Where to stay in the French Riviera?

Hi! This is my first post as I am new to the boards. Great site!! Anyway, my husband and I are trying to plan a trip in August to the French Riviera, but we have no clue where or what part to stay.

We will be traveling from the US (NJ), and were thinking Cannes, maybe? We will be renting a car, and we would like the hotel to be across from the beach or at least fairly close. We would also like to be at least close to some great restaurants.

Is Cannes a good pic or should we stay in Nice?

Thanks so much and sorry this message is pretty vague. Once I get more information, I will have some more questions.

Thanks again!

Eileen

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French Riviera is a very long coastline - it starts from Italian-French border (Menton/ Roquebrune cap martin) all the way to St. Tropez, but a lot of Frenchmen wud argue that it extends to Montpellier and so on! Your budget would surely determine your choice of place to stay. Bear in mind that August is a peak month of holiday in France (and in Europe) so all the hotels would have peak season rates. There are plenty of good restaurants here and there. If u are renting a car, also bear in mind that if u choose to stay in either Nice or Cannes, parking wud be difficult and expensive. Ourselves, we stay in Nice in winter (less crowd) and prefer to stay in a villa in Var (in Provence whereas Nice area is called Alpes-Maritime) during summer as we also rent a car and driving is such a pleasure anywhere in france!

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It depends on your priorities. Nice is a fabulous place with tons of restaurants, museums, old city area, etc. We did stay in a hotel with parking close to the Promenade and did daily trips to Eze, Monaco, Cannes, however, I do not recommend driving in the Riviera, better use the bus/train. On the contrary, if your main purpose is the beach you might want to consider Cannes.

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Hi,

First thing - you are going to the most wonderful place on earth!

There is no denying it will be busy in August, though regardless I would still recommend a car as there are so many wonderful out of the way places you can get to, and the journeys are attractions in themselves. We have the luxury of taking our own car and making the journey from England part of our trip. (God love the Formule 1%26#39;s!!)

We are just back from our annual two weeks in Cannes, and it was as wonderful as ever. The scale of Cannes is more intimate than Nice, so I would recommend it - but this is just my preference. We travel the entire coast from Menton to St Tropez easily, and it really isn%26#39;t difficult to get around. Budget will determine where you stay .... if you would like any more help I would be more than happy to offer my opinion and knowledge.

You will have a great time whatever you decide to do,

D

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Thanks so much everyone! We have never been to France. We go to St. Barth%26#39;s every year, but we figured we would give France a try this year since we are OBSESSED with ST. Barth%26#39;s!! :)

I know it is so late in the year, but we usually book all our trips so late and that is when it works out the best!! (This way intead of counting down the months, we count down the days!! ha ha)

Anyway, this is a great site and great advice! I have been gathering so much information!

Thank you all....have a great day!!

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I will also be traveling to the cote d%26#39;azur in late august.

coadf: we are staying 2 days in nice, then drive west and north towards lyon. we are planing to do the driving in 2 days. which towns are worth stopping by and which are nice to stay overnight?

are 2 days enough time to drive up there?

thanks

gloria

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millan -

Two days is certainly enough. It takes roughly 5 hours to do it in one autoroute rush with a coffee stop, though you are scooting past lovely places on the way.

So in two days, you could drive the coast from Nice, through Antibes, Cannes and around the Esterel which is breathtaking coast-hugging road, to Frejus (lots of pretty places to stop on the way like Theoule, Agay, and lots of park places for photo-ops) then head for the A8 and Aix for an overnight stop. Very beautiful town, easy to navigate from the auoroute, manageable to get a taste in a morning, and the home of Cezanne. There is a beautiful town square and lots of hotels to suit all budgets. The next day should give you a leisurely autoroute trip from early afternoon to Lyon, arriving early evening. Lyon is a large city, but I have no experience of it other than driving through .... hope this gives you some idea.....

D

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Lucky you ! I love this part of France, if you adore the sea then any of the towns from Nice, Antibes, Cannes and Monaco are beautiful.

My favourites are Antibes and Cannes.

If you do have some time one must have a cocktail late afternoon at Belles Rives Hotel in Cap D%26#39;Antibes hidden away in a cove of the bay on the beach between Juan-les-Pins and Cap d%26#39; Antibes.

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You may wish to be away from the hustle of Cannes or Nice so you might want to try the Hotel Excelsior in St Raphael; www.excelsior-hotel.com/anglais/index2.htm. My wife and I found it last year whilst out walking and looking for somewhere for lunch. We will be going back this year. Have a great trip, wherever you end up.

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