Trying to decide on where to go with a group of women celebrating upcoming 50th birthday. Some choices are the French Riviera, cruise of Greek Isles, or Amalfi Coast. We enjoy good wine, food, nightlife, beaches. We are "young at heart" so not really into a "sleepy" area, we prefer alot of activity. Appreciate any suggestions

When and for how long?
Prefer to stay on one base for long, or moving around a lot?

Would you consider Dubrovnik? We go on a girly weekend somewhere close in Europe every year (we live in Dublin) and so far Dubrovnik has been the unanimnous favourite

We would be going the end of August/beginning of Sept. We would not want to move too much, at least 3 days in one place. We will be starting in Paris for 3 days.

What did you enjoy so much about Dubrovnik? Have you been to the French Riviera? Thanks for your help

South of France, no contest.

OK, I haven't been to the Greek Isles (every plan to go has met with some issue -- last time their economy), so all I can compare is Amalfi Coast and South of France.

Love, love love the Amalfi Coast, but I found unless there's a festival going on (like the Madonna festival in Montepertuso)the only night action you'll see -- at least in Positano -- is for the 18 - 25 year old set. There's the Sagra del Fagiola festival the last Saturday in August, but I don't know if that is as fun as the Madonna festival with all the fireworks and such. Might have more luck in the Sorrento area.

In the south of France, on the other hand, there's a ton of things to do at night -- there's festivals along the water front in Cannes, music going on in Nice and Juan les Pins, clubs and discos all up and down the coast. Not uncommon to have dinner at 10 or 11 p.m. at night either.

In fact, that's where I'll be this summer celebrating another decade of life!

My suggestion to you is, before making final arrangments as to "where" -- determine WHEN you will be there, then do searches for festivals and events. Then, depending on whether your group's interests coincide with the event/festival, you can make sure you are there at the time of that event.

At least that's how I generally plan my trips -- especially around a birthday. For example, I like being in France on Bastille Day, particularly Paris, and that's a date certain. I also like going to the Montreux Jazz festival, but really only for their rock n roll and blues nights -- and that festival moves a little bit, but is generally from the beginning to mid-July.

Most guide books, including Fodors, have festivals and events listed by season or by month. That's the first thing I look at when planning a trip like this.

Thanks for your response. What's the best area to stay in the South of France. Where are the nicest beaches? Any suggestions on "must see" or accomodations? There will probably be 8 - 10 of us.

Speaking of nice beaches, nothing in Europe can beat the fantastic beaches of Mykonos and the rest of the Cycladic Islands. I would totally recommend the island of Mykonos, as it offers exactly what you are looking for.
Fantastic beaches, very good hotels - not the huge buildings that you will find elsewhere in Southern Europe, but mostly boutique hotels with excellent service and above all a unique nightlife, for which Mykonos is so famous. There are also excellent restaurants from gourmet Nobu to simpler tavernas offering great food.
You could combine Mykonos with a longer stay in Athens, but in that case i'd stay in Vouliagmeni, a beautiful southern suburb,in an area with a great nightlife as well ( Glyfada which is nearby).
Athens has a fantastic nightlife, especially if you stay away from touristy Plaka...

Sorry to throw a spanner in the works. I have been to Croatia (Inc Dubrovnik), French Riviera, Amalfi Coast and just spent 4 weeks in Greece( Inc Mykonos).
The Amalfi Coast wins hands down. Dubrovnik a close second. We loved those two for food,people,views etc.
But if you are wanting nightlife ,I guess Mykonos is good. But nothing beats the absolute beauty of Positano.

What we loved about Dubrovnik was:
1.it was easy to reach from Dublin (for a long weekend you want somewhere that is a reasonably short flight, but more importantly somewhere that you can get in and out of the airport in no time)
2. the town was beautiful but small and manageable - we've gone on lots of city breaks before but preferred this as it was so small that someone could wander off to do shopping, someone else go to a museum etc and we would just bump into each other later on wandering around. The scale was small
3. Lots of scope to do day trips by boat to neighbouring islands
4. A buzzing cafe scene and busy streets in the evening - we loved the local icecream vendors flirting with us (never got that in the south of france!! )
5. it's just such a beautiful place, and so is the Amalfi Coast, but we found the Amalfi coast a better destination for holidays with the "other half" as it is so romantic

Yes we've been to the French riviera, (Cannes), one of my friends goes to Nice so often with work that she ruled Nice out for our weekend break so we did Cannes - but didn't enjoy it quite as much, found it more "serious" - there was not so much just strolling around, having coffee, generally relaxing. The shopping was good in Cannes though, and we took the train to some other towns which we really enjoyed, but it was harder work. The excursions in Dubrovnik were simple - wander down to the harbour, get on a boat, all very relaxing.

