There are 7 of us who have rented a house outside St Remy for a week in late May - 5/21 - 5/28). We are planning to fly into Nice arriving 5/18 and fly out of Marseille on 5/29. I could use some advice on where to stay prior to 5/21.

We would like to see some of the eastern part that would be too far to drive for a day trip when we are based in St Remy. At the same time, we would to have a taste of the sea. Don't necessarily have to stay on the water but be able to see it and experience it within driving time. We would like to have at least one beach day. We would like to literally just "see" Nice and Cannes - not spending any time there. Plus both the film festival and the race will be going on then - the festival until 5/22 and the race on 5/22 so we don't want to get caught up in those crowds. Finally, one thing we definitely want to do is to experience Cassis and take a boat trip to les calanques.

What town or area should we pick? Should we spend the last 2 days in Cassis and the first night somewhere else further east? Base ourselves more central? Base ourselves somewhere around St Tropez for the 3 nights? We also think we may want to see Grasse, Eze, Vence because they might be too far west from St Remy for a day trip? Any hotel suggestions?

For our last night on 5/28, we thought we would find a hotel near the Marseille airport. Any suggestions for that night?

Merci!

I would stay in Nice or Cannes. From there you can visit all small and beautiful towns, you can go for a evening to Monte Carlo, for a morning to San Remo.

Please do not miss St. Paul de Vence - a small village in the mountains, with a lot of art galleries, very narrow streets, good restaurants.

In my opinion, St. Tropez is too far from other destinations, it seems to be more like a cvillage than a town.

Bon voyage!