managed to get stuck driving on the tram tracks and funnelled into the one-way system caused by roadworks around the port for my mother to vow not to get back in it for the rest of the trip! They ended up leaving it at my apartment up in Cimiez (talking of which, the Roman ruins up there are pretty cool) and taking the bus the rest of the time! D'oh!