We are traveling to the French Riviera and can't decide if it would be better to base in Villefranche sur Mur or in a hotel nearer St Paul de Vence? What are the towns like? Should I forget these two and try another town? We do have a car and a child. Any hotel suggestions?

With a child, I would suggest a coastal<BR>location. The Hotel Welcome at Villefranche is a great location, but I would prefer Menton to both. Check out<BR>www.menton.com With a car you will be able to day trip to all of above.

To Bob the nav--<BR>I have seen many posts from you praising Menton. We were there two years ago for two nites and thought it had nothing to offer but bad beaches and tourist trap restaurants along the beach. Did we miss something. Conversely, we agree the beaches north of Gaeta such as Sperlonga and Terracina are great.

Hi Claudia,<BR><BR>I don't have the time right now for a lengthy reply, but Villefranche is a wonderful, charming seaside town that is very accessible to the rest of the Riviera. We spent 3 weeks there this summer with my kids, ages 16 and 12 years. Anyway, e-mail if you'd like, but I'm off to take the 12 year old to her dance lessons.

Thank you for your replies. Since we have a child is it possible to walk around Villefranche without having to jump in the car everytime we want to go to a restaurant etc? Is the Hotel Welcome the best place to stay? <BR>

Strong recommendation for Hotel Welcome in Villefranche. Ideal for your situation. Located right on the harbor with many restaurants within a block or two. Walking distance from the beach and railroad station. Public parking almost across the street, so you can park it and forget it, or have easy access to go sightseeing in the other French Riviera towns if you choose.

please consider one day, with one night at least, inside the city St. Paul de Vence. Stay at Le St. Paul. Quaint, welcoming, less hustle bustle. Chagall is buried in the St. Paul de Vence cemetery. St. Paul does not let cars into the town unless you have a reservation overnight. The streets in the town are narrow, only for walking. We bought a beautiful original art piece by Tron there, the gallery was small and the owner's husband built a wooden crate himself, suspending the art piece, to ship this thing to the US. <BR><BR>I would also like to suggest you stay in EZE village. Your choices would be Chateau Eza or Chateau de la Chevre d'or. We stayed at the latter. Breathtaking view, it is still in my mind. <BR><BR>All these little villages are so close within driving distances, you might want to consider just being a wanderer with one night's stay at each: arrive in Nice, go to EZE, then to Villefranche, then to St. Paul, then to Tourrette sur Loup (violet capital of the world), drive to Biot, etc., or some mixture of the driving.<BR><BR>savor, savor.

Agree with Donna. When flying out of Nice, we spend the previous night at the St Paul, arriving in the afternoon and enjoying lunch on the terrace. It's a short ride to the airport the next morning.

Glad to see someone used a &quot;stay in all of them&quot; response to this person's question. I've been debating staying 1 night in St.Paul de Vence and the following night in St. Jean Cap Ferrat -- to position me near the highway for the next day's drive. St. Paul sounded nice, but I know my husband would like at least 1 night be the sea. I realize the two towns are very close. Am I crazy? Would drive from Moustiers St. Marie to St. Paul de Vence one day. The following day would be drop luggage at planned hotel on Cap Ferrat--see the Rothchild (sp) garden, drive to Eze and back, spend rest of day walking around. Too much? Comments?

I loved our Stay in St Paul-de-Vence. Be sure if you do to visit the wonderful Maeght Foundation. And upstairs in the tourist office all the photos of famous people like Yves Montand who lived or stayed there. Have a pastis at the cafe in front of the petanque court as the locals play boules.

St.-Paul-de-Vence and St.-Jean-Cap-Ferrat are about an hour's drive apart. I like the idea of spending one day up in the hills and another by the sea, but I would recommend Le Hameau as an alternative to Le St-Paul, where friends of ours had a less than pleasant stay. Of course, those things happen sometimes, but we've been to Le Hameau a number of times and like it more with each stay. It's also considerably less expensive.

I have to say that I agree with Beth about Menton. We've gone there twice, thinking we'd missed something the first time around, but just found the city very crowded with cars, hard to park in, and just not that interesting.

If we get to stay in St. Paul de Vence, the one I'm looking at would be Le Hammeau. Thanks for the recommendation. I wouldn't plan on going all the way to Menton, but am curious to see Eze. If one is out on a terrace in the evening in St. Paul, can you see the lights, etc, along the Mediterranean. It's hard to tell from a map.

We could see lights down the hills from the pool at Le Hameau; so I'm sure you can see them from St.-Paul, which is even higher up.

If you can get one of the front rooms on the top floor above the reception area at Le Hameau, there's a small loggia with table and chairs. From there we could look out at the Mediterranean.

Underhill, this is a wonderful forum. Hope I can make some contributions after my trip -- which is still quite awhile from now. Finished the Bo Niles book and enjoyed it.

Is that the &quot;Window on Provence?&quot;

Yes. By the way, our Scottish terrier misses us when we're gone too. Or we miss him ;&gt