Any suggestions on finding base on Cote d'Azur?
 

My husband and I (young couple, no children) are planning on spending 4 days on Cote d'Azur end of June and need suggestions on finding a base in which to explore both eastern and western Riviera. Our musts to visit : day trips to Porquerolles, St. Tropez and Cannes or Nice. Would want nice town equidistant to above locations to spend evenings with plenty of restaurant/ bar options. Will have car. Ideally would choose St-Tropez but is too expensive for hotel and parking (unless anyone has great recommendation). Any suggestions would be appreciated! Additionally, does anyone have an opinion on staying in Ste-Maxime, St-Raphael or Frejus? Hotel recommendations ($100 and under) also appreciated.

Last year, I stayed at a chambres d'hote (french b&b) outside of Grasse, which is set in the hills north of Cannes (about 25min). That area is lovely, quiet, and close to charming inland towns like Mougins and Valbonne. And parking isn't a problem! It's also convenient to the higher altitude towns like Vence, Gourdons and St. Jeannet, which have distant views of the sea. If you really wanted to be close to the water, I wouldn't stay in Nice or Cannes, as they are loud and crowded (Cannes is fun to visit at night though.) Antibes might be nice...

In my opinion, this doesn't sound like a fun 4 day trip. While it may not look far on the map, it is murder to drive into St Tropez from the east. I've never tried from the west. Someone just recently posted about a train and bus trip from Nice to St Tropez taking 3 1/2 hrs. I have only driven through (and been lost!) in Frejus on the way to St Tropez. Several motorways connect there & it is a really unattractive place, at least what I saw. It sounds like you're more interested in the western end so I would concentrate on that. Try looking in Ste Maxime or Ramatuelle. Have a look on the website provencebeyond.com

My other thought is to split the trip staying 2 days in the west & 2 in the east. I ordinarily think moving around is a pain but in this case, it's the only way you'll avoid spending all your time driving.

I'm the one who posted the reply about riding the train and bus from Nice to St Tropez. I visited my daughter 2 weeks ago in Nice and we did ALL the day trips. We made the mistake of taking the bus all the way in to St Tropez from the St Raphael train station, and even in April the traffic was "bumper to bumper". The bus goes from St Raphael train station to St Tropez, but the last leg from St Maxime to St Tropez takes FOREVER because of the traffic. (even though it's a lovely ride). The boat only takes 15 minutes from St Maxime and is a beautiful ride on the water and is only 5 Euros. Drive to St Maxime if you have a car, and then take the boat. That's how we got back, and saved HOURS of time. Boat back to St Maxime, caught the bus to the St Raphael train station, and then back to Nice.

You might try Bormes les Mimosa..it is in between St Tropez and Porquerolles. Really pretty area and drive. Quite a few restaurants, shopping, etc. There is a place for under $100 w/a sea view and parking called Les Plumbagos. They have a web site. Go to : http://www.bormeslesmimosas.com/lesplumbagos/index.html. This will also link you to a site about the area and what there is to do. Have a wonderful time, it is a beautiful area.

ttt

If you want to visit both Nice and Porquerolles it might be better to stay halfway in St. Raphaël, St. Aygulf or Ste. Maxime although these places don't have the same flair as St. Tropez and are more family-oriented!
Driving from St. Raphaël to St. Tropez though can be a nightmare sometimes and the end of June can be very crowded already.
If you have only 4 days to spend, I would try to stay somewhere around St. Tropez (Cavalaire, Cavalière, La Croix-Valmer, Cogolin, Bormes-les-Mimosas, Le Lavandou) and explore that area. IMO Nice isn't very attractive.

We stayed at a chambre d'hote in Cassis and I liked that village better than St. Tropez.
This year we are going to stay in St. Paul-de-Vence.

We love STe. Maxime. We also were impressed with the Hotel St. Augulf. Their web add. is www.valk.com/gb/index.html It is quite reasonable. Their dinners were quite good.