NYCvoyager

Hi, I'm planning a trip to Paris and Provence with my partner and his parents, ages 76 and 81, in mid-October. After five days in Paris we're taking the TGV to Avignon and renting a car. At the moment we are staying for two nights in St. Remy where I've been before and love. The plan was then to drive to Nice and spend two nights there before flying back to NYC the following day.
I'm second guessing the nights in Nice though. Would it be better to stay in a smaller town? How nice is Nice (ha!)? Would a third day in St. Remy be better? Or two nights in St. Paul de Vence? We won't be spending a lot of time at the beach although it will be nice to see it for a while.

I'd appreciate any advice and insight any fellow lovers of Provence might have.

swagman

NYCv

Bear in mind it is a 2.5-hour drive from St Remy de Provence to Nice on the A8 and it is not very scenic.

Perhaps you should consider more time in Provence, base yourselves in St Remy and explore more of the area, especially when you are travelling with elderly parents.

But if you must, given you have a car, perhaps you can consider staying in Villefranche-sur-Mer. A hotel I can recommend is Hotel Welcome, right on the promenade with perfect view of the Med Sea!

St Paul de Vence is pretty but the village itself is quite hilly and the streets have many steps.

Good luck and enjoy!

s

StuDudley

I think St Paul is too similar to St Remy and other perched villages you're likely to visit in Provence. I would either stay in Nice or Villefranche.

Villefranche is a lot hillier than St Paul. For someone who doesn't like climbing hills, I think Nice would be a much better choice. Lots more stuff to do & see in Nice.

Stu Dudley

cigalechanta

I love St Paul-de-Vence, If you are
are staying in the middle of the village it is flat.
The curved street that leads to the shops is not steep. Should you go a visit to the Maeght Foundation is a must. This museums's grounds are filled with wonderful works of art.
If you stay their at the Colombe D' Or, They will park your car .
it is nothing like St Remy.

alohatoall

Another good option is Antibes, where the Picasso museum has finally re-opened.

Underhill

I'd vote for staying in Nice, which is mostly flat. Stay at a hotel on the Promenade des Anglais that's fairly near Vieux Nice (the old town), such as the Mercure PdeA. From there it's easy walking to restaurants and shopping.

From Nice you can easily make day trips by train.

Your elderly parents might find perched villages such as Eze and St-Paul-de-Vence tough going, as the terrain is hilly and often requires walking on cobblestones. Instead, you could visit the old part of Antibes along with Nice.

StuDudley

>>it is nothing like St Remy<<

It's certainly more similar to St Remy, than to Nice or Villefranche.

Both St Remy & St Paul are cute villages with lots of shops for tourists. Nice is a a large city of 350,000 people. Villefranche is also a small village - but built on a cliff with marvelous sea views.

After visiting St Remy, Gordes, Bonnieux, Roussillon, Les Baux, Lourmarin, Vaison, Seguret, Menerbes, etc in Provence (which they probably can't do in 1 1/2 days) - I think I would be ready for something quite different - that's why I suggested Nice. If NYCvoyager stays in St Paul & also visits Vence, Tourrettes, Gourdon and other similar villages (there are dozens more in that region) I think they will be "maxed-out" on cute little villages. For only 2 nights I would just spend the entire time in Nice.

Actually, for only 4 nights total, I would not even leave Provence at all. If you don't have your flights arranged yet, you can take the early TGV from Avignon back to CDG for your flight home. If you already have tickets for a return from Nice & leave before noon - I would probably skip Provence, stay in either St Paul or Nice and explore that region. You could take the TGV from Paris to Aix, visit Aix, pick up a car, wander through the backcountry in the Var visiting Cotignac, Tourtour, Chateaudouble, Bargemon, Seillans, Fayance, and then on to St Paul or Nice.

Stu Dudley

gabriele

We went to Provence for the first time two years ago and were quite disappointed after our week in the Dordogne, which was a return visit. Having been to the Riviera before, we went there for two days and saved our week. Although perfectly pleasant, we didn't find the towns in Provence to be overly charming (except Roussillan-sp?) and certainly none approached the charm of St. Paul de Vence or any other number of towns along the Riviera. Nice is quite nice, but is also quite large and I've always done a good bit of walking there in order to get around. You will want to be centrally located if you stay there. Other than at the entrance (which can be avoided if needed by going to the right and around the perimeter along the walk between the walls and the buildings), St. Paul is not hilly or steep.

cigalechanta

BUT-St-Paul-de-Vence is a medevil fortified village with only 300 residents in the village.
not to be confused with St Paul.
I would prefer to stay the whole time in the real Provence, the Alpilles, Vaucluce and the Luberon are so different and there is so much beauty to see.

Images2

"You could take the TGV from Paris to Aix, visit Aix, pick up a car, wander through the backcountry in the Var visiting Cotignac, Tourtour, Chateaudouble, Bargemon, Seillans, Fayance, and then on to St Paul or Nice."

Stu,

We just returned from 3 weeks in Provence, staying most of the time by Correns (beautiful!) and the only disappointing day we had was visiting Chateaudouble, Bargemon, and Seillans. In September they're not interesting at all. The view from Chateaudouble is great, but nothing going on in town. Fayance was OK (not great) shopped in the fabric store, which does have great fabric, but an owner who is terrible. Wouldn't let me look at anything myself, and was very upset I wanted less than 1 meter of several fabrics. I finally convinced him I was buying from 5 bolts, and he allowed it, but not happily. He even disagreed with my choices, since they weren't "matched" sets!

NYCvoyager

Thank you all for your suggestions! Our flights are already booked so we are definitely flying out of Nice. I think we are going to stick with the original plan, two nights in St-Remy and two nights in Nice. I know we will have to pick and choose what we see but that's fine. I think our day driving from St-Remy to Nice will be a long one with lots of interesting stops along the way.
Now I just need to figure out my hotel in Nice. Any thoughts on La Perouse, Palais de la Mediterranee, the Plaza, the Windsor, or any other suggestions. We are looking for something around 300 euros a night max. We don't want to break the bank but this will probably be the parents only trip to Provence so we want to make it special. Clean rooms are key to them too!

Thanks again for all the suggestions. It sounds like you all have had wonderful trips and I'm sure ours will be as well!

cigalechanta

I have stayed at La Perouse and loved the locatin but unfortunately our room did not over look the water(all booked) It's a short walk to old Nice with the beautiful flower market. Don't know today's prices.

Underhill

Although expensive, the La Pérouse is a fine hotel. The deluxe rooms are best; the "superior" category rooms need to be refurbished. Any of the view rooms would be a real treat, as they look out to the Mediterranean and some have wonderful views of the bay and the Promenade des Anglais.

The La Pérouse is closest to Vieux Nice, while the Méditeranée is farther down the Promenade. We like being close to Vieux Nice because of the many restaurant choices and the interesting little shops.

robertino

Hi NYC -

We stayed at the Hotel Suisse last September and really enjoyed it. Right on the water, but at one end, so from your balcony you'll have a view of the entire Nice coastline. About 2 blocks from Vieux Nice. Next door to La Perouse but about half the price.