Riviera without traffic
 

I'm looking at early May and would like to stay in some of the hill towns above the Cote d'Azur. Is it true you can see the coastline from some of them? My husband won't drive in LA or San Francisco although he's driven a few thousand miles in Ireland and UK. I would prefer not to make him drive in Nice or Cannes. However, I would like to see Cap d'Antibes and/or Cap Ferrat -- especially gardens and maybe a drink at one of those cliffside hotels. How to do this? Could one stay at Vence or Grasse and get "across" the freeway to the coast without having a stroke? (first trip to France BTW) Or maybe stay at a little town there (St Jean Cap Ferrat) and taxi a bit? Anyone stayed in Chateau St Martin in Vence? On return to Aix would it be better to take the train from Nice, or go return through the backroads in the hills? Has anyone stayed in Gourdon?

Driving in Nice isn't too bad; it's Antibes that's murder. St.-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, however, isn't bad at all; we've never seen a lot of traffic on the road that winds around the peninsula. You can't see much of most of the gardens surrounding private homes (most of the area), but those at the Fondation Ephrussi de Rothschild are magnificant. Nice also has a fine, large botanical garden.

You can easily stay around Vence (better than Grasse, which is difficult getting into and out of) and drive down to pick up the freeway to Nice, which is easy driving. However, it would be about a 45-minute drive just to get down to the coastal area from Vence; you might want to consider the Mougins area as an alternative. There are a number of excellent hotels, some of which have views down to the Mediterranean. Old Mougin has some very nice restaurants, too.

In Nice there's underground parking at the Cours Saleya, with the open-air market, and you can walk all over Vieux Nice from that location.

I don't think you'd want to taxi from St.-Jean; it's a fair distance to Nice from there or to other sights in the area.

As for staying in Gourdon, probably not: getting there is about an hour's worth of winding mountain roads, and you'd be far from the attractions of the coast. It's best done as a half-day trip, combined with Tourette-sur-Loup.

When you return to Aix I would suggest either the train or the autoroute in your car; the back roads in the hills are slow going, as they're mostly just 2 lanes.

Wow, thanks for the comprehensive answer. I was afraid my question was too detailed. When this goes back ttt, I'll see if anyone has suggestions of places to stay in the towns you mentioned. Also, if we elected to drive from Nice back to Aix, is that too hair-raising? When driving the M6 in England it seemed like lorries were just tiny inches from our car.

The drive from Nice to Aix on the autoroute is easy--lots of lanes.

For a nice moderately priced place to stay near Mougins, have a look at the Bastide de Valbonne, a relatively new small hotel in the charming little town of Valbonne. There are a number of hotels on St.-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, from luxurious to lesser. We've never stayed there, but it would be very nice.

In Nice itself, the La Pérouse is wonderful; it's at the end of the Promenade des Anglais nearest the port.
Near St.-Paul-de-Vence is the delightful Le Hameau, just below the hill town; it's like a tiny village set in an orchard. From there down to the coastal road is about a 15- to 20-minute drive. The Château St-Martin, where we plan to stay is we win the lottery, is another 15-minute drive up the hill. Quite near St.-Paul, however, is the very good Mas d'Artigny, another Relais et Château member; some of the rooms have their own patio and pool.

In Mougin are Le Mas Candille and just plain Mougins (odd name, that); the first has rooms with a view, don't know about the latter, but there's a nice garden.

You will have an embarasse de riches from which to choose, but choose soon--May is the beginning of the high season.

Oh--I forgot about La Chevre d'Or and Château Eza, both off the Middle Corniche at Eze Village. The terrace of the Chèvre d'Or has spectacular views.

Thanks. You sound very familiar with the area. Both the Bastide de Valbonne and the Mas d'Artigny sound interesting. I've seen pictures of Eze. I think I'm buying a more detailed map before firming a decision. Also, I've seen a garden near Grasse mentioned: Noilles or something like that which sounds interesting. Is Le Hameau the name of a hotel or a village? We plan to spend modestly most nights with a splurge on one place--either St. Remy or near the Riviera.

Le Hameau is the hotel's name--it just looks like a tiny village ("hameau" means hamlet). You can get quite a nice room for around $150/night, but all the rooms are different and attractively decorated. My bookmark for the hotel's web site has vanished, but I'll do a search and post it later.

I don't know of a garden near Grasse--nurseries, yes, and they're fun to visit. My guides don't show any garden with the name you mentioned, but if you want to see flowers, check out the big nursery in the town of Plan de Grsse.

If you get a chance and can find the small town of Mouans-Sartoux, which is right between Grasse and Mougins, there's a wonderful large nursery called Botanique. It has plants, garden supplies, gifts, all sorts of interesting stuff to browse in. At Christmas there are a dozen separate rooms with trimmed trees and ornaments.

Here's Le Hameau's web site:

http://www.hotels-de-charme.com/cont...d=FICHD5878402

I loved La Chevre d'Or and breakfast on the terrace is a very special experience, but it is expensive.Underhill has listed some wonderful places but do book soon.
I'm a bit concerned about the driving. If you stay on the autoroute and on the main arteries you'll be fine, but many of the roads in the mountains are a bit scary. One caveat is that you really can't appreciate the views and drive at the same time unless you're an experienced or fearless driver. I'd only tackle the roads in an emergency, My son did an excellent job, but my daughter nearly lost it in Antibes (as Underhill stated, stay clear). Guess it just depends. Good luck and have a great trip. I envy you !

One last comment about driving in Antibes: my husband, who in his salad days ran car rallies and autocrosses and has since driven under all sorts of bad conditions in France, Switzerland, and the UK, absolutely HATES driving in Antibes. It's bumper to bumper all the way down from the freeway turnoff, with many one-way streets to navigate and signs that abandon you 2/3 of the way to the old part of town. If you decide to risk it, keep following signs for the port. If I were Antibes' Chamber of Commerce I would set up a large parking lot outside the town and run a shuttle service!

The drive from Antibes along the coast to Nice is beautiful, however, and with a good map you might find a route that avoids Antibes itself.

P.S. Try faxing Le Hameau; you'll get a quicker response.

Thanks for the website. Will be up late looking into things. As for the driving, experienced yes, fearless, no. Maybe Ireland spoiled us. We were there during hoof and mouth so tourism was down. The Opel we'd booked was unavailable so Hertz gave us a wonderful BMW for all those curvy roads. Contrary to what we'd been told no tour buses or hay-loaded tractors or sheep farmers tried to run us off the road. The idea of the corniche is a bit scary however. We'll be working our way east from St. Remy to maybe Vence. Would Mustiers or Gordes be a better halfway point?

Gordes would be a good halfway point, but you might want to think twice about taking the Route Napoléon over to Moustiers and then Grasse. It's a tough drive from Moustiers to Castellanne: narrow 2-lane roads, lots of turns, fun when a big bus comes your way. The views are good, though, and Moustiers itself is lovely.

Alternatively, you could go from St.-Rémy to Aix and across to Vence all in one day. But if you wanted to spend the night in Aix and have a look around, we like Le Mas d'Entremont, which is on a plateau above the city, in Celony. Another lovely spot, this one in Gémenos (near Aubagne, of Pagnol fame) is the Auberge de la Madeleine, which has a fine restaurant also. From Gémenos you could head for Vence along the coast roads or take one of the autoroutes.