I really want to spend an afternoon on the beach in the French Riviera, but I've heard (from other Fodorites), that the beach in Nice has many pebbles. Does anyone have a reccomendation? I will not have a car. Thanks a lot!

No. The beaches are incredibly hard to walk on, don't even think of doing it barefoot.
The only exception I've seen is on some of the peninsulas, like Cap Ferrat where you might find a small inlet that's more foot-friendly.
But as for beautiful sandy beaches, forget it. The sea however is another story. It's mesmorizingly beautiful

Monaco's beach is sand (that was brought in) and it's relatively easy to get to from Nice.

Cannes has a sand beach also.

So does Juan-les-Pins, which is closer. It's the beach of Gerald Murphy fame, the one he would sweep every morning at the dawn of the Côte d'Azur as a Destination.

I have not yet been able to find the location or name of that gorgeous beach I saw from the train as we were going from Nice to Paris. It was just beautiful! However, I will have another chance to find it in a few weeks as we take the same journey by train. I will let you know where it is when I return.

Please do! I've been hoping to hear the answer to that conundrum.

Oh, Marianna, have a wonderful time and you have me curious to what beach it could be as the palms trees are all over that area. We had sand dunes by a hotel on the other coast of France. I'd like to go back there one day.

While at Villefranche-sur-mer, we may even spend a day driving near the route the train takes to try to locate it so we can actually stop and enjoy it for a while. Underhill, I will definitely report any info when I return.

Mimi, we are excited about our trip - just the two of us for our anniversary celebration. No mothers, son or sister this time! We start off in Rome for two nights, then head to Sorrento for a week. We will fly to Nice and spend a week in Villefranche -sur-mer. Then off to Paris on the train and end our trip with 4 nights there.

I wil try to let you know when we will be at the Tabacchi shop in Sorrento and maybe even at the Eiffel Tower since someone posted a webcam for that spot also.

Linda is wrong; there are plenty of sandy beaches on the French Riviera, not limited to inlets and just not so along the Promenade Anglais in Nice. We drove along the coast many times and always and found many accessible spots where you could park the car and go in and there was beaitiful sand to walk on. What we did not see were palm trees, but the French Riviera covers an extended area and I am sure there got to be some somewhere. If you drive on to Eze, you will see from the mountains views of many sandy beaches as well, such as Cap Ferrat and Cap Martin. The best beaches were in Cannes and St. Tropez. Tahiti Beach in Sand Tropez was spectacular; miles of beautiful sandy beach, clean and very well kept. I've been to Hawaii and loved the beaches, but after visting the French Riviera, Hawaii is going to have to wait for a repeat visit.

St Tropez has great beaches, with great restaurants attached!
Cap d'Antibes has a good sandy beach at Plage de la Garoupe. Keller is the nicest there, good food too.
If you follow the coast from Antibes (par bord de mer) to Cannes, all beaches are sandy. Nearly all have beach chairs that you rent, and restaurants. No isolated beaches on this stretch.
My favorite beach is the one at Plage de la Garoupe. From there, you can take the beautiful walking path around Cap d'Antibes. I know you can take the train to Antibes; there's probably a bus to the Cap from there.

Hi raindrop
We stayed in St. Raphael & Frejus, just past Cannes. It is not as busy as some of the other hot spots, but it has a lovely white sand beach. There are also some old Roman ruins there.

Thanks so much for everyone's input. I'm definitely going to keep the beach in my itinerary!