vacationsd

hi. i am traveling with two friends to the riviera this summer. we have four days and are thinking of visiting monte carlo, nice, cannes and st. tropez. does anyone have any advice or itinerary suggestions?
thanks!

Underhill

First of all, skip Monte Carlo--it isn't all that interesting, parking is difficult, and it's very expensive.

I'd spend the time in the Nice area or up near Vence and St-Paul-de-Vence. From there you can do a lot of sightseeing, including old Mougins, Grasse, and Cannes. If you stay in Nice it's easy driving to Eze-village and St.-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, with a trip over the Moyenne Corniche to Monaco and back.

St-Tropez is a problem. There's only one road into and out of the town, and in the summer it's one long line of traffic unless you go very early. If you're looking for a good beach. Juan-les-Pins is an alternative.

kevin_widrow

Ditto Underhill's comments on Monte Carlo and St. Tropez. I adore St. Tropez - but only between the months of October and April. Mid-summer is a nightmare.

As for Cannes, honestly you could take it or leave it.

Now, the old historic part of Nice - that is something special.

Underhill

Vieux Nice, yes! There's much to see in the little winding streets that abut the Cours Saléya. That's where the large open-air market takes place, and it's surrounded by restaurants and cafés. The little gift shop called Perle d'Azur is an excellent place for picking up placemats, tablecloths, and napkins in beautiful Provençal fabrics.

For a moderately priced hotel, you could stay near Valbonne at the fairly new Bastide de Valbonne. Rooms around 125 euros, and there's a pretty pool.

vacationsd

thank you for all of the advice. How is the nightlife in these places? Any of them better than the others?
Also, we will be taking trains and buses to each city - we want to avoid driving if possible.
Thanks!

Weadles

I totally agree with the advice given you by Underhill and Kevin Widrow. If you post your hotel budget, I'd be happy to post some recommendations.

Have a great time!

vacationsd

We will be looking to stay in a triple room in a moderate hotel - probably 200 euros or so.

We are looking to be close to nightlife and beaches, and would prefer air conditioning and a pool. We will be taking day trips (via train or bus) for both sightseeing and beaches and would love to know where to stay vs where to visit.

Nice sounds like a definite, but is it where to stay or where to visit?

papagena

I would include a few hours in Monaco and Monte Carlo - Monaco is worth seeing for the old town, palace, cathedral and aquarium, and Monte Carlo for the casino, yachts and cars! The atmosphere is very different to that in France.
As you only have four days it's probably not worth seeing Cannes as well as Nice - Cannes' seafront is slightly prettier but the extra time would be better spent going to some of the old villages in the hills - Eze is particularly picturesque and quite conveniently located.
The picasso museum in Antibes is also a nice place to spend a couple of hours.

MyriamC

If you want good nightlife (club scene, beach parties, ...) you definitely should go to St. Tropez. You may need to adjust your budget, though.

globalnomad

Personally I love Monaco. I think it's worth the visit, and it is a nice train ride from Nice. Another very quaint village near to Nice on the south is Antibes. Very charming.
St Tropez...glad I went, but will probably never go there again.

Tulips

If you only have 4 days, I would skip Cannes; not one of my favorites. Monaco is nice for a day; very different. I love St Tropez, and would make an effort to go; very early if you drive (have breakfast there). Traffic is even worse on market days (Tuesday and Saturday if I remember correctly). You could drive to St Maxime and take a boat from there; that will at least save you the last horribly slow stretch of road. I've heard that there's also a boat from Cannes; if so, than that would give you a nice view of the coast too.
On the other hand, if it's your first visit you may not want to spend a whole day on St Tropez; lots of things to see closer to Nice, as Underhill said.
Nice is a good base; great city and easy to get to lots of interesting places from there.

mclaurie

If you're looking for a nightclub scene & good beaches, Juan les Pins is a good location. It's very noisy at night though so a lot of people wouldn't choose it. If you check a map, I think it's also reasonably central. I'm not sure about train service from there though. There's a very good train that runs along the coast (very frequently in summer) to get from town to town, but I'm not sure it stops in Juan.

There is no train service into St Tropez. You take a train to St Maxime & then the boat as Tulips mentioned. The train I think goes further (maybe St Raphael) & you can get a bus from there, but another Fodorite posted a while ago that the boat from Ste Maxime is much faster.

The places you've picked to visit are the most famous, but not necessarily the most charming which is why people are suggesting alternatives and skipping some. It depends on what you like. Tell us how old you are & what you want to see/do.

Underhill

I'm not quite sure how Antibes could be considered a charming village; it's a large, bustling town with much more than its fair share of traffic. Just getting from the autoroute down into the town can consume about an hour, and parking is always difficult. The solution is to arrive around 8 a.m. and park down by the port, but the drive back out--unless you take the coastal road over toward Nice--is another slow one. I'm very fond of Antibes, but my-husband-the-driver absolutely hates going there because of the traffic. He's driven all over France and says Antibes is second only to driving in Paris in terms of difficulty.

Underhill

Are you aware that many of the beaches in this area feature pebbles and rocks rather than sand?

pilgrim

There are great rates at the LeMeridien in the summer, about $110 on Priceline. It's a lovely hotel, very well located. At that price, you could get two rooms instead of adding a rollaway!The Best Western Hotel,hotel West End, is pretty nice, although the rooms were small they're AIR CONDITIONED> There's a cheap city bus that runs from the Air port downtown, so don't blow your budget on the taxis in Nice.
There's a great pasta place,near the Flower Market. I think it's called something like Spaghetti House, that's cozy and cheap.

Have a great trip.
We were there last summer.

klondike

I have to agree with first few posters completely, Though it has been quite a few years, we really enjoyed Frejus and Cassis as well as the other smaller towns already mentioned. We liked the higher Corniche for the (driving) view.

kakalena

Monaco has a steep curving road with traffic zipping up and down it, a palace and a casino. Favorite way to pass time is sit near a marina and pretend you have a boat. We left as quickly as we could. : )

We weren't particularly impressed with Nice, St Tropez or Cannes either. Nice is okay.

Left French riviera way early and split the time between Spain and Italy. The French resort towns are very over-hyped IMO. Very true about the beaches too. Feel sort of sorry for them. ; )

If you must go, you must.

roothy123

I've been trying to make up my mind what to do after visiting old Nice for a short while - go up to Eze, Monaco, or St. Paul de Vence. Eze is close and easy; so is Monaco. St. Paul looks more interesting than the other two, but obviously requires more time to get there. I'm more into the less visited places, with fewer tourists. The smaller the better. I like scenery, photography, sometimes history, seldom museums/shopping, but sometimes crafts (if high quality). Monte Carlo appealed to me originally just because it would be different, and it's easy to get to by train. Cap Ferrat sounds neat but I'm not sure I'd be able to do much without a car. SO - any suggestions?

Underhill

If you like crafts, head over to the old village of Mougin; Valbonne, Biot, and Vallauris would also be good to visit.

Underhill

I left the "s" off of Mougins.