swandav2000

Hallo All,

This request feels quite a lot self-indulgent, with so much tragedy and mismanagement and actual criminality roaring around the globe. Nevertheless, as an inveterate and unrepentant traveller, my mind just plans trips almost without any conscious decision.

I am now considering a May 2021 trip to the south of France (from Germany, where I live). I want to go to the Côte d'Azur, Uzès, and Gordes. I am all set with Uzès and Gordes, but I am stumped for the Côte. I thought I wanted to go to Saint Tropez, but in researching hotels, I became enchanted with the towns just a step inland, like Cagnes, Èze, Gassin, and Grimaud. I am not a beach person..... I would likely spend my time poking around towns and villages, soaking up beautiful landscapes, and getting warm after a German winter. I also completely adore old stone buildings, which is another thing drawing me inland from the coast.

So I wonder if you could just give me your perspectives -- is one of these towns your favorite? Why? And do you have a favorite hotel or inn there? I would like to spend no more than €250/night.

I know the Cannes festival is 14-25 May, but I am so far able to find some rooms for the dates 12-16 May, both at St Tropez itself and at Èze & Cagnes.

Thanks for your perspectives and assistance!

s

isabel

I love the town of Vence (not St Paul de Vence, which is also beautiful, but smaller and more touristy). I loved it the first time I stayed there, 20 years ago, and I loved it even more when I was there a few years ago. Makes a great base for exploring the area, plenty of choices of places to eat and stay.

Hotel Miramar (https://en.hotel-miramar-vence.com/) was wonderful. The first trip I stayed at a smaller inn, https://auberge-seigneurs.fr/en/ I highly recommend both of them.

Here are my photos of the hill towns in the area https://andiamo.zenfolio.com/p43619107

This is the trip report I wrote that contains my most recent trip to the area - Photo Safari to the south of France, the Italian Rivera and the Swiss Alps Start with post #40

neckervd

I prefer Ste Agnese, Castellar and Gorbio. Mais les goûts sont différents!

Tulips

I assume you mean Haute Cagnes, as Cagnes-sur-Mer is not at all charming. Haute Cagnes is tiny. Compared to the other places on your list, I would not consider it. Nice for a lunch on the main square, though.
Mougins is nice; big enough to have several restaurants, lots of art galleries and easy to get to other places, as it is not far from the A8. Valbonne is another place to consider in that area.
Though the closer to Cannes, the more likely that places will be expensive during the film festival.

Tulips

Meant to add; for me, after spending time in Uzes and Gordes, I'd want to see the sea. I would go for St Tropez. The beaches are outside of town, so no bother if you don't want beaches (though a lunch at one of the beaches can be fun). And the town of St Tropez is pretty.

gooster

Cagnes-sur-Mer as mentioned is not what you are seeking, as mentioned, even with Haut-de-Cagnes. St. Paul de Vence is touristy but has some lovely mas, hotels and gites in the surrounding countryside and in the valley below the perched village. We looked there when we were home shopping. It is the start of a great loop that heads to the larger Vence (more of town than a village, but with a lovely old town), Tourettes sur Loup and Gourdon (another perched village). These places have many choices for dining as well, and are within reach of the coastal cities if you desire.

Eze le Village (up high) is even more touristy and bit a limited in choice as it is so tiny -- great for a visit, though and so spectacular. La Turbie nearby starts a small loop that takes you to Peille and Peillon. Further east you have St. Agnes and then also the hill villages like Saorge and Tende. If you have your car, you will enjoy these drives -- which extend into Italy, depending on the route taken. There are great villages just north of Ventimiglia like Dolceacqua. .

St Tropez is lovely but getting in and out of the peninsula is tough, except for the coastal drive to Hyeres and the Porquerolles. Ramatuelle is a nice village (and the famous beach), but perhaps Gassin or Bormes-les-Mimosa might suit you. Someone mentioned Mougins -- a great place but a bit close to Cannes, so watch your dates.

swandav2000

Hallo All,

WOW, want to thank you all for giving me such great tips and advice from your personal experiences! I had such a grand day yesterday, tooling around Vence & St Paul d Vence & Tourrettes sur Loup (especially!!) & Mougins & Valbonne & Gorbio & Ste Agnese, et al. I really enjoyed your trip report isabel!! You really move around quickly, but I loved your route (I spend a lot of time in Montreux & Switzerland, so it was a delight to read!).

