DH and I love staying in little towns and villages in Italy ( the smaller the better) so we wondered about starting our next trip in October, 2012 in France, near the border. we don't want to be in a crowded, congested tourist location. It could be in the hills above the Cote d'Azur, or further inland above the Var. we would stay about a week, and want to take day trips to see scenery, or maybe drive down to the coast.

Does anyone know of such a place? I saw on the Internet a tiny town called Bouyon, which has a couple of appealing apartments to rent. Any thoughts? What kind of weather should we expect at that time of year?

Annot

http://www.provenceweb.fr/e/alpmarit/bouyon/bouyon.htm

cigalechanta, thanks for the link. I had seen the info. I was wondering if anyone had any personal experience there.

Bagnols en Foret is a nice place to stay... Part of my family lives there. It's a small town which is a 15 minutes car drive from Saint Rafael.

http://www.bagnolsenforet.fr/

Thanks, everyone. This will help us plan. I've gotten some ideas from Slow Travel, too.

Just returned from our first trip into the little towns in this area, and had a good impression from an afternoon in Sospel.

I did a day trip to Entrevaux from Nice last July.
A great view from the castle ruin above the village.
It's a quiet a hike up there though.
The village was very quiet that day; only a few tourist.
It was a nice scenic little train ride to Entrevaux.

Bargème is highest village in the Var and also one of the ‘Plus Beaux Villages de France’ : http://www.les-plus-beaux-villages-d...g/fr/bargeme-0

You should visit the Gorges du Verdon – Europe’s Grand Canyon and maybe stay in Moustiers – touristic in the Summer, less so in October, but very pretty.

Visit the Parc National du Mercantour by scenic train ride from Nice : http://www.guide2cotedazur.com/infor...er-de-Provence You could stay overnight along the way.

The further inland you travel the more tortuous the routes to the villages, which makes using one place only as a base impractical if you want to cover any kind of distance (the time taken to drive 50km in a straight line is a *fraction* of the time it takes to drive the same distance on undulating, sometimes narrow roads with constant 180° bends).

Weather is unpredictable everywhere, but generally warm during the day and very cool at night. The further inland / higher you climb, the colder it is. We have already had first snowfall in the Alpes but daytime temperatures are currently late 20°s celcius.

Yes the toy-like train into the Alps Maritime from Nice is a great journey, both for scenery and going into the hinterlands and a way of life way different from the brash modern Cote d'Azur - the train leaves from a small station just behind the Nice-Ville mainline SNCF station - nicknamed Train des pignes (pines I think?) it is nice to stop off at ancient villages like Annot And entrevaux - it is a popular way for folks to do some hiking, like from one station to another. You will find good write ups of this train in these sites - www.budgeteuropetravel.com's European Planning & Rail Guide, free online, and at www.ricksteves.com and www.seat61.com. the train is also called the Ligne Digne because the line ends at Digne-les-Bains.

Guide....is it possible to reach those villages by public transportation?

Sospel is delightful, but it's a fairly long drive to get there; I don't think the train goes the whole distance. It's a great place if you like to hike.

You might want to consider places like Valbonne, Vence, and Tourrettes-sur-Loup; the latter two are up above the coast and reachable by bus.

Trains go right to Sospel - on the Nice to Torino line. I took it once.