We are sleeping in Nice for 3 nights and venturing to the various towns we then have 2 nights before we need to get to marseille to fly out.

for our 2 nights, any recommendations for towns to stay in? Should we do Antibes 1 night and St. Tropez the other? any other beach town recommendations?

Thank you

I strongly recommend St Tropez for its unique charm and atmosphere. Cannes has the same promenade as Nice with less to offer. Antibes can be easily visited from Nice.

I second St. Tropez. It is laid back, beautiful, good things to eat and lovely things to drink (Rose's from the Var)...BUT I wouldn't go there in teh summer. That penninsula must be a holy terror...unless of course, you're on one of those cute little yachts...you know, the ones with crew and stuff! <GRIN>

I'd probably pass on St. Tropez or Cannes, which I feel are both highly over-rated. I'd stick to Antibe for good beaches and a great Picasso collection or Villfranche-sur-Mer for a more small village Riviera vibe.

any hotel recommendations in st. tropez? how is Cassis?

St Tropez is totally different from the other places you mentioned - so I'de vote for it. Like DAX pointed out, Cannes is similar to Nice (I like Nice much more, however), and even Antibes has a similar look & feel to Nice. Villefranche is next door to Nice, and it hardly seems like a good use of time to "move" there. From Nice we took the train to Villefranche one evening, explored Villefranche, had dinner on the waterfront, and then returnned to Nice. That's what I would do to get a glimpse of Villefranche.

We've stayed in St Tropez about 6 weeks over the last 15 years. We usually stay in an apartment, but last year we stayed at the Hotel de Lices - great location. We always have dinner at la Ponce every time we visit, and last year also had dinner at Auberge la Verdoyante near Gassin - spectacular views and lovely setting.

Stu Dudley

We just returned from two weeks in Monaco and France (getting ready to do the trip report) and spent two nights outside of St Tropez at Pavillon de Pampelonne (outstanding). We loved the area and being able to go into Ramatuelle for dinner as well as Gassin for lunch. We went into St Tropez for a few hours but it was very busy (Easter weekend) however it looked like a great town with lots of waterfront restaurants, bars, etc. We spent a day in Old Nice and St Tropez felt different. We also stopped in Cassis on our way to Provence, also easter weekend and it too was cery busy but it was a neat town with all the fishing boats, lots of shops and waterfront restaurants. We looked at staying there but hotels seemed very limited.

ok thank you for your help. st. tropez sounds very convincing. but here's my next question, how do we get from st. tropez to marseille? do we have to drive? 2.5hrs?

I can only recommend driving as I've never taken the train/bus/boat. There are plenty of nice stops that come to mind especially Sanary sur Mer & Cassis, but also the hillside village of Bormes les Mimosas and even Toulon old town alleys that are lined with cafes & shops. One of our favorite place for a lunch stop is La Corniche along the waterfront road in the Toulon suburb called Murrrilon (about 3 km east of Toulon old town). We've been there 3 times, the address is 1 Littoral Frederic-Mistral, phone 94413512. It's been a while but I remember that the price was so reasonable, I typically couldn't resist ordering a double portion of grilled duck breast. It's a simple place but the food is fantastic. Plenty of tourist restaurants in the beautiful beach towns of Sanary & Cassis as well. You'll drive through some beautiful steep sloping vineyards near La Ciotat & Cassis if I remember correctly.

As Suzie mentioned you shouldn't drive in the summer holiday time because the road will be a parking lot, but I believe you can hop on a helicopter from the Nice airport (the rate to Monaco is quite reasonable, so I assume it can't be that bad to St Tropez.

All reasonably priced hotels are sold out in St. Tropez.

as far as transportation to Marseille, Cannes or Saint-Raphael are sounding better and better.

What is Saint-Raphael like?

I thought St. Raphael was a bit, well, "gritty". I liked St. Maxime though.
When are you going... hotels all sold out in St. Tropez? Did you try the Sube?

Please note that the Picasso Museum is still closed, and won't reopen until next year.

Why not pick a place closer to Marseille?

Have a couple of days of Provence to vary your experience. Maybe Aix?

Rastaguy-
i was just thinking about aix, how is it? my main concern is not only the hotels in tropez but also getting in and out by car.

When is your trip? Unless you'll be there from about the second week in July to the first week in Sept, the traffic isn't that bad around St troopez.

If you'll have a car, there are lots of other options.

Three days in Nice & the surrounding area really isn't that much time. You could certainly find enough to do for 5 days, then head to Marseille.

What are the days of the week for your 2 additional days. If the're Sunday & Monday, Aix would not be that good of a choice, but St Tropez would.

Stu Dudley

thank Stu-
we are in nice june 23-26 nice and a hole in my itin. for June 26-28.

Hotel de lices is sold out (looks lovely and price is right)

otherwise if I don't drive staying in a town with a train station migh tbe ideal.

antibes, cannes.

Whatever you do - you'de better book soon. Late June is a popular time on the Cote d'Azur.

Here's something I put together for someone else.

St Tropez Hotels

250E or less in off season (’06 prices) Least expensive are last

La Ponche – also, our favorite restaurant
www.laponche.com

Le Yaca
www.hotel-le-yaca.fr

Maison Blanche
www.hotellamaisonblanche.com

La Mistralee
www.hotel-mistralee.com

Pastis
www.pastis-st-tropez.com

Villa les Chamerops
www.villa-chamerops.com

La Bastide du Port
www.bastide-du-port.com

Bastide Rouge
www.la-bastide-rouge.com

Bastide des Salins
www.bastide dessalins.com

le Levant
www.hotelleriedsoleil.com

Hotel de Lices
www.hoteldellices.com

Mas Bellevue
www.masbellevue.com

Le Mouillage
www.hotelmouillage.fr

Les Palmiers
www.hotel-les-palmiers.com

Playa
www.playahotelsttropez.com

Baron Lodge
www.hotel-le-baron.com

Lou Cagnard – good location
www.hotel-lou-cagnard.com

Bleu Plenitude
www.bleupleniude.com

la mediterranee
www.hotlmediterranne.org

Lou Riou
www.louriou.com

My sister stayed in Hotel Les Bouis in St. Tropez and raved about it, the prices are certainly better than other hotels.

One note about Les Bouis is its out of town location, there tend to be horrible traffic getting into St Tropez from the hotel which is quite removed from St Tropez. During low season it's probably not a problem at all, in fact it feels like staying in a secluded island mini resort with a nice big pool and the second floor rooms have balconies with distant ocean views. As with other lesser hotels in the area, there is no room carpeting, so it's really noisy & echo when you walk around and the walls are thin.