Cote d'Azur & Provence in April - suggestions???
 

Hi everyone,
My husband & I will be in the south of France April 10-17 and would love to hear any suggestions on itineraries. We are flying in and out of Nice and will have a rental car. I've heard great things from friends about St. Paul de Vence and Aix-en-Provence.
We'd prefer B&B accomodations and want to pick 2 or 3 places that we can use as homebase while we canvass the countryside.
My husband is celebrating a birthday while we're there so please share any spectacular dining experiences.
My other question is regarding Easter... we are there during this holiday - does everything shut down that Sunday and Monday?

Thanks for your help!

I would suggest a guidebook that we used in August. It was fantastic and gave so much detail on drives in these two areas. It is well worth the money and the only problem you may have is making up your mind.
It is a Signpost Guide (Thomas Cook).
Provence and the Cote D'Azur
Your guide to great drives.
I cannot help with Easter, sorry.

Holidays in France are Big Deals. When there's a holiday during the week-end the French often take off from work the previous Friday, and I'm pretty sure that will happen around Easter. The Monday after Easter will probably be a holiday too.

I would recommend picking up a copy of the Fodor Guide to Provence, along with, perhaps, the Eyewitness Guide. From that you can decide what places interest you, and from there we can offer advice on lodgings and restaurants. Price ranges would be helpful.

A great place for a birthday dinner would be Le Feu Follet in the old part of Mougins--we've eaten there a number of times, including lunches with French friends who loved the place and the food. For the selection on the menu and the quality of the food the price is surprisingly reasonable: our cost for seven people was around $200, including wine. Having a meal there would give you the opportunity to see the village as well, and it's quite charming.

We did a similar trip last year. I recommend planning an itinerary using www.logisdefrance.com. French logis are small or medium, often family-run inns and guesthouses. Choose the most up-market of these and the stay should be very pleasant. I will look up places we stayed and get back to you.
Don't miss Nice itself, worth a night at least. I have buckets of info. I could email you, if you care to get your address to me. How do you do that here?!

Hi pdxgsh! You appear to be a new poster, so welcome. There's a pretty good search function here to get previous posts on your subject. Use the box above that says search this forum. Some searches you could try are

provence AND B&Bs
south of france itinerary

Just don't use punctuation (dashes,periods, commas etc.)

There are some great dining places in the area. I agree it would help to know budget for b & bs and dining. You should figure out where you'll be on the b'day (or maybe you'd rather pick the restaurant & work around that?)

The famous (and expensive) restaurants in the Nice area are
>Chateau de la Chevre D'Or in Eze (beautiful hill town above Nice)
>Moulins de Mougins in Mougins (closer to Cannes)
>La Colombe D'Or in St Paul de Vence

There are also "secondary" (ie less famous/expensive) restaurants in these towns.

There's been a fair amount written here (some fairly recent) about St Paul de Vence. Some love it (me)-others find it too cute or touristy. Le Hameau is one b & b mentioned often. There's also a b & b in Tourettes sur Loup (not far away) that people like Le Mas du Soleil www.masdusoleil.com
Look for a previous Fodors thread "Please Help-Cote d'Azur B & B" (by typing those words without quotes into the search box.)

Happy planning & welcome.

PS MrsGrey for email info, you can either opt to show <i>your</i> email address every time you post by selecting that option where you registered, or do exactly as you did, or sign your posts with your email so others can contact you.

Le Hameau is not actually a B&B; it's a small inn.

Thanks for all of the wonderful suggestions! Budget on small inns or B&amp;Bs would probably be under 125 or 150 euro per night. I did see Le Hameau and that looks like the type of place we're looking for... decent and inexpensive yet still charming. Right now, I'm thinking we base ourselves in Nice or St Paul de Vence and do some day trips around that area for a few days. Next base might be in Luberon area or Aix-en-Provence and take day trips from there.

Thanks for all of the great restaurant ideas... when it comes to food and culinary experience, money is no object! Do you have to make reservations for most nice places?

I'm still concerned about the Easter holiday. If things are closed down (daily markets, shops, restaurants, etc...) any ideas to kill some time, besides taking some driving tours around the countryside and coast? I did read somewhere that the bigger towns like Nice and Monte Carlo probably would still be fairly open, despite the holiday...?

You really do need reservations (even for lunch) at any of the special restaurants.

You might have a look at the website provencebeyond.com for more general info &amp; possibly closings for things on Easter. Not sure that museums would be closed for Easter (although you haven't mentioned museums in your posts).

I don't think you need to worry too much about restaurants; many are open on holidays, although Easter Sunday itself might be an exception.Here's a link where you might want to post your query for an answer from ex-pats:

http://bonjourparis.ipbhost.com/inde...mp;hl=holidays

As for spending your time, you will find that Nice is indeed still lively on a holiday. We were there on one last May, and the only evidence we saw of a holiday was all the roller-bladers along the Promenade des Anglais.

You can still visit the many charming villages and wander the streets of Vieux Nice, Vence, St.-Paul-de-Vence, Antibes, and other interesting spots.

http://www.bastideauxoliviers.com/page2e.htm

You may want to try this place also. I found it through a thread on this board that someone posted, and it looks very nice. It's right outside of St. Paul de Vence I think.

Well, just at the cardiologist yesterday who suggested St Paul de Vence and said we had to go to Colombe D'or...so if he thinks we shouldn't miss it even being my cardiologist..I'd say it's a go!

Pam, we were there in September. The food is great, walk around pool where calder and other art is displayed and in all major room and some bedrooms. Across from the Colombe D&oacute;r is the Patanque court, a cafe overlookjs it so you can sit and drink while watching where yves always played. At the local tourist office, go upstairs where there are many photos of all the famous people who have stayed there. Ever since a teen when I saw Yves and Simone Signoret,s photos of their wedding there, and Alain Delon and Pierre Clementi(be still my heart) back then, I dreamed of staying there. In September, I was not disappointed.
The staff were very nice. Make sure you visit the nearby Maeght Foundation. You will not be disappointed.

Greetings,

Having moved to PRovence 3 years ago, I can tell you that the French do take their holidays seriously, so take care in planning around Easter. A lot of places do shut down for the week-end (inlcuding Friday). Also, you'll be there in the midst of the French school vacations, so be sure to reserve as much as you can (car, trains, etc. ) ahead of time.

In any case, you'll have a great time. I absolutely love my adopted country. The old town of Nice is definately worth a visit as others have said, and a trip to Provence without Aix is like a fine gourmet meal without the cheese course (IMHO). But then again, I am a former Aixois, so definately biased.

Finally, if you want a really nice B&amp;B, I can highly recommend Le Mas Perreal - which is only natural as my wife and I are the innkeepers!

If you need any other help or info, don;t hesitate.

Bon voyage.