StuDudley

Get the Michelin Green Guide for the Riveria/Cote d'Azur. There is an excellent walking itinerary for Nice in the guide. Make sure that you do it in the early morning - not the afternoon. There are some nice views from the fortress, that are only good in the morning. In the afternoon the sun will be in your face & the views won't be that good. Also, you'll walk past the farmer's market - which only exist in the morning.

What to do in 2 1/4 days???
Diversity!!!
Large city with lots of stuff to do & see - Nice
Small village on the coast - Villefranche
Cute perched medieval villages - St Paul, Tourrettes, & Vence
Cute medieval villages with views - Eze & Gourdon
Pretty countryside - Loup loop
Nice structure with pretty garden & surroundings - Villa Ephrussi-Rothschild

I would do Cannes last after everything else.

We had a great dinner at La Mere Germaine restaurant in Villefranche. Directly on the port.
http://www.meregermaine.com/
Reserve ahead. Hotel Welcome is next door - which seems to be popular with Fodors people.

Stu Dudley

debwhite

We're also heading to NIce in October for either 2 1/4 days or less! If we give up our car as we arrive is that a mistake. I see we can do Nice and Villefranche, which sounds easy and worth it, but will we want a car to do some of the hill towns/villages with great views? Should we keep our car for an extra day to do them? We'll be driving in from the Luberon area.

isabel

When are you going in October - it may make a difference. I don't know when the "season" ends, but it was most definitely over by late November. Which surprised me as I thought of the Cote d'Azure as a place people went in winter to get away from cold climates and therefore would be "slower" but still have some things open year round. Eze and Villefrance were "closed" - as in all the restaurants and shops were closed for the winter. This was in the center of both towns, there is a small area on the outskirts that year round people live in that obviously had activity. I'm sure October is different from November, especially is you are going early in the month, but just be aware that unless you are looking for solitude you might want to reconsider a slightly larger town. How about Antibes?

StuDudley

Hey everyone!! - remember that Nice is north of Milwaukee WI. What's Milwaukee like in November??? Lots of people who own hotels & restaurants take November off - it's vacation time for them and they go ??? to get their rest & relaxation after 8 months of activity.

Deb - keep the car if you want to visit the hill towns back of Nice. In Oct, the daylight hours will be short & you don't want to waste any time waiting for trains or buses. You can take the train or bus to Menton, Monaco, Villefranche, Antibes, and Cannes - but drive to the other places. We've stayed in Nice for around 6 weeks total, and we always use our car for exploits outside of Nice (except for one 3-day trip).

Stu Dudley

DebitNM

Bkmk

Mimar

DebitNM couldn't you bookmark this locally on your browser without reactivating an old thread?

DebitNM

As I need to access threads from another computer, it seemed easier this way. Sorry if that's a problem.