A week in Provence & Cote d'Azur: Travel suggestions?

September 3, 2019 1:44 PM

We have a 9 days in Provence - Cote d'Azure coming up in late September are looking for for tips and suggestions on routes, towns, places to stay, see, eat, walks - off the beaten path gems.

We are into and out of Nice and typically like to travel somewhere in the design hotel, gypset style of hotels, Bed & Breakfasts, Air BnB type rentals.

If you have suggestions for any of the above, please share.

posted by specialk420 to Travel & Transportation around France (5 answers total)

We stayed in St. Paul de Vence on our honeymoon, and it was absolutely a highlight. A lot of people go from Nice as a day trip, as well.

We stayed at Villa St. Maxime, just outside of town. The proprietors are a lovely couple originally from the midwest, and the villa was the highlight of our honeymoon. Our room had a distