Ibis hotels are known as modern and clean with no frills. If there's one available in Nice, that is a very attractive option at this late date.

Based on your itinerary, it sounds like Juan or the Ibis in Nice are your best options.

No train station area is not seedy, it's right in the heart of town.

IBIS is clean, modern, safe, etc. Not a dump for sure - accor is a huge hotel outfit world over and always are clean, with cable TV, air, etc. And right at the station for easy commutes up and down the Riviera.

...or the place in Antibes, if you're willing to spend the money. Your call.

Just checked Ibis site, none are available in Nice itself.

Valbonne is a very nice small town, with a pleasant town square, small streets, nice restaurants. Juan les Pins is a busy seaside town; not pretty, but we always enjoy going there. Lots of boutiques, restaurants right on the beach, and not all that expensive (compared to some other places on the coast). If it were me, I would definitely choose Juan les Pins over Valbonne for a holiday. You're very close to Cannes, Antibes, Cap d'Antibes.
I always drive everywhere, and manage to find on street parking even in Juan les Pins in July; it tends to get busy there in the evenings, after 7 pm or so. We've never had a problem parking during the day.
I don't know what would be best for you; if you plan to visit Cannes, Nice, Monte Carlo, then Juan would be best I think.

Is the IBIS in Valbonne in the town? Or somewhere on the outskirts?

Is it the Ibis in Sophia Antipolis? That's not in Valbonne (though the address may say so); I wouldn't stay there. Juan les Pins would be much nicer.
I usually prefer to drive, but if staying in Juan, and you only want to visit places along the coast, it would be convenient to take the train.

Yes, it's sophia antipolis. Are there advantages to driving-would we get to see better views or go places otherwise inaccessible? How frequent are the trains?

We always drive, because we like the flexibility, and it's easier with a family, so I do not use the trains on the Cote d'Azur. However, I see the train going along the coast all the time, and the train stations are very centrally located. Others on this forum have more experience with that.
If you want to visit hilltop villages, a car would be easier. If you just want to go from Juan les Pins to Nice, Antibes, Monaco, Cannes; train would be fine.
If you're staying in Sophia Antipolis however, you would definitely need a car.

Thanks everyone, I already booked hotel in Juan-les-Pins. I guess we'll be traveling by train. Hope the weather is going to be nice and the tourist mobs won;t be too big at the festival.

I believe that the Ibis Sophia Antipolis is in an industrial park type of place. I used to live quite close to Sophia and several hotels cropped up over the years in that area for business travelers. The hotel is probably decent but I am almost positive it will be in a very un-charming and un-hip area.

I happen to love Juan les Pins for a nice beach scene (probably too cool in May though) and some really fun bars and cafes with live Brazilian music, a casino. Nice variety of shopping. Just a busy little town with a lot going on. No sightseeing to speak of but within easy driving distance. Definitely a town for the younger/single set (30 and under maybe) or families with young kids with all the beachfront activities.

I'm 31 and my wife is 29, do we still qualify as a young couple? :)

My only concern is that we won't be able to travel say from cannes to hotel in antibes late at night. I get schedule info from this site:

http://www.ter-sncf.com/Paca/V2/cart...ires/index.asp

Other than that Juan-les-Pins is just fine.

Ivan, when I was researching this area last year, I talked with Bob, at BudgetEuropeTravel.com. He is very knowledgeable about train travel there, as it's one of his favorite places.

He told me a lot about the best routes to reach towns along the French Riviera and inland, and he can recommend some great places to visit. If you talk with Bob at BETS, ask him about the "Ligne Digne" (sp?) he told me about. It's a line with a town or two on it, which sounded worth a visit. We chose to stay by the coast on our trip to the Cote d'Azur, since we live in a mountainous state ourselves, we wanted to see the waterside.

Have fun planning the trip. It's really pretty there. Our mid-May weather was very pleasant-- mostly clear and mild.
:)>-

Thanks Maureen, I contacted BETS for their rail guide. We won't have much time in French Riviera, just a weekend before Italy, but I hope we'll be able to explore all the major sites.

Normally, I avoid renting cars when travelling because in the past, they've felt like a hassle. BUT, I was in the south of France last May and became well-acquainted with random strikes that happen there, so I've changed my mind a bit about relying solely on public transportation. We stayed in Villefranche-sur-Mer, which is lovely and does have a convenient train stop to all the other destinations in the Riviera. For most days, this worked alright.

On one evening's return from a day at the beach at Antibes (to Villefranche), the trains stopped in Nice and weren't going further east -- we found out they had just started their strike. A good 50 tourists or so were stuck waiting for cabs at the station. We were stuck in a seedy area of Nice and ended up walking down to L'Hôtel Negresco on la Promenade des Anglais & catching a cab for the final 7 miles to Villefranche for 40 euro.

The next day, when we went to the train station, we learned that they were striking still. The unusual thing was that the strike wasn't affecting west-bound trains, only east-bound towards Monaco and Menton*.

To ensure we'd be able to get to the airport on our final day, we ended up renting a car for our final 24 hours. It's a gamble to take the trains, but probably do-able, since there are (slow) buses too that didn't seem affected by the strikes. The buses on a non-holiday were more packed, though.

*Speaking of Menton, that was probably one of my favorite towns on the entire coast. It was very, very lovely and one of the calmer towns. I would consider staying either in Villefranche or Menton, although Menton would add time to daytrips.

Just back from Cote d'Azur. stayed in Villefranche at Hotel de la Darse. Had unbelieveable view over the marinafor 70 eurs. Can see all the harbor and Cap Ferrat. Was better view than Hotel Welcome at 177. Draw back is lot of road noise except for 10 pm to 6 am, can hear too much room noise and have to walk 5 to 10 minutes to get to village, but view makes up for it. Is about 10 minute walk to bus or train. took bus and train. Parked the car and left it. Villefranche is just around corner from Nice and Monaco. Good location.
http://www.hoteldeladarse.com/