South of France Trip, need ideas
 

Okay, after last year's very enjoyable trip to Spain and Switzerland, it's time to do the French Riviera and Provence. This will occur in July (we must be there July 11th for my inlaws 50th wedding anniversary). However, our vacation on either end of this is flexible, and we plan to stay two weeks in total.

I would like some suggestions, but before we get into that, I want to tell you some of my requirements and expectations for this trip so that I receive suggestions appropriate for my needs.

My wife and I will be traveling with a 3.5 year old son. We will be meeting up with my inlaws, who are coming from Switzerland. This is important, as we need to keep our son busy with fun activities appropriate for his age, yet still have inlaws in the sunset years of their lives to please as well.

My inlaws will be driving their car so we will have transportation to get around the region.

My wife loves to go topless, so the beach(es) recommended must have 50% or more women topless.

We *must* be located near a beach that has sand, not rocks, because I do not want to hurt my son's feet.

I highly desire to visit Nice, Cannes, and Monaco. I also want to visit St. Tropez. We usually do not visit the same place twice, so these cities must be incorporated as we may never get another chance to visit them. However, we want to stay in one hotel the whole time and just take days trips - that makes it easier.

We are both foodies to some degree and want to experience the famous cooking of Provence.

We don't want to spend an arm and a leg on accommodations. In fact, a modest hotel but in a good location is probably best for us. We prefer to spend our money on food, wine, and shopping.

Any ideas for activities for our 3.5 year old would be appreciated as well...

ttt

Watch out for Avignon. The 3 week theater festival in July fills up all of the hotels there.

Here are a few thoughts.

In July, if you stay in Nice or Cannes, getting to St Tropez for a day trip will be near impossible because of the traffic - unless you leave by 7:30 am & return mid-day or in the evening atound 7pm. St Tropez is one of my favorite places in the morning before 10:30 and in the evening after 5:30. It's way too crowded in between these times - especially in July. We've spent over 4 weeks staying there. Best thing to do - by far - is to stay overnight - which will solve all of the problems - except your desire to stay in only 1 place. There are lots of other neat sites near St tropez - Gassin, Ramatouelle, Bormes, grimaud (town - not the port). BTW, with no traffic the drive to St Tropez is about 1 1/2 hrs from Nice. With July traffic in both Nice & St Tropez - expect about 1 1/2 additional hours.

Nice has polished flat stones at the beach. If you sunbathe at one of the private concessions, there are straw mats to walk on. However, the castles in the sand & buckets to carry sand around in won't happen there. Cannes and Juan les Pins have sandy beaches.

Your best bet for a sandy topless beach with some "decadence" is St Tropez (actually outside of St Tropez in Pampelonne). Twenty years ago, about 50% percent of the women were topless, and in some sections 20% were completly sans bathing suit. It's much less than that today - and many of the ones that are - shouldn't be.

Do you have my 27 page Cote d'Azur & Provence itinerary?? It describes my favorite cities, villages, beaches, markets, scenic drives, etc. e-mail me at [email protected] if you want a copy

Stu Dudley

Skip ST. Tropez--a long,long drive.

A nice sandy beach is in Antibes at the "Keller Plage". A small hotel off the beach that won't break your budget, with a pool is "Garoupe-Gardiole".

The beach in Nice is rocky, but interesting. Cannes is O.K. but a little over the top.

Monaco is wonderful, and the palace is outstanding. If you're there at night, eating casual food at "Stars and Stripes" right on the harbor is fun. And you might spot some famous people.

Villefranche-sur-mer is a great stop, as is Cap Ferrat and Eze-right above Monaco is a must. Your son might like the cactus garden at the top of Eze, and the views are stunning.

What about staying at Ste. Maxime?

I was reading that area is tailored very heavily towards families, and prices are reasonable compared to St. Tropez.

I'm thinking that staying there, I will be really close to St. Tropez without actually being there, but within a day's trip to Cannes and Nice. However, how far would Monaco be from there?

Stu Dudley,

Is your guide available at Barnes and Nobles? I might pick up a copy. Thank for your advice.

TPAYT,

Thanks for your suggestion about Antibes. I will check it out.

My guide resides only in my PC and in the PCs of hundreds of other people I've sent it too.

Ste Maxime would be an OK place to stay - it's family oriented, but not nearly as "exciting" as St Tropez. You'll still encounter heavy traffic to/from the Nice/Cannes area because the route to St Tropez from the Nice goes through Ste Maxime. With no traffic, it's about 20 mins between Ste Maxime & St Tropez. Note that there are not any sandy beaches IN St Tropez - you need to drive about 15 mins to get to Pampalonne (Tahiti plage, Bora Bora etc). There are some hotels at the beaches of Pampelonne, and you could stay there & drive into St Tropez - but I would choose to stay in St Tropez & drive to the beaches.

Stay in two locations. If you insist on a sandy beach, stay in Cannes & St Tropez/Ste Maxime.

Stu Dudley

Hi bk -

I suggest splitting the trip in two. You really can't do daytrips from the Cote d'Azur to Arles, Avignon, Orange, the Luberon, etc. Too far. And in July, too much traffic.

