Nice, France with a 17 year old
 

my husband and I are taking our daughter to Paris for 5 nights and Nice for 4 nights. We will be traveling the end of March. Wondered if we should rent a car in Nice or join a tour group to go on excursions. Also wondered what excursions you recommend for a 17 year old girl who isn’t fond of museums. Love shopping and taking pictures. Is Monaco a good trip with a 17 yo? I figured 2 days wondering Nice and maybe one or two excursions. Alsonwindered where we should stay in Nice? Old Town? If anyone has an amazing suggestion for Paris we would take that too.
Thx in advance.

We have been to Nice several times, and we stay in the old town of Nice. We always rent an apartment usually through airbnb. We have no problem driving in Europe, but rail and bus are so easy, plentiful and inexpensive, that has been our option in the Riviera. There are many great towns accessible by public transport from Nice, Antibes and Cannes to the west, and our favorites to the east: Villefranche, Beaulieu-sur-Mer, Cap Ferrat, Menton. You can easily reach some of the Italian Riviera as well.

We took our daughter to Paris as a teenager, and it instantly became her favorite place in the world. I think both locations should work for a 17 year-old. Many posters here stay away from Monaco, but our kids always liked seeing the fancy cars, ritzy fashions, etc., and what's not to like about any fancy city with a palace on top of the hill.

If your daughter likes the outdoors, Cap Ferrat is one of our favorite places for seafront hiking.

Why not ask her? She is a young adult, she can do Internet research, she can make decisions on what the three of you see and do, or at least her fair share of the time. She can also go her own way when the parents want to visit some place that doesn't interest her. By sharing the responsibilities, she can feel it is her vacation too.

In Nice, there is a food tour that is very good and something I know our daughter would have loved at that age.

Eze and Antibes would be nice for shopping and taking pictures. In Eze, at the perfume factory you can take a short tour. I enjoyed that, and of course you can shop at the end of it:)

"loves shopping" is that a success?

I would not take a 17 year old girl who doesn't like museums on tour group excursions on the Cote d'Azur. Check out where and what tour group excursions go: you'll find museums, churches, a palaces and luxury villas, gardens, etc.

It's just too easy to get around the area by public transportation, but a car is really nice for places like St Jean Cap Ferrat and up in the hills. A couple of days with a car would be nice.

We rented at St Jean Cap Ferrat, but I'm not sure I would recommend that. It was very quiet and we had a car the entire time.

I doubt group tours would interest a 17-year-old girl unless the participants were at least mostly her age.

You don't need a car for the coastline. If you want to head inland a car would be nice for a couple of days.

I suppose you know that March, even the end of it, isn't going to be the ideal time to visit this part of the country. I can't speak to establishments on the Côte d'Azur, but here in the Dordogne many places are shuttered shut between the end of October and the Tuesday after Easter, which is April 21 this year.

We have been to Nice in spring. It's active all year-round, as is much of the Côte d'Azur. In some of the smallest places, like St. Jean-Cap Ferrat, some of the shops and galleries might be closed. The good news is that the summer crowds won't be there, but you still will have lots of decent restaurant choices nearly everywhere. There is a little more rain in the winter and spring, but most days are sunny and crisp. And, by crisp, I mean not tropical but still with highs typically around 60 degrees.

We have a place in Nice; You will not find places closed, other than true seasonal business like beach clubs. It's not like the towns in the countryside, as mentioned above, that close between Oct and April. (Some places do take Nov or January for their annual holidays).

Unless you are heading to the countryside, you really don't need a car. You can take the train, tram or bus anywhere you need to go. You can stay in the Old Town, or in the area known as the Carre d'Or, or the few blocks around Place Masssena. (The latter two have the main retail centers and high end boutiques) You can take the train or bus to Monaco, and also stop in Villefranche-sur-Mer. There is the Villa Ephrussi (villa, garden, site of weddings of the rich and famous) and the walk that was mentioned. You can also easily head into Cannes, which has premium boutiques. A trip to Eze can also produce similar views that are Instagram-worthy.

