Tulips

The coastal road to St Tropez is beautiful, but if you follow the coast all the way from Cap d'Ail it could take you half a day. I've done it from Nice, and think it took at least 3 hours. Maybe drive as far as Cannes on the motorway, then follow the coast; the road between Cannes and St Raphael is beautiful. If you want to go to the beaches in St Tropez, better take the car all the way there. If you're staying in town, I think the ferry from St Maxime would be fine (though I've never done this). It is not unusual to spend an hour on the road between St Maxime and St Tropez. If I remember correctly, market in St Trop is Tuesday and Saturday, so you should be OK for Thursday.

Tulips

Day 4; I would drive to Antibes via the motorway, stop in Antibes for a few hours (park by the harbour 'Port Vauban'; go and look at the enormous yachts if that interests you; the biggest yachts are all the way at the end of the harbour), then drive through Cap d'Antibes (the lighthouse in Cap d'Antibes is a nice stop; great views)and Juan les Pins to Cannes. There is a large car park under the Palais des Festival; from there it is easy to see the old part as well as the Croisette on foot.

IgorVodov

Thank you for your answers,
does anyone know how long a walk would be from Westminster Hotel or Boscolo Park Hotel to the port in Nice. If it is more than 5 minutes, is there a bus that connects Promenade to the port area. I assume the boat companies all depart from the same port.

Underhill

The walk over to the port will take more than 5 minutes because it's not a straight line from the hotel area--the road curves around the base of the château rock.

IgorVodov

Are there buses that run regularly from the hotel area to the port? I know that there is a bus from Airport to the hotels but I am not sure whether it continues to the port. Does anyone know?

Chatters

I have to disagree with Tulips, by no means skip the coastal route Nice-Cannes, at least once. Nowhere near the three hours.

Yazlin

Chatters,
Since you've just returned from the Riviera, any advice on dress code? How's the weather like? We're going next week. Are shorts, T-shirts and sandals ok for the day or frowned upon? how about for the evenings? Thanks

cef1

St. Tropez is beautiful and we loved Tahiti beach (I know you're not into beaches). If you want a fantastic view, wonderful food and service, and prices to match, try La Reserve in Beaulieu. You'll need dressy clothes. Chevre'd'Or is also great. I understand the restaurant at the exclusive hotel on the main street in Nice (the name escapes me - someone must know it) is top rated. I agree with the other comments. Charles

WhistlerAl

The restaurant you're thinking of is Chanteclar. We ate there last month. It was an exceptional meal with perfect, perhaps a bit too perfect service.Dinner , wine, champagne was $310 euro. We stayed at the Boscolo Park Hotel and were extremely disappointed in our suite. Unfortunately the city was very busy or we would have moved to another hotel. It was more like a 2 star, rather than a 4 star accomodation for $325 euro a night.

Tulips

Chatters; I have done this in summer, and it did take three hours to drive all along the coast from Nice to St Tropez. St Maxime/St Tropez alone took an hour.
Dress code; shorts are fine for day. I wouldn't wear shorts for dinner in the evening, but that may depend on where you dine! For the better restaurants (like La Reserve, Chantecler) wear a jacket.
There is a different atmosphere in the different cities; Cannes is more glitzy (more Versace, Cavalli) while St Tropez is more laid-back (more kaftans, hippy chic). I think St Tropez has the best shopping of all Cote d'Azur towns; lovely little streets and squares with small shops.

In Cap Ferrat I can recommend the restaurant at the Royal Riviera hotel.
In Antibes I like Les Vieux Murs, right on the city wall.
In St Tropez make reservations for lunch at the Club 55 (at Pampelonne Beach); even if you do not go to the beach. Great people watching.

Chatters

Dress code at the French Riviera can be summoned up as chic beach clothes during the day, nice casual when strolling along promenade(s)heading out for dinner at night. Beach clothes such as sandals (no heels), shorts, sleeveles shirts, capri pants are STILL very much fashionable, specially the new cargo style with ties on the legs. A couple of summer sets you can interchange would be ideal. Critical however, to me is a bathing suit, tons of suntan lotion, hat and sunglasses.

IgorVodov

WhistlerAl, we were thinking of staying at Boscolo Park Hotel. Why were you disappointed with the hotel?
Did you see any other hotels in Nice that you liked. Any opinions about Westminster hotel? I have heard some comments that it also does not live up to 4-star rating.