I scoured the internet for nice hotels, and in doing that discovered my impossible ideal:
Beautiful sea view from my room (not a strip of blue...)
In a beautiful ancient stone building
In the middle of a medieval stone town
For under 250

Unfortunately, most of the beautiful medieval towns & villages are simply too far from the sea -- as Tulips accurately notes, I do want the SEA; that's a priority. I found a gorgeous spot in Tourettes s L (Histoire de Bastide), but even though it says its rooms have sea views, it looked more like a view of a strip of blue. I found a couple of other very nice hotels nearby Vence or Èze, but they are out in the middle of nowhere; I really do want to be in the middle of a town or village. And of course if I could spend more money, there are great hotels in Èze....

neckervd, I didn't see anything in the towns you mentioned though. Couldn't find a thing in Mougins or Gassin either.

gooster, I will most probably have a car, but not my car -- I do not want to spend 2 days driving each way. I took a 9 1/2 year break from any driving at all because Germany has such good transportation, and I am not as comfortable with driving my tiny car though unfamiliar tiny streets as I was 10 years ago driving the car that was welded to my brain (I just had to think about where I wanted to be and magically I was there).

I found a pretty nice option in Cagnes; I guess it's Haute Cagnes, as it's by the castle. Google maps does not have the distinction between Haute or sur Mer. The hotel I am looking at is Château Le Cagnard, which fits all my impossible criteria. It'll either be that or Saint Tropez or Sainte Maxime to get the sea experience. Whether I choose the coast or inland, I'll be there for 4 nights, so I'll have enough time to spend a day exploring the other.

I ought to confess that I've been to the Côte before, twice. In the 1990s I spent some days at a nice hotel in Beaulieu sur Mer, and about 9 years ago I spent some time in an apartment in Cannes. Neither really thrilled me. So this is my third attempt to find the charm of the Côte d'Azur, and that's what took me to Saint Tropez.

So -- thanks so much everyone! I'll probably sit on this for a day or so before I decide

Gratefully,

s

neckervd

http://www.le-saint-yves.fr/contact/
...but I can't give any hotel recommendation because I was there too may years ago

Tulips

Hi Swandav;
Beautiful sea view from my room (not a strip of blue...)
In a beautiful ancient stone building
In the middle of a medieval stone town
For under 250
Let me know if you manage to find this
I know Cagnes well; Haute Cagnes is indeed your medieval stone village, but the seaside part of town is not very attractive. I don't mind it, they have renovated the seaside boulevard recently, there are a few good restaurants, but it is not charming. Haute Cagnes is difficult to get into by car; you mostly park at the bottom of the hill and walk up. The hotel will offer valet parking. From there you can easily visit Nice, Vence etc.

Antibes is worth considering, but I don't know any hotels in the old town. Just outside of the old town is the Royal Riviera, but it's modern. There's a B&B in the old town called Cle de la Porte, but i don't think they have seaview rooms.

Tulips

I see there's a new La Villa hotel opening in Antibes. We have stayed in La Villa Cap d'Antibes/Juan les Pins; this was good, with seaview and good location, and quite good value for money if I remember correctly. Antibes is much more charming, and it looks like that hotel is in a good location. Can't find photos of the exterior, though, so don't know if that ticks the box. It overlooks the port. Worth checking out maybe.

HappyTrvlr

We enjoyed Ramateulle in the hills west of St-Tropez. It has views of the Mediterranean.

swandav2000

Hi again all,
neckervd, that looks like a charming place, and I thank you for the tip! But it is just too far from the sea to attract me at this point.

Tulips, thank you so much for your suggestion of Antibes! I thought I was done with that portion of the Côte because of my previous stays in Beaulieu & Cannes -- but Antibes looks really pretty and charming. Maybe because it has more pedestrianized areas?? I spent some time looking at a few of the towns with google's Street View. Anyway, that Cle de la Porte looks soooo attractive and charming, I almost clicked "reserve" immediately, but you're right that there are no sea view rooms. Or not any that I could see. The Villa Hotel is also a great tip, and they do have sea view rooms. It looks great, but the decor is not to my taste.

I did find a few apartments that are very appealing, some right on the ramparts overlooking the sea, and at a great price. So I may forego both Saint Tropez and a hotel and stay in an apartment in Antibes.

Funny thing is, prices and availability do not soar for the dates during the Cannes Film Fest. They did in Saint Tropez -- a hotel I was looking at went from arund $900 for 4 nights to $1400 for 4 nights, and many hotels had no availability. I assumed the same would be true of Antibes, which is sooo much closer to Cannes. But prices and availability stayed the same. Weird.

