travelinmoms

I'm planning a trip to the South of France for a friend reunion and looking for the most well-rounded, beautiful home base for about 2 weeks. Between my friends and I we'll have a 3 year old, 2 one year olds and a 10 month old. We want to rent a house and a car and take day trips but also want to enjoy just relaxing and eating at home. Looking for recommendations for the best town to be nearby where we can stock the fridge, take family walks/short hikes, go to wine tastings and go to the beach.
Thank you!

PalenQ

http://en.gites-de-france.com/

Gites de France is one organization that is an agency for renting our vacation homes in holiday areas all over rrance - they are usually self-catering - kitchen for cooking your own meals. Many are in small towns or the countryside.

The Arles-Avignon area has so so many neat things in a condensed area - and the beach is an easy drive too.

StCirq

The south of France encompasses an enormous area. Which part of it interests you?

What you describe could be found in hundreds if not thousands of places. What guidebooks have you read to help you narrow this down?

Arles-Avignon area is not near the beach, unless you want to swim under the Pont du Gard.

PalenQ

Arles-Avignon area is not near the beach, unless you want to swim under the Pont du Gard.>

Depends what you call near - I drove with my then young son from Arles to beaches a couple of times - about an hour via the Camargue area - just south of it at the famous Gypsy gathering town - but unless you want to beach it everyday it's an easy drive.

pariswat

One hour drive is not what we call 'near' in Europe, PQ.

Op, such a house will cost about 2000 €/week minimum - how many adults will there be, you talk about reunion of friends?

PalenQ

One hour drive is not what we call 'near' in Europe, PQ.>

Well for Yanks it is almost nothing - folks drive an hour to work each way routinely in many areas - point is if they want to go to beach one or two days that's OK - there are other sites to see en route but if they want to be within walking distance of a beach then that is a whole different holiday than staying in a small town well away from the beach.

I've been to many French seaside resorts and most are thoroughly modern with flats all over the place and usually lacking much of the romantic atmosphere folks will find staying in a smaller town away from the coast. Aigues-Mortes,a neat old port from which some Crusades were launched is one exception and it is also a 'short' drive from the Nimes/Arles area so could be a base for someone who wants a lot of beaching it.

PalenQ

Arles is all of 35 minutes from Saintes-Marie-de-la Mer, a famous seaside town with a superb beach - could be a base for the Arles/Avignon area, to Americans at least with many major sights an hour or less away.

https://www.google.com/search?q=sain...HfkQBFUQsAQIHg

Tulips

Antibes would be nice. Pretty old town, there's a small beach in town and a nice provencal market. You'll need to have somewhere to park, though.
Juan les Pins, the Pinede area, is good too. Sandy beaches, plenty of restaurants. The Cap between Antibes and Juan les Pins is very nice - the centre of Juan les Pins less so. Golfe Juan is another place that's popular with families.

When are you going? Traffic in July and August can be pretty bad, try to avoid those months if you have a choice. From Antibes or Juan you can take a train for day trips. With 4 very small children, you would need a large car - a 7-seater. Not always easy to drive in the small villages, and parking could be a problem. Some garages are low and narrow.

pariswat

Excellent Tulips,
Juan les Pins was our first vacation with kids (one, then).
It was perfect for us at the time - thanks for making me remember it.

And yes, from 15 of july to 15 of august, forget taking the car during the day. Jammed and no parking place. Before 14 of july is usually ok, last years, end of August still quite jammed.
Early september, you have the very young ones
and the old ones, the others are at school or work.

PalenQ

Juan-les-Pins is an excellent choice for all your prerequisites - but it does cost a bit more than places away from the coast I think - but is budget is not a factor the area is neat and you do not need or want a car in summer - other times fine as you can drive to many neat nearby places.

travelinmoms

Thanks all so much for the input and the Gites de France resource. There are 4 adults in the group and we're planning for April/May so should be safe from the worst traffic.

Juan-les-Pins looks beautiful but is it touristy? We don't need to be right on the beach so some of the places we were considering are Haute-de-Cagnes, Aix-en-Provence, Camargue (where we could stay on a ranch) and L'Isle-sure-la-Sorge. Thoughts on those areas please?

Thanks again.

PalenQ

Juan-les-Pins is a glitzy modern seaside resort for the most part:

https://www.google.com/search?q=juan...w=1745&bih=868

The Camargue gite sounds sweet - location-wise and very close to nice beaches too - way way different than Juan-les-Pins the the French Riviera in general.

Aix is a nice larger town but IME not so well located for day trips like Arles or Avignon or the Camargue area where so so many neat places are a short drive away.

That ranch stay sounds sweet!

sandralist

You need to be prepared to deal with mosquitoes in the Camargue, even in April. They have a bad reputation.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserR...-Provence.html

https://janetdowle.wordpress.com/2015/04/

Tulips

Haute Cagnes is tiny, and difficult to get into by car. Mostly you park at the bottom of the village and walk up; not easy with tiny children. Cagnes-sur-Mer is one of the uglier places along the coast.

Juan les Pins is touristy in July and August, and fairly quiet at other times of the year. In April it's usually not beach weather. May could be warm, but don't count on it. It can a rain a lot too. These months are quiet in Juan les Pins, except for the week of Cannes film festival.