San Sebastian, Spain. Nice beach, good food, fun nightlife.

I'm a big fan of Nice on the Riveria, but as explained above, the beaches are mostly private, expensive, and you will be sitting right on top of your neighbor. Sometimes that can be OK. A few years back, we were in a row of loungers just in front of Sean Connery, which made for some (hopefully) discreet spying.

Nice has a good choice of hotels in every price range, and as you probably know, is very central for some easy, wonderful day trips: Monaco ( 20 min by train), Cannes ( about the same), St. Paul de Vence ( by bus about 45 minutes), St. Jean de Cap ( 10 min by cab, 20 min or so by bus). It also has tons of museums, a looong promenade on the sea with summer entertainment that often doesn't end until the early hours of the morning, and many good restaurants.

We've often stayed at the Hotel Westminster, which has just been renovated and has a great location only a block away from the Negresco and across the promende from the sea.It tends to be cheaper than some of the grande dames in the area like the Negresco and the fairly newly renovated Palais de la Mediterranee. If you decide to book there, ask for a room facing the water with a balcony. Heaven, if you ask me!

Lastly, if you want to splurge for a fantastic, one-of-a-kind restaurant experience ( meats, chicken or fish grilled to perfection in the restaurants's fireplace!), see if LA CHAUMIERE is still in business. It's about a 20-minute cab ride from Nice, and very expensive, but actually worth every penny.

Sandy beaches: generally speaking, the western Riviera -- from Juan les Pins then go west. I have a lot of personal favorites, from the Pirates Beach at Juan les Pins to Tahiti Beach in St. Tropez. Golfe Juan is good, Cannes has some nice (free) beaches, Ste Maxime has a fabulous sandy beach.