We are arriving in Nice in afternoon and want to head towrds Sienna, Italy in our rental car. Would love suggestions on a cute town to spend night in somewhere in between. We do not get into Nice until mid-afternoon so would prefer to not drive 3 more hours before stopping. Any help greatly appreciated.

Can't suggest a town, but make sure you're rental car company knows you are heading into Italy with the car. There are certain high-end cars that they will not allow across the border and should you take one across, it'd violate the terms of your rental and cause some problems should an accident occur.

We rented a Mercedes-Coupe for the 5 days we were in Cannes, but were required to exchange it for another model before heading into Italy.

BTW, we drove from Nice to Venice. It is a MUCH longer ride than my wife realized when she planned that portion of the trip.

Hi lade,

Are you flying into Nice from home or will you have been in France before you get to Nice?

We are flying from home. And sadly we have no need to worry about a high end rental. We are leaving anything we would like to drive at home in the driveway.

Are you returning to France? If not, be aware that you may face a hefty drop charge to return a French car in Italy.

An alternative is to take the train (only about an hour) to San Remo, and rent an Italian car there. In fact, it's a nice enough place to spend an evening, have dinner, watch the glimmer over the Mediterranean as the stars come out, and rent your car the following morning.

We enjoyed the Nyala suites hotel.

Best wishes,

Rex

Rex has a good suggestion in San Remo. We like the town of Menton just an hours from the airport and on the border. Look at www.menton.com

Why not just spend the night in Nice and head for Italy early the next morning? By the time you get through the airport and pick up a car, you're going to be tired--and taking off in a strange car in a strange country isn't the best way to begin your trip. There are any number of cute towns around Nice; you might consider Villefranche sur Mer, for one, or Beaulieu sur Mer.

Thanks for all the responses. We are still hoping for something a little further down the road. We have been to menton and San Remo before and are spending our last 2 nights in Villefranche sur Mer before flying home. Any more pearls out there???

Maybe this is too far down the road (only about two hours shy of Siena) - - but take a look at http://lexus.msn.com/id/2074206/sid/2104403 for a description of Forte dei Marmi (I have never been there).

It would still be a good idea to train to San Remo, pick up your rental car there and drive onward from there, as far as I can tell.

Santa Margherita is hard to beat.
Look at Hotel Jolanda[3***] or Hotel Continental[4****].

Definitely a good idea to wait to pick up your car until you're in Italy--otherwise the drop charge is around $300, as a friend just learned.

I second Bobthenavigator's suggestion for stopping in Santa Margherita, but it would take you about 2 and a half to 3 hours to get there from Nice, depending on traffic and time of day.

If you decide to go there, the Hotel Continental has an excellent location right in the middle of town. A few blocks away, there's a well-known small trattoria called, "Cesarina", which features very fresh seafood and pasta specialities.

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