We are thinking of doing a three or four week trip to the Côte d’Azur from about 10th January. We will be driving down from our house in the Italian Alps. Our usual travels are in Spain and Italy. I feel very ignorant about the Côte d’Azur area, apart from recognizing the names of places!
We have chosen this area because we can get there by car and because Nice is the Unesco 'Winter Resort Town of the Riviera' so seemed like a good destination for the winter.
Is it? Anybody had any experience of visiting in January? I've looked at temperature on Weather Spark to compare with places I know. Hoping for some sun for walking along the Promenade and reasoning lots of museums and inside things to do if there's a rainy day?
The first thing I've realised that it's not a good idea to have a car in Nice. Parking looks to be about 140 euros per week if we stay near the centre (looking for self-catering). But if we stay far enough out to find free street parking it's a long walk into the centre .....Any tips? We'd prefer to avoid public transport if possible.
Next question - after Nice I was thinking about Arles (spent a brief night there years ago en route between Italy and Spain and have wanted to return ever since) to explore the area - but what about the Mistral (I've been reading about it....)???
Thinking of another stop before the Spanish border, any favourite places to spend a week on the coast? Nice will be the big city on this trip so I wouldn't go to Marseilles
To give you some context:
We like art, architecture, nature, walking along seafronts and the coast, markets where we can buy local produce, just wandering around, being outside to enjoy some winter sun or some art musuems if there's no sun.....
Last year we went to Madrid, Seville, Cordoba and the coast near Valencia the same time of the year.
Some favourite places to give you an idea: Malaga, Cordoba, Tarifa, Trani and Puglia in general, Trapani, Siracusa...
I feel a bit at a loss with this trip so far, so any comments will be gratefully recieved.

Avoid a car while in Nice if at all possible! Public transportation in the area is generally quite good.

The Michelin Green Guide for the area is excellent,

And maybe you'll find some useful information in my trip report, even though my time in the area was in May.
A stellar month in southeastern France

Have fun!

Since you live relatively close to the French Riviera, I wonder why you are considering January. Our second and last time there was 3 Septembers ago -- it was not as warm as we thought it would be, so shorts, sleeveless clothes went unworn. On the market day, a Sunday, it was raining cats and dogs. We were staying nearby at La Perouse on east side of the old city walls, lovely hotel where we first stayed 30 years ago. However, the weather this past trip was not great. The Med was still quite warm which my husband tried at the end of our wee. We had waterproof jackets and pants and waterproof shoes and glad we did. We walked to a bus stop where the bus never arrived to take us up to the Chagall Musee just to the north of Nice, but ended up with a taxi that was expensive. We got there only to see lines of people for blocks. My husband walked to front of lline to inquire how long folks there had been waiting and were told 1 1/2 hours. Our wait would've been longer. The Matisse was in Cimiez, in another direction and believe closed for renovation. We ended up paying the taxi to take us back down to our hotel where we spent the afternoon and evening. There are a few museums in old town Nice, but on a bad weather day, everyone else visiting will want to go to them too! I agree that you do not need a car in Nice, and if you do catch a sunny day, you should consider a taxi up to St. Paul de Vence and lunch at Colombe D'or. You will have to check their winter hours, but if you are lucky enough to get a reservation, at least can enjoy the art that abounds all the walls, done by the masters who stayed there and left a painting as payment. Excellent food and old money exquisite atmosphere. I would not go there if foggy, cloudy or worse, you'll see nothing of the coastline. Guess you can grab the tram to take you to downtown for shopping including
Galeries Lafayette, and lots of other stores. But I don't think this is what you want from Nice. We rented a car only for our outing to St. Paul de Vence, a quick drive, the bus takes forever, and believe the rental (at the train station) was far cheaper than taxi. If you do rent a car, you must present your passports. I also think that winter hours vary substantially from spring/summer/fall hours, you must check. An excellent restaurant smack in old town Nice is La Voglia. The lines were long in September, and you must check availability, believe only open at 7pm. Good luck and do let us know if you go in January. But if you can wait till April/May......

Hi just_tina, Check out Menton when you get a chance... they have a lemon festival. DH and I were there in March and had missed it. Do check beforehand as my TR below is aged!

Trip Report from Menton and Lyon

Use the second photo link and scroll down the albums to the Menton one.

For those Nice-bound travelers who may not yet have read both of the above TRs, do so immediately if not sooner. Top-shelf reportage.
I am done. the nice Nice

@zebec: Thank you!

Bless you, my child, zebec!

I think I replied to another identical post on another forum, but we have a place in Nice and will winter over into spring. I won't repeat my post.

Just to note, for a city that has been around a while, there have been many changes in Nice since 2010. The report (and others) are great as the smaller towns like Menton have largely stayed the same but just be aware there are some pretty large large changes. Primarily, a 2km x 0.25 km strip of the central city has turned into a series of parks (there was some unfortunate building over the river in the 30s to 80s, the river is still buried but much nicer), a public tram system added, a renovation/building wave, a new airport transport hub and the network scrambled and renumbered (even the train operator changed). The pandemic was not kind to many businesses but new ones have sprung up.