Vacation to the South of France-What to see? Where to stay?

efioamur

Myself and two of my friends are going to the south of france for 10days, hoping to go to Nice, Cannes, eze and Monaco. We dont no where to stay, What activities to do and how long to stay in each place. we dont want to spent to much on accommodation but would like a good location. also we love shopping and going out to party. if anyone has been to these places i would really appreciate some advice how how to plan this trip??:)

olaola

It all kinda depends if you're going to hire a car, or use the train really. The trains are very good, but you'd want to get somewhere that's near a station. Taxis out of Nice are VERY expensive if you're not going to stay in the town.
But you won't be bored, there are loads of places to see and visit. I'd nearly play it by ear and just head down and mooch around.

rossie1977

stay in nice, there are plenty of decent reasonable priced hotels near the railway station in the north of the town (talking €20-25 per person per night), loads of stuff to do in nice as its by far the biggest town in that area and you can easily do day trips to all the places you mentioned by public transport

eze is only 15-20mins by bus from nice bus station and buses leave frequently throughout the day. after a few hours in eze you can get the bus back to nice or continue down the mountain to monaco which is about another 20mins drive http://www.webstore.fr/eze/emotions/deplacement/bus.htm

cannes is about 1hr 30mins from nice by bus

efioamur

Vacation to the South of France-What to see? Where to stay?

thanks for the info guys.. we were thinking of stayin in nice for 4days, do a day trip to eze and then head to cannes for 3 days?? and monaco for two days? ye dont have any of the hotel names? i think we'll probably bus or train it.. any idea what the night life is like? any good pubs/clubs?

olaola

Nice is a great base for all of these places and the train service is very good and cheap. Literally every town on the train stop is worth getting out to visit. And don't forget the other towns on the upper corniches like La Turbie (great views of Monaco) and St Paul de Vence.
I've never stayed in Cannes, and accommodation in Monaco is rather expensive! Personally I think I would rent an apartment or villa in Nice for the whole or most of the holiday and go from there.
http://www.holiday-rentals.co.uk/nice/s/615/fa/find.squery

Eze, while nice won't really take up a whole day. It's really not that big.

Lots of nightlife down around the old town and the surroundings.

Tordelback

What sort of stuff do you like doing other than shopping and partying, OP?

Unless it's just "spending silly amounts of money" I'd try to avoid overnighting in Monaco, at least for more than one night. It's only a short hop from Nice, which as others have said is probably the best city base on the south-east coast. It'll have plenty of shopping and partying opportunities.

olaola

And if you can, try to get to Mala beach at Cap d'Ail... it's FANTASTIC! You might have to book lunch at one of the places there in advance, I think we ate in Eden. It's the one on your RHS as you're standing on the beach with the sea infront of you. http://www.cap-dail.com/index.php?id=7971

FunkyDa2

http://www.kyriadniceport.com/index.php?lang=en

Me and her stayed in this hotel, 2 years ago, and found it convenient, and comfortable

efioamur

thanks guys.. we've decided we're going to take ye'r advice and stay in Nice for most of our holiday. Spend 2 nights in cannes as we want to visit two islands on Îles de Lérins-Ste Honorat&Ste Marguerite! just to go snorkling and see them! we want to go to a vineyard if there one near by, do all the touristie things, we love beaches and sight seeing, mountain climbing, water sports, we might hire bikes to tour around nice. and then do day tours from nice to monaco, stopping in eze, def going to visit la turbie and st paul de vence and i just googled mala beach it looks fab. are all of these on train line? or bus line?

Sergeant

Nice is a good base. Very easy to get to the other resorts on the train. Wouldn't recommend the hotels near the train station though, you pay monkeys you get peanuts. Plenty of places in the city centre that are much better, and don't command the prices charged on the beach front.

olaola

Nice has a bike system like Paris, or even Dublin! So it's easy to get around. And it's €5 for a weekly pass. Cap d'Ail has a train station. It's a bit of a walk down to Mala beach (you can't access it by car) as there is only a path down to it.

If you like mountain climbing, the Gorges Du Verdon is not far - there are lots of things to do like rafting etc. It's about an hour away from Nice in a place called Castellane. Which is nice in itself. http://www.aboard-rafting.com/
http://www.rafting-castellane.com/

All the places on the coast are on the train line, and the bus serves all the other places (La Turbie, Eze, Paul de Vence etc)

Bus website - http://www.lignedazur.com/