We are making St. Paul de Vence our base and would like to hear your best experiences in the area. Day trips,any great views, restaurants, cafes, even romantic spots. Thanks for your tips in advance.

Tourettes-sur-Loup is one of my favorites. Small, uncrowded, lots of artisan shops along the walls. Chez Grandmere is a resto I can recommend; try the couscous with lamb brochette.

Continue up from Tourette to see the hill village of Gourdon, from which there are fantastic views. Then head back down the mountains to see the old town of Mougins, the charming village of Valbonne, and Biot (wonderful art glass museum, and you can also watch glass being blown). If you leave quite early in the morning from St.-Paul (say, around 7:30) you can hit Antibes a little before the swell of traffic and have breakfast just inside the city walls, parking at the port. Then visit the famous Marché Provençal and perhaps the Picasso Museum. Walk along the ramparts to see the extraordinary view across the bay.

Afterwards head for Nice and see the old town; have lunch at L'Ecurie, which has fine Niçois and Italian food. Visit the Cours Saleya, with the large open-air market and surrounding cafés and shops. Take a drive out to and around St.-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, stopping for coffee at a café by the port. On your way back to St.-Paul, have dinner in one of the restaurants that line the port of St.-Lauren-du-Var, an area that tourists don't seem to have discovered yet.

Our favorite restaurant in the area is Le Feu Follet, in Mougins. Terrific food at very moderate prices for the quality; try to sit outside. If you like seafood, THE place to go in Nice is the Café Turin. We were introduced to it by our French friends, and it's very much a place known mostly to the locals. The menu has page after page of yummy shellfish and fish preparations.

The Maeght Foundation Museum is a must!! in St. P de Vence
I second Tourettes..,
The market in old Nice.
Underhill, I'll try to remember Cafe Turin if we stop there again.
So much to see, so little time each year.!!

More on Biot - don't only see the glass blowing but continue up the hill to the walled town. It's small and charming. The resto in the hotel (Hotel des Arcades) is good and you can have lunch on the porch. There are lots of pottery shops (some good and some junky). My favorite is to the left as you enter the town. It stands by itself, rather than with the rest of the shops which are to the right as you enter town. It's called Faiance de Biot and they specialize in blue and white pottery. Two other resto recommendations are La Pierre a Four and L'Auberge du Jarrier.

Other noteworthy day trips:
Villa Grecque Kerylos in Beaulieu-sur-Mer. It's a reconstruction of an ancient Greek house and sits along the water. There's a cafe in back where you can gaze at the Mediterranean as you have lunch.

Vence, especially the Matisse Chapel.

If you want to get away from the crowds and don't mind a drive with switchback curves, try the Nice Hinterland. Most especially the towns of Luceram and La Brigue. Just outside La Brigue is Notre-Dame-des-Fontaines Chapel, built in the 12th century and added on in the 14th and 18th centuries. Here you'll find 15th century frescoes covering the chapel. These were truly amazing and well worth the drive if you like frescoes with absolutely no crowds. The chapel stands all by itself with only woods and a stream surrounding it. Seeing the chapel was one of the best things I did in Provence.

Underhill always gives great advice for this area, I used many of her recommendations for our Provence/Cotes d'Azur trip. We used St. Paul de Vence as a base two years ago and had a great time. Musee Ephrussi de Rothschild in St.-Jean-Cap-Ferret is lovely, the drive to Menton was worthwhile. Not as crowded as some of the other beach areas, then a drive up to Eze to see the perched village was fantastic. I wasn't prepared for the traffic congestion between St. Paul de Vence and Nice, however. Cagnes sur Mer has some good museums.Eyewintess Travel Guides has a good guide for Porvence & the Cote d'Azur. Have a fabulous trip8-) Fabulous is a very appropriate word as many of the places we saw were incredible!! Deborah

Thanks for the terrific advice, still waiting for hotel to answer my e-mail. I'm sort of "frothing at the mouth" in anticipation of this trip. I still welcome more tips, especially dining. Where can my 14 yr old daughter make her own perfume. I recall there is more than one place to do this and one is in a less traffic area. Thanks again.