I am sure you would enjoy any of the suggestions above!

greecetravel.com

greekislands.com

Mykonos most active best beaches.

Amalfi brown/mud beach great food wine was there in May

hoteldelfino.com awesome

sardegna.com Costa Smeralda for best Italian Beach.

France St Tropez avoid Nice beach is mostly pebbles/rocks

truly sucks...

Happy Planning!

Croatia few decent beaches mainly rocks most places

balkanology.com

where can you find nice sand beaches?

In Greece on the islands, look up the Cyclades, Crete, Skiathos or in the Southern Peloponnese, or the Chalkidiki peninsula...
I could also add the islands of Lefkas, Kefalonia and Zakynthos in the Ionian Sea ( Western Greece).

First trip to Greece this September.......we fell in love with the beautiful beaches of Naxos.

Jo

Some of the best sandy beaches beaches are on the mainland. I visited the southern Peloponnese this year, and was bowled over by the beautiful beaches in Messinia. How about this for beautiful sandy beaches? Elafonisos, also in southern Peloponnese: http://tinyurl.com/dxff948

If you decide on Greece, obviously you have to forget the cruise idea. It is easy to move among different islands on the same ferry line/island group and sometimes among different island groups in season. Mainland connections vary from very handy bus connections to no connections at all. I believe 3-4 nights is the absolute minimum for each destination and end of August/start of September is a very good time to visit weather wise, facilities wise and crowds wise : ))

Are there any beautiful, sandy beaches in the French Riviera or Amalfi Coast. I think we are deciding against Greece. I have already been to Naxos, Paros, Corfu, Lefkada (which had the nicest beaches) and of course Athens. Was considering Mykonos and Santorini for this trip, but I think we are leaning towards the Amalfi Coast or French Riviera or possibly both.

The only sandy beach I know of in the French Riveria is at Juan-les-Pins, but even that can't hold a candle to some of the beaches on Paros and Naxos. Santorini has the gorgeous RED BEACH, although I don't think it's as nice as GOLDEN BEACH on Paros. Amalfi Coast beaches are mostly pebbles, but you'll soon forget all about that after a glass of Prosecco and some of the best food you'll ever have in your entire life!

blm, you're not going to get the sunper sandy beach you're looking for anywhere on the Amalfi Coast or French Riviera - but don't let that stop you from going there. You can, of course, find sanded beaches, eg French Riviera: Juan-les-Pins as mentioned above, tiny beach in Cannes where they replace the sand every few weeks - yep, trucked in sand! - and Antibes (Old Antibes Beach, crowded but nicest one of them all IMO, or Plage de Ponteil just along a little further). And on the Amalfi Coast: south of Salerno (technically not the Amalfi, but nearby), Atrani Beach (at Atrani, not far from the town of Amalfi) and a handful of tucked-away coves with a mix of sand and pebbles.

But as mentioned, you are mainly looking at pebbled beaches in both of those regions, but don't despair as you can always go to one of the private beaches and rent a sunlounger for the day and feel very glamorous and important! Particularly on the French Riviera, but also on the Amalfi or on Capri. Some hotels along the Riviera (and the Amalfi) have their own private beach for guests, otherwise you can also enter some of the private beaches as a day guest and pay a fee (between Euro10-20). Then you rent your sunlounger on top of that (for the day, Euro approx.) and dine in the attached restaurant - just check the menu before you choose your beach and that will give you an idea of the food types and styles - and you have a glam and decadent day on the beach.

Either the French Riviera or Amalfi (or both) will provide you with sun, food, wine and nightlife as well as plenty of places nearby to visit and good restaurants to celebrate your 50th. Both are going to be busy in the time you're going, but by end of August most of the Europeans who also take their Summer holidays in August will be heading back home, so the crowds will dissipate but the sun will still be around. You also won't be disappointed with Santorini and Mykonos, but as you've already been to Greece you could opt for one of the other places you haven't visited.

To throw yet another spanner in the works, you could visit Sicily for the golden sandy beaches you're looking for, but that's just getting complicated!

ADDITION: that sunlounger price above should read Euro 15-25 approx.