Tulips

Choice between Nice and Cannes comes down to personal preferences. Cannes is much more a holiday resort type of destination, Nice is much larger, more to do, lots of people who live and work there, as opposed to mostly tourists (French and otherwise) in Cannes.

September is nice in Cannes - but check there's not some large conference on during your stay, in which case I would avoid Cannes.

The experience Stu Dudley describes for the beaches in Nice, is the same in Cannes. Rent a lounge chair, have lunch on the beach. Check the prices as they can vary quite a bit, you'll probably pay at least 20 euros for a beach chair in Cannes, more if you want to be in the front row.
Baoli in Cannes is fun for a night out.

While Nice probably has the better transport options, you can easily take the train from Cannes as well. If you want to visit St Tropez, there's a boat from Cannes.

sandralist

Also, I don't know if you are averse to flying the middle leg of your trip, but you can find one-way flights from Paris to Pisa for about 50 euros per person. Typically Easy Jet is the best carrier (flies out of Orly). It's less than a 2 hour flights, and from Pisa it's about 90 minutes via train to the le Cinque Terre area, and about another 10 euros for the train ticket.

But whether you fly or take the train from Paris, you can have breakfast in Paris and dinner on the Italian Riviera. If you take a morning flight from Paris, you have time to visit the monuments of Pisa before moving on to dinner.

jtpj777

French Riviera beats the Italian Riviera - no contest. The backdrop of the Alps pouring into the Med alone makes it a clincher over the Italian Riviera: which, in my opinion, has a rather "jaded" feel to it in many of it's resorts. It really doesn't make sense for you to by-pass the French Riviera en route the Italy (which you have already visited).

A twenties couple like yourself would not go wrong basing yourself in Nice - it is way more fun than Cannes and a better travel centre.

sandralist

Horses for courses, but I have never seen mountain backdrops along the French Riviera as unspoiled and as dramatic as those in the Italian Riviera. Perhahps jtpj777 has never been to le Cinque Terre or the areas around Portofino?

Anway, I'll take the more colorful and much friendlier (and cheaper) Italian Riviera any day. And I'll be nice enough not even to mention the infinitely better food.

sandralist

Just as a side note, I think it is something of a shame that a poster may have changed their plan to go to a destination based on 4 responses, most of which indicate people were unaware of the options for easing the travel logistics. Looks to me like the OP very much wants to Paris plus a scenic beach destination, especially given the interests of the travel partner. Sure, Nice would be "easier", but it is also not really an attractive beach vacation (at least not to me). I wouldn't even consider going to Cannes, but even if I liked that sort of thing, it's not a lovely place. The OP had already scoped out the possibility of flying out of Milan. It is really not hard to go from Paris to the scenic Italian Riviera and fly out of Milan.

Even if people think that parts of the French Riviera are beautiful, then maybe what would help would be suggesting some beautiful parts of it.

Tulips

The OP asked specifically if he should go to Nice or Cannes, wether to spend more time in Paris, and if it was worth trying to do Cinque Terre or focus on France.

Most replies answer his questions. For a couple in their 20s Cannes would be a nice beach destination, other people prefer Nice.

The French Riviera is beautiful; the coast between Nice and Monaco, the Corniche de l'Esterel, Antibes, the perched villages. From the beach on Cap d'Antibes you have a view of Nice and snow capped mountains in the distance, even in summer.
The Italian Riviera is lovely too. I'm sure the OP can make up his own mind.

kwren

My son and I took an overnight train from Venice to Paris and had no problems with it...in fact, it was fun. I'm guessing that a couple in their mid 20's wouldn't have a problem with it. I would only go in a private sleeping cabin though, not trying to sleep in a compartment with seats. It's perfect to do this to save a day for exploring.

LR220

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BradCurry16

Hey all,

I appreciate all the input and definitely am not changing definite plans based on any one input. Honestly I wanted to save cinque terre for a future trip as I've never been to France and know it has a huge amount of sights to offer, but my companion wanted to try cinque terre as they had a friend just get back from there with great stories. After deliberating on it, we knew having 4-5 days doing the French Riviera would trump having just 3 and then rushing the cinque terre area.

We have booked the flights now, so more questions will be coming soon. One thing I was curious of is this. Better to stay all nights of the French Riviera in one place (taking day trips)? Or better to split where we stay while down there?

Tabernash2

Can you fly home from Nice? That's what I did once, with United miles.

We stayed 3 nights in Nice, and really enjoyed it. Easy day-trip to Antibes via train. Spent a day going to the Villa Ephrussi (sp?) and Saint Jean Cap Ferrat (really tiny place) via city bus. Didn't have time to visit Villefranche sur Mer.

We liked the Belle Epoque Hotel le Grimaldi (http://www.le-grimaldi.com/. Great location, easy walk from the promenade, lovely rooms, great breakfast.

Tabernash2

We were posting at the same time, and I didn't realize you have booked your flights.

I think staying in Nice for the entire time is a good idea, with day-trips.

Tulips

I would stay in one place on the Riviera, as it is so easy to take daytrips. You could do a day in St Tropez by boat - market days on Tuesdays and Saturdays. Most places along the coast are easy by train (except for St Tropez). For inland villages you would need to take a bus - I can't help you there, as we always have a car.

BradCurry16

I was leaning toward staying in one place so I'm happy that's been affirmed. In regards to flying out of nice, I wish that would have been available before I booked. The flight at the time was pricy. It's now better, but we already have a plan to fly in and out of Paris.

In regards to day trips, I have heard great things about Eze, Antibes, St. Tropez. What about Monaco? I know it's more glitzy and such, but I feel it'd be awesome to knock off a bucket list. Are these places that I mentioned doable in just part of a day? Or are try all day affairs?

Mimar

Another day trip from Nice is the small Train des Pignes, which goes back into the hills north of Nice. Here's a link: http://www.beyond.fr/travel/railpignes.html. The train leaves from the Gare du Sud in Nice (not the main station). For a one-day trip from Nice, the usual turn-around point is Entrevaux. The train would take most of a day, assuming you do a little walking/hiking en route.

And another vote for the beautiful Villa Ephussi-Rothschild (www.villa-ephrussi.com/ephrussi/home_en.htm) and a stroll around St. Jean-Cap Ferrat. If you added Villefrance and walked to the villa, it would probably fill up a whole day.

Eze is a half-day, most of which is getting there and returning. Otherwise it's hard to know how long you will want to stay in one place--depends on your travel style.

Tulips

You could visit Antibes in the evening, walk around town and have dinner there. Don Juan Chez Florent has great fish.
St Tropez is not easy to get to; it's really nice in September though. If you take the boat from Cannes, it will be a whole day.
Monaco; easy daytrip by train, if you want to see that.
Eze is easier to do in a half day if you have a car - in which case you take the Corniche, and can continue on to Monaco.
St Paul de Vence has the Fondation Maeght, and the old town; also easier by car. Book lunch at the Colombe d'Or.
As Mimar says; Villa Ephrussi Rothschild and walk around Cap Ferrat.
Or take the walk around Cap d'Antibes, starting and ending at Plage de la Garoupe and have lunch at Plage Keller.

Tabernash2

Antibes can be visited in a half-day. We went there, walked around town, DD shopped a little, walked on the beautiful path by the sea, had lunch. 4 hours there. About 45 minutes on the train to/from Nice.

Have you seen Fodorite stududley's threads on the Cote d'Azur?
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...ed-edition.cfm
He generously offers to e-mail a complete itinerary.