WhistlerAl

Hi Igor,
We had booked this suite in advance through clubhotel, because it was our 20th anniversary, and we thought we would splurge on a suite. We had been traveling throughout France for a month and had been staying in 4 star hotels all the way.
We were told that they had booked us a "beautiful suite" at a rate of $325 ( normal rate $475)We arrived late in the afternoon and didn't ask to see our room, which we always do, mainly because we had been told it was wonderful, and because at $475, how could it not be nice. The lobby of the hotel was nice, and certainly the location is great, but the suite didn't rate 2 stars. The carpet was thin, bright green, with big white spots all over it, where they had tried to clean stains. The furniture was flimsy( the cabinet holding the minibar was so wobbly ,I thought it would fall over. The bedding and towels were thin and cheap, and there were two double beds(we had asked for a king) We were told that they would change the bed while we were at dinner, but that never happened. We asked for a bucket of ice when we arrived, and that arrived 45 minutes later. Yes, I should have complained, but it was our anniversary, and I didn't feel like fighting with anyone. Also, the city was full, so we couldn't change hotels easily. So, we stayed the one night, left early, disappointed, but enjoyed the rest of our trip. It was by far the absolute worst room I have ever seen in a supposedly 4 star hotel, and I don't know that I can recommend clubhotel.com, if this the type of hotel they are affiliated with.
I did try to find other hotels the next day, but there were no rooms that were vacant to view. However, the Meridian , and Sshcroft(?) looked very good.

IgorVodov

WhistlerAl,
Thank you very much for your detailed answer. I have looked at http://www.rivieraby.com/parknice/pages/gallery.htm page and it looks like most of the rooms have that awful green carpeting. However, two rooms look much nicer. Are those suites? If you look in the first row, they will be the last two pictures.

NYerr

HI:
Just wanted to let you know that the restaurant at Chevre D'Or in Eze is very, very expensive. Eze is worth a trip. After seeing the prices at the Chevre D'Or we went elsewhere nearby to eat.
Driving to St. Tropez can be hit or miss. When we did it, the traffic came to a crawl for miles as we got closer and seemed to take forever to go the last 5 miles or so. Our friends who preceded us by 2 days had no problem. The reason... we went on a Friday. Big mistake.
It's a shame that you don't like beaches, because they are unlike anywhere I have ever been. Just having lunch and people watching at Club 55 is fabulous (reservation for beach mattress and lunch highly recommended). I agree with prior post that the shopping is great there. We are returning this summer.
Our itinerary also includes a few days in Roquebrune-Cap Martin which is east of Monaco.
I would choose Cannes over Nice for a visit. Great hotels. Just outside of Cannes is Mougins. This is a great village, lovely shops galleries and restaurants. We enjoyed it so much that we may go just for an afternoon and dinner while we are staying in St. Trop.
We like the Frommer's book and also the Michelin guide.

IgorVodov

NYerr,
what hotels do you recommend in Cannes?

Thanks.

Underhill

Igor,

Please don't give up on Nice entirely! There are many good hotels and so much to see--especially Vieux Nice. You can get a very nice, large room at the Beau Rivage on sites like allrez.com and be very close to the center of things. In fact, the Beau Rivage is not far from the Boscolo Park Plaza, which is set right behind the Jardin Prince Albert.

I heartily agree about Mougins--the old village is delightful to explore and has one of our favorite restaurants in Provence, Le Feu Follet.

We spent 5 days in Cannes while my huband was at a conference, and since I'm not much for beaches either (the sun doesn't agree with me) I ran of out things to do after two days.

Yazlin

NYeer, thanks for your input, it's not that we don't like beaches, on the contrary, we actually are beach people, but since we're only going to be there for 3.5 days I'd rather see and experience the Riviera than lying on a beach for a day and not seeing half the town. So your suggestion for Club 55 is duely noted, especially if we can have lunch and enjoy the beach. is it within walking distance of the harbour since we may take the ferry from St Maxime? I am also thinking that we could rent bikes/mopeds on St Trop if we have the time, any advice there?

Tulips

Yazlin, the beaches are not walking distance from the harbour. You can probably rent mopeds, but I haven't got any specific info on that.

Yazlin

Thank you all for your help, we're off tomorrow!