I need good advice. My husband and I are looking to travel the Cote D' Azur region of France. We are a young couple and wish to rent a place for two weeks in a town that has all the charm of France yet still close enough to Mediterranean that we may still enjoy some night life.<BR><BR><BR>

OK, am I having a senior moment? I know I saw this post yesterday and posted a rather lengthy response. Is this a duplicate to the initial question? If my other response is indeed gone -- feel free to email me and I will comment directly, or repost here.

OK, I searched and connot find my other response. Since it must have been after midnight when I posted, guess that entitiles me to have failed to hit post or something like that.<BR>My favorite is Aix-en-Provence. We stayed there for a week using it as a base for day trips to the many beautiful little villages of Provence, and wished we could have stayed longer. There are some other towns that are perhaps a little more quaint and quiet, but for two weeks if you want a variety of restaurants and a little more activity, Aix fits the bill. It is also a quick hop by the autoroute to Cassis on the coast, or to Bandol, which has quite a bit of nightlife and popular beach scene. Being a university town, Aix has a surprisingly younger feel for Provence, and its markets are large, bustling, and a lot of fun. Having cocktails each afternoon or evening on the Cours Mirabeau (which hopefully will be done with construction one of these days) is one of the great pleasures of life in Provence. I am assuming you will have a car. Public transport in Provence is not all its cracked up to be. You will definitely want a car there.<BR>There is another current post about Aix-en-Provence. If you have not already seen it, just scroll down looking for that title.

Patrick, you did nothing wrong. Ed & Berta posted twice, once under this title and once under "Two weeks in Provence." Your earlier response was under the second heading. It is now down about #150. Just didn't want you to think you were senile or anything!

Dear Ed and Berta---<BR>Guess we all have our preferences, but mine would be to stay in a smaller village, either on the coast or one of those in the Vaucluse or Luberon, and drive to visit the other places on day trips. My reason for suggesting this is that since you want "all the charm of France" as a place to stay, you will find more of that in the small villages. An alternative is to spend one week in a place like Aix and another in a smaller village, such as Cassis or Cavalaire or Cavaliere on the coast, or an inland village like Apt, Cavaillon, or Fontaine-de-Vaucluse.

Hi Ed/Berta. There are a number of towns that would meet your criteria, but one I'd recommend would be the market town of Vence, in the hills above Nice. <BR><BR>See: http://www.beyond.fr/villages/vence.html<BR><BR>Also, here's just one website I found with some info about rentals in that area...<BR><BR>http://rentalsfrance.com/regions/cotedaz/cotedaz09.html<BR><BR>Bonne Chance!

There seems to be a rather imprecise use of the terms "Provence" and "Cote d'Azur" - - in France the phrase Provence-Cote-d'Azur-Alpes Maritimes runs the regions altogether - - and rightly so, to a certain extent.<BR><BR>But Ed and Berta asked about the Cote d'Azur - - and Patrick's answer of Aix en Provence strikes me as "Provence" - - and NOT the Cote d'Azur. It's 100 miles from Nice - - or almost any "Cote" (Coast), for that matter.<BR><BR>I actually don't feel like I know a perfect answer for them. Antibes or Juan les Pins, maybe?<BR><BR>There are a lot of properties to browse through on www.francevillas.com - - this will give you a feel of what you can find where, and at what price.<BR><BR>Best wishes,<BR><BR>Rex<BR>

Rex, you bring up a good point about those terms. I think Provence is a term that means different things to different people. <BR><BR>I tend to think of Provence as encompassing the six departments of Bouches-du-Rh&ocirc;ne, Vaucluse, Var, Alpes-de-Haut-Provence, Hautes-Alpes, and the Alpes Maritime but, according to this website -- http://www.provence-tourism.com/ou/indexuk.html -- it only covers "part of" the first four departments, noting that "In the sixties, it extended to the Hautes-Alpes and the Alpes Maritime to form the territory called Provence-Alpes-C&ocirc;te d’Azur (PACA)."

Betty, thanks for the vote of confidence on the senility issue, but I guess I lose after all. As Rex points out I was talking about Provence here, because I recognized this question and the names Ed and Berta and reanswered their question about Provence, not even realizing they had changed to Cote d'Azur. So now, I'm not only senile, but confused too!!<BR><BR>So now I'd really like to hear from Ed and Berta. Are you planning two weeks in each place, so you posted two different questions? Or are you still trying to decide which area you want to visit and stay in? I think it's rather ambitious to try to cover the entire "double" area in two weeks with only one place as a base. I'd either concentrate on one area, or else spend a week in each so that your day trips are not so long.<BR> <BR>While I agree, by the way, about the smaller villages being more charming, I have always found that mainly to be true during the day. At night, most of them simply become boring -- at least for me. That's why I generally prefer a larger town to stay in and spend the evenings in -- along with the option for more dinner choices (my most important event of the day, unfortunately) without having to worry about driving somewhere at night after a bottle or two of wine.

Ed & Bertha,<BR>My vote goes to Mougins, an historic hillside town about 20-30 minutes north of Cannes. Incredible charm in the old town, and modern conveniences(ie. grocery store, banks) in the new village. My wife and I spent two weeks there in Aug.'98 and adso;utely loved it. A great base to tour the area and one of France's highest rated restaurants-Moulin de Mougins.<BR>Check out www.mougins-coteazur.org/index<BR>Enjoy<BR><BR>Bram<BR>

Good point, Patrick. I thought I was the "only one" that thinks small, quaint towns can get boring at night.<BR>I have been stuck in some places that have such beautiful scenery and awesome in the day and close down to tourists at night. You see people's homes all lit up and you are on the outside sitting at one little cafe, every night.

I'm with you guys about small towns and their lack of night life but you *did* notice that Ed & Berta were asking for a town "close enough to [the] Mediterranean that we may still enjoy some night life", oui? :~)

Oh, yes, I forgot about Ed & Berta, I was so absorbed in thinking about myself. How about Eze or Roquebrun?

Thanks for all the help. As you see we did post the site twice as we are undecided whether to stay inland or coastal. We do plan to stay the entire two weeks in one location while taking day trips. Our main concern is the boredom factor, not that we are party animals we just would like to have the option. <BR> <BR>By the way, how much is 2900 francs in U.S dollars ?

Good to hear from you again. 2900 francs is roughly 400 dollars, but what is it in Euros, since there are no longer francs? I've been amazed that when many hotels changed their rates from francs (or lira, or whatever) to Euros, the price went up considerably.<BR>I still vote for Aix-en-Provence for a lack of evening boredom, or trips to the coast if you want for more evening excitement. Certainly Nice would fit the bill if you want to get further away from Provence and stay strictly within the Cote d'Azur, but why?

Capo is right. Tho most travel books include Nimes and also Cote D'Azur, Provencals do not consider them Provence.

Ed & Bertha,<BR>My vote goes to Mougins, an historic hillside town about 20-30 minutes north of Cannes. Incredible charm in the old town, and modern conveniences(ie. grocery store, banks) in the new village. My wife and I spent two weeks there in Aug.'98 and adso;utely loved it. A great base to tour the area and one of France's highest rated restaurants-Moulin de Mougins.<BR>Check out www.mougins-coteazur.org/index<BR>Enjoy<BR><BR>Bram<BR>