HappyTrvlr, thank you for that great suggestion! I took a look at that town, and i'ts very pretty. But its very small. The only hotel I saw was outside of town.

gooster, I forgot to ask -- did you end up buying a property along the Cote?? Love to hear!

So thanks again for all your help! I do feel settled right now, which I hadn't while I was picturing myself in all the dozens and thousands of hotels I peeked at during this search. Now I have to think about transport. I think I'll use taxis for my excursions (to Tourettes sur Loup and to Saint Tropez) and pick up the car as I depart.

Gratefully,

s

Tulips

The Film Festival is a fairly local thing. We've been in the area several times during that time, and you do not notice it unless you're in Cannes.
Now if you were trying for rooms at the Hotel du Cap, that would be another thing. People do not stay in St Tropez for the festival unless they can take a helicopter for transport.
Parking in Antibes is very easy, big underground car park next to the old town, but you'd have the costs of parking. The train station is easy to reach on foot.
Don't take a taxi to St Tropez. It will be hugely expensive and could take 3 hours one way. Not kidding, especially on market days.
Take the boat from Juan les Pins to St Tropez. Takes a while, but drops you right in the port.

I would do the visits that you can do by train first, then hire a car and do Tourettes sur Loup, Gourdon etc by car.
And the market in Valbonne on Friday morning is lovely.

swandav2000

Thanks so much, again, Tulips!

The soaring prices in St Tropez were probably only due to the high season, then.

Yes, I found the boat from JlP to St Tropez. It looks like, as best I can tell, the boat only runs 2x each day in each direction, which strikes me as scanty. But that may be due to the virus. I also found a taxi service that offers excursions to the inland villages and to St Tropez, but I need to download the app to get prices, and it's waaaay too early for that. All of that is for research in Dec or Jan.

Thanks again!


s

Tulips

I think the boat is always 2x a day. It takes 2,5 hours or something like that. It's purely for tourists; you have time to go to the market, have lunch, walk around for a bit and then return. We once did it for a lunch at Club 55. We took a small speedboat from the port to the beach.

I just realised; Thursday May 13 2021 is Ascension day. Many people have the Friday off as well, it's a popular weekend for a short trip.
that would explain the higher prices.

gooster

@swandav2000 I'm glad you settled on a plan. You'll like Antibes, in the central old town (there is also some sprawl that surrounds it). Just note the best beaches are a bit further away from the walled city (not far, maybe an additional km). The ferry to St Tropez is a good idea, if you don't want to rent a car. If you do hire a driver, be sure to go just beyond to Gourdon. It's another lovely perched village. There is a great village loop drive through St. Paul de Vence, Vence, Tourettes-Sur-Loup, Gourdon and returning via Mougins. After looking at villages and the city, we eventually decided on a place in Nice proper, close the Hyatt Palais de la Mediteranee, about a block off the beach.

swandav2000

Thanks for the additional info, Tulip! I'm just much more used to having many more departures available -- will have to look into this carefully when the time comes.

gooster, thanks for the tip on a workable route for my exploration! I will keep that in mind. And congrats on finding a place in Nice! Are you there year-round? I know of many folks who spend several months in Europe -- friends who have an apartment and a visa but only spend summer months in Germany, another acquaintance who spends 90 days in Spain then rotates to the US. Anyway, thanks for your help!

s

scrb11

Post links if you find places with great views.

I was to be on a trip right now to Cote d'Azur.

This place refunded me a non-refundable booking, almost 600 Euros.

https://www.booking.com/hotel/fr/vil...tml?aid=304142

gooster

@swanday2000 --- sadly we must work and can only be in France part of the year. The long term plan is to spend part of the year there, and perhaps in another country. However, the normal is three to four trips per year, with extended stays (and remote work).

swandav2000

Aaach, despite appearances, I haven't abandoned the thread and you very dear, helpful folks.

scrb11, that is just a lovely place in Villefranche-sur-Mer! But since I've already spent time at nearby Beaulieu-sur-Mer, I didn't want to be in that exact area again.

I did find a place with sea views, actually right on the ramparts, in Antibes. But not inland...

gooster, that sounds just wonderful! Do you have a family settled stateside? If so, I bet they are an additional incentive not to move... quite yet. Well if you can travel to Europe, and it seems safe, perhaps we can meet for an aperitif in Nice...

Thanks again all you lovely people.

s