Base for La Cote d'Azur
 

What's a good base for Cote d'Azur if you have a car and plan on staying in the area for 3-4 days? <BR> <BR>My current option is St.Paul de Vence. <BR> <BR>Thanks.

St.Paul de Vence is 1 1/2 hrs from Nice--so you wouldn't be on the coast--I's try Nice or St.Tropez.

Abe, it depends what you would like to see in the area. I just spent a week in the area east of Nice and I had a car. The towns along the coast are fairly close together but in three or four days, you will not be able to see as much as you think. Even with a car. Unless you wish to be on a non stop marathon. My suggestion would be to get a good map and use it along with your guide book to decide what you wish to see. This will help you pick something central to your personal itinerary. We enjoyed staying in one of the smaller towns along the coast where we could walk to the post, grocery store etc. And we used the car to get us farther afield. I very much enjoyed this area and I really did not find it as expensive as I had ben led to believe from some people.

Hi Abe, <BR> <BR>I was in the Cote d'Azur for about 5 days in March. I think St. Paul de Vence would be a good base if you had a car. But St. Paul de Vence is closer to Nice than 1.5 hours; though I didn't stay there, I doubt it would be over 1/2 hour to get from St. Paul de Vence to Nice by main roads. <BR> <BR>I used Tourrettes-sur-Loup as a base for 2 days, Nice for 1, and Sophia-Antipolas for 2 (business portion of the trip). Tourrettes was great because it was up in the hill country, it had a great inn where we stayed and it took less than 45 minutes to drive to Nice from there. <BR> <BR>I agree with everything Sherry had to say about the geography and cost of the area. In fact, having a car, I tried to cram alot into my stay, driving all over. By the time the trip was over, I was suffering from visual burnout. <BR> <BR>I hope to return to that area some day for another visit. <BR> <BR>I'll plug my pics from the trip too: <BR> <BR>http://community.webshots.com/user/zaepfels <BR> <BR>Have a great time.

We have used both Nice and Cannes and would recommend Antibes.

I was debating the same until yesterday when I finaly decided on Cap Ferrat which is a small harbour town next to Nice. Its centraly located especially if you'll travel to Monaco and/or Italy.

Where's Cap Ferrat? Can't locate if on MapQuest... <BR> <BR>What about Villefranche-Sur-Mer?

Its actually Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat which is about 10 km's east of Nice

Abe - My husband and I returned just last night from the Cote d'Azur. You are in for a wonderful vacation! We stayed at the Palais Maeterlinck just outside the city center of Nice. It was a great hotel; centrally located, but away from the noise and crowds of Nice. We had a car and were able to make it to quite a few small in-land and coastal towns. We particularly loved Villefranche sur Mer. It was only a 5 minute car ride from our hotel, so we wound up eating dinner there several nights, rather than driving into Nice. I think Villefranche would be a lovely place to stay, but I cannot comment on any of the available hotels there. We visited St. Paul de Vence on Saturday. It was part of several towns we visited that day, so I can't really tell you how far from Nice it is if you went non-stop, but I do not think it is centrally located if you are interested in doing the coastal towns of the Cote d-Azur. I was surprised by how long it took to drive places. There are not a lot of direct routes and the going can be quite slow on the winding, narrow roads. If you want to go to Monaco, Cannes, Cap Ferrat, Menton, etc., I would pick Nice as your base. Have fun!

I always stay right in the heart of Nice, so that would be my recommedation. If you prefer to stay in a smaller town, however, you could stick with St.Paul de Vence.