Still planning my September honeymoon -- 11 days, half based in St. Remy/half in Cote D'Azur. I need help thinking through where we should stay in the Cote D'Azur for roughly a five night stay. A good friend who has spent time in the area, advised us that we won't like Nice as much as the smaller villages. We're from NYC, so the big city, bustle and museum thing isn't as interesting to us. Villefranche sur mer looks great, but I am concerned about the cruise ships landing there and hordes of people invading on a regular basis. Menton similarly looks great, but is it too far from everything. Help?

As always, thanks for your help!

We spent a few days in Villefranche in Sept, 2005 as part of a 14-day trip, and we loved it.

The cruise ships docking wasn't an issue for us, and we didn't notice crowds because of it. It was interesting to look out our balcony each morning and see which cruise ship has arrived that morning. We stayed at Hotel Welcome, which I can very highly recommend.

We're in the minority I think, but we did not like Nice very much. We did not get to Menton, so cannot comment. We loved the laid back feeling of Villefranche and would definitely stay there again. If you're interested, click on my name to read my South of France trip report.

Have a great honeymoon!

lhopp:

Thanks for this. Peeked at your report as well - helpful. Did you rent a car in Villefranche or did you take the buses/trains to get around? We're renting a car for the second half of our trip, but it seems like you can use public transportation quite easily from Villefranche sur mer to most of the major sites.

Thanks again for your help.

Hi JEStraveler. We dropped our car off before arriving in Villefranche and used public transportation for that part of the trip-very easy. One day, we took the train to Monaco for the day. Another day, we walked to Cap Ferrat. We also planned to train or bus to Antibes and Eze, but ran out of time. We actually loved just hanging around Villefranche during the day, relaxing at the little beach for a couple hours, then going over to Le Calypso (our favorite little restaurant on the harbour) for mussels, frites and beer for lunch.

May I ask what is the itinerary for the rest of your trip?

We also stayed at Hotel Welcome in Villefrance and loved it! I can't speak to the cruise ship issue since we were there in March and not many around. We did rent a car and loved the flexibility that it gave us.

One of our favorite things was the balconies at Hotel Welcome - we loved sitting there before dinner and reading, relaxing, recharging. We enjoyed walking in Villefranche and window shopping and having dinner there without having to worry about driving after dinner. I actually took some pretty cool night shots of the harbor at Villefranche.

enjoy!

Happy to share the details of the rest of our trip. We have 11 days total and will spend the first 5 days (or the last, whichever is easier) in St. Remy (with a rental car) visiting villages and seeing the sites of all the nearby towns. For the Cote D'Azur part, we are thinking of planting ourselves in Villefranche sur mer and visiting Monaco, Nice, Cannes, Eze etc. (if we feel like it!) during the days. What else can I tell you?

As a possibility, there's also St.Jean Cap Ferrat.

Nice is also great, and would suffice.

Underhill-

I love the Frost reference! LOL!

I've been to both, though haven't stayed in either, but would say Villefranche sur mer is my vote. Loved the time we spent there. I liked Menton too, but it felt more like a retirement community, and you certainly don't want that on your honeymoon!

Congratulations!

In VSM, if you want a hotel with a pool, I can recommend the Versailles.