The places for having your own perfume made (I don't remember that you can do it yourself) are up in Grasse. The easiest to find is the big perfumerie right on the main square by the underground parking, and you can take a tour of the whole operation. You might also want to visit the perfume museum--it's on the street right above the square. Some of the bottles are incredibly beautiful, and the old equipment is fascinating. On the top floor is a perfume garden.

Underhill you are amazing - wasn't aware of the perfume museum. Thanks again. Still working on accomodations in Arles & St Paul de Vence. Hotel in Arles responded, but didn't have a room w/ ac. How critical is that? Waiting for word from your St Paul de Vence suggested hotel, but no response yet.

Arles in May: I'd want a/c, just in case.

The perfumerie in Grasse that I mentioned is Fragonard. Also, the town has a very fine folk museum, the Museum of Art and History of Provence. It's just down the street from the square, which, BTW, has a lovely rose garden.

Our friends in the area caution against wandering into the old town of Grasse at night.

Fragonard has a facility just outside Grasse where they offer the "make your own perfume" lab. My daughter and I did it 2 years ago...it was fun and I still have a little of "my" perfume. They keep your formula on file and say you can order more when you run out.

Judy, was the perfumery by chance Galinard I remember reading about that or even seeing it on smart travels. I also recall you did not have to drive into Grasse. Can you recall the location? Merci!

JeriB, I'm so sorry...got my ards confused...just looked at my bottle. It is Galimard. We reserved on their website and got directions there. It wasn't far from Grasse as we dropped my husband off in town and picked him up afterwards. He had no interest in our perfume adventure. I'm pretty directionally impaired and found it on my own.

Ahhh, Galimard, now that I have the spelling correct I'll check out their website. Thanks for going to the trouble of hunting up that bottle.

Don't know where you're planning to stay but do visit La Colombe D'Or if you're not staying there. Amazing art both inside & out (the pool area & dining terrace.)

Have a drink or dinner on the terrace at La Belle Rive in Juan les Pins (Scott & Zelda's "place&quot

Visit the Ephrussi Villa in Cap Ferrat & the Kerylos in Beaulieu.

Go to Vence on a market day & shop for food.

So far as I know Fragonard does not have the make your own perfume, but they do have a wonderful tour and gift shop.

You can make you own at either Galinard or Molinard and you can't miss either. They have large ads up all over the place.

Don't miss the Foundation Maeght in St. Paul. I'll bet your daughter will love it too. Ours certainly did.

Jeri -

A/C in Provence in summer is not essential on two conditions: 1) you are staying in a place with thick stone walls and 2) most importantly, there is a nice pool to jump into!!!

p.s.: did you ever get my email about the pastis? I've been having some trouble with email messages, so just curious....

We spent a week in Menton last November and went to many of the places you have been recommended to see here. One of our favorites was a day trip to Saorge and Tende, tiny villages in the hills in the area near the French/Italian border. Beautiful scenery. i wrote fairly extensively about the various places we went--including St. Paul De Vence--in a trip report entitled "Off season Riviera," To find it search on Saorge. It's about 3 or 4 down the list. (At the time my screen name was jmv) This is a terrific area and your planning will be rewarded handsomely. Enjoy.

To Kevin: Yes we received your e-mail (dated 3/12), Moustiers is a town I would like to visit as I collect Delft which is similiar to the pottery from that city I believe. Thanks for the pastis info, not my cup of tea, but olives I die for!

A day trip to Moustiers-Ste-Marie is a must if you like pottery. The faience of Moustiers is famous, and you can buy it in all price and quality ranges. I especially like the fantastic animals used in the old-style designs.

On your way to Moustiers, stop for coffee in the mountain town of Castellane. Parking on the main square makes a stop easy, and a quick walk around the town is a good break. Castellane is the point at which the drive over the Route Napoléon to Moustiers gets...shall I say, interesting.

Jeri, we have something in common: I love olives, but my husband prefers Pastis.