We've taken DD in her early 20's and niece in mid teens and they both adored Nice. We stayed in Veille/Old Town Hotel Suisse - they have a "suite" on the top floor which we could all share which was a separate double bed off the main room, but they had an awesome balcony. They both enjoyed exploring the old town. They also liked Antibe and Eze. We added Monaco to the itinerary at their request but we were all underwhelmed (though one restaurant had amazing profiteroles, which saved that day trip). On one of our rental car days we visted Cannes, which they both enjoyed, but i thought was a bit meh. Not sure of your schedule so don't know how four nights translates to days on the ground, but there is plenty to do in Nice to keep you busy for at least a day or two. Eze and Antibe are easily accessible on public transport.

Thank you!
 

I am greatly appreciative of the helpful comments. The two crabby commenters were unnecessary but expected.

Thank you for the great ideas. It’s going to be an amazing trip!

Southam

Agree with you about involving daughter in research, but disagree about just letting her go own way while parents explore elsewhere. While a 17yo can be very competent and self sufficent at home, visiting a different country with foreign language (depending on where OP is from of course) can be overwhelming. I visited France for the first time in my late 20's on a business trip and would have been overwhelmed if not for help from some of my colleages from England who had visted previously. (I am old - so before smart phone and Euros - it was a challenge for me)

I would do Monaco with a 17-year old who loves shopping - though it's probably mostly window shopping there. Take the train from Nice.
Cannes is a possibility too; though Cannes is more touristy than Nice, and could be quiet in March. Walk along the Croisette, see the fancy shops, go to the old town and marche Forville market. Easy by train from Nice. You could also stop in Antibes.

Nice is 'alive' all winter due to it being the Florida of France kind of - trains and buses will take you anywhere you want -driving is yes for going into hinterlands - you can easily take excursions or go on your own. And from Paris, you can take an overnight train to Nice - maybe a nice experience for both. For lots on trains and night trains check www.oui.sncf; www.seat61.com; www.ricksteves.com and BETS-European Rail Experts.

Dordogneshire and Nice are in the same country. That's about all one thing has to do with another. I've been to Nice many times at all times of the year. It's a medium sized city and has a good level of activity at all times. I don't know what 'ideal time' means. If you want to lie on the beach it's not 'ideal time'. But you probably already understand that.

I've stayed many times in a flat on Rue Paradis 5 which is a great location. Maybe your daughter would like staying over the Chanel shop.

Yes Dordogneshire is a late-spring -summer - early fall place when Brfits and all of Europe seems to flock there but Nice is alive all year -spent a week there once in January - great time to visit with everything going. That said too cool to beach it not sure what would excite a 17-yr-old. Maybe more time in Paris and less in Nice.

I had a week in Nice with my 14 year old daughter and some excursions that we really enjoyed were: walking from Eze to Eze-sur-Mer; bus to Grasse to spend the day exploring the making, sniffing and selling of perfume; bus to St Paul de Vence where we spent the day prowling around and eating; and train to Entrevaux. Nice itself was also great to explore and we shopped at the market every morning for breakfast. We ran out of time to see and do everything we wanted. As others have said the transport network in the area is great and makes having a car entirely optional.

My remark about shopping was to try and ascertain which characteristic of "shopping" she enjoyed and how you were trying to develop it. Does she negotiate well? Does she aim high end, expensive (which is different), tailor-made (which is different), cheap and cheerful, gifts, clothes, electronics, food, wine (European attitudes to wine may be different to yours), tat, or window. It is possible to access these various types of shopping in the area you are visiting. As her parent you may wish to enhance her shopping skills do you have that sort of wish?

What I can advise is that the front at Nice offers a few nice miles of cycle path which roughly terminates at the border with Monaco but goes inland to the west into a pleasant valley, nearly all flat with bike hire very easy. Even a 17 year old might like that sort of thing

'Even a 17 year old might like that sort of thing' - especially a 17 year old would like that sort of thing I think.

All 17 yr olds are different - some are like mature adults others still like teen-agers. I did not mind taking my son that age to museums he may not have been interested in but not too many. Anyway just being in Nice and Monaco and Cannes would be special for her/him - if into walking yes that coastal path bilbo mentions is great - unspoilt coastline much on the way.