So base one week on the Cote d'Azur at someplace with a sand beach - Cannes or Antibes - and the next week in St. Remy - there was festive stuff for kids there in the village in September when I was there.

You could stay in St. Trop overnight on your way from the Cote to Provence, or, better, vice versa.

Your 3.5 year old might enjoy the medieval reenactment folks at Les Baux. Play swordfighting (with the kids!), catapult demonstration, cool stuff.

I don't think the OP was planning on visiting Provence from the Nice/Cannes area - at least I hope not. That's a 2 1/2 hr drive to Avignon & longer to the Pont du Gard, Vaison, etc. If you left Cannes at 9:00am you would arrive in the outskirts of Avignon (for example) at 11:30, park (difficult) & get into town at noon - just in time for most of the shops to close for a 2 hr lunch.

Stu Dudley

This little hotel looks perfect for a family with a small child: right on a sandy beach, very reasonable price.

http://www.chateaudesable.net/

Thanks for the feedback everyone. :)

We have decided not to stay in St. Tropez, since it is so far from everything else. We'll plan a day trip there from somewhere reasonably close. After looking at the map and trying to figure out where to stay, I think we've settled on Antibes or Juan les Pins.

Before we do this, can we get some confirmation on the quality of the beaches there. Are the beaches in Juan les Pins sandy or rocky? Are they good for small children? What about the toplessness rate there? Same questions for Antibes.

How far would St. Tropez be from there. One particular hotel in Juan les Pins says that it is 1.5 hours by train. Is that a correct assertion? I'm thinking that may be a faster way to St. Tropez than sitting in traffic.

How far would Cannes, Nice, and Monaco be respectively?

Also, how is the general Antibes/Juan Les Pins area? Is the Picasso museum worth seeing?

Your requirement that a beach be at least 50% topless is unrealistic. And odd.

Disregard anything that hotel in Juan les Pins tells you about transportation in that area. There is no train station in St Tropez, thus no trains. I believe there is boat service from Cannes and/or Nice. There may be bus service, but they will be held up in traffic just like cars will in July.

Cannes, Monte Carlo, Nice, Antibes, Menton, Villefranche can all be reached by train. Probably juan les Pins also. You need to start using the train web site
http://www.reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en
Note that dates are in DD/MM/YY format


All the beaches I've visited along the Riveria (Nice, Cannes, Juan les Pins, St Tropez) have topless sunbathers (I'll assume you're referring to women - not men. The rate is higher for male topless). I'de guess that between 10 & 20 percent of the women were topless - a percent that is declining each year. There is one beach area in the Languedoc that is 100% nude - even the restaurants & groceries (never been there, but "France" magazine had an article about it several years ago).

The beach in Cannes is sand, & so is Juan les Pins. I've never visited the beach in Antibes.

I'm not a fan of the city of Juan les Pins. The beach section we visited was ugly concrete block buildings. There may be prettier & more interesing sections.

Stu Dudley

When we vacationed in the French Riviera a few years ago, we used Cannes as our base. There's a nice sandy beach, friendly for children and depending on which hotel you stay, it may have a beach club on the sand (our's did). From there, the train allowed us to easily visit Nice, Monaco, etc. We also rented a car to visit St. Tropez for the day. I must say, that I regretted not staying longer in St. Tropez... it's more my style... quaint village in the hills. Cannes is flat and not as characteristic (IMO). However, it was the perfect base and like you said, you never know when you'll be returning. BTW, the traffic to St. Tropez was tough on a summer day but it was do-able and you can break it up by visiting another town in between to stretch your legs (or have your 2 year old run around). We did and it seemed like we enjoyed the voyage not only the destination. We stayed late enough in St. Tropez to miss the afternoon traffic.

StCirq,

That's not my requirement - it's my wife's, although I don't mind it ;)

We were in this area last year during the latter part of June. I cannot stress enough that the drive to St. Trop will not be a pleasant experience with all the traffic. We went for the day from St. Paul de Vence and regretted it. By the time we got there it had taken us quite a few hours and then the thought of needing to turn around and drive back just a couple of hours later was repulsive.

michelleNYC,

With more hours of daylight that time of year, we can plan to return from St. Tropez later in the evening to avoid traffic. We'll also plan to stop at various places along the way to stretch and take in the scenery. It'll be fun.

Note that michelleNYC visited St Tropez the last part of June. The traffic will be much heavier in early/mid July when you'll be there. There are not many places to stop along the way if you take the shortest route - the freeway. Inland from the freeway is very scenic - but it will take several hours longer.

Stay overnight - 2 nights in St Tropez.

Stu Dudley

I find Juan les Pins to be a nice family oriented beach town with lots to do for kids. More casual than Cannes but very central for easy visiting East to Nice and Monte Carlo and West to St Tropez. The beach is sandy.

Like Stu says topless is acceptable but over the last few years I see less topless every year. I see the younger generation reverting to wearing their tops. It seems to be the foreigners and older women going topless.

The drive to St Tropez is not as bad as everyone is making it out to be. Yes it is very slow going through the coastal towns and getting into St Tropez but if you are prepared it is worth the adventure. I suggest taking the Bord de Mer (coastal road) into ST Tropez on an early morning drive so you can enjoy the scenery in daylight and then returning in the evening via the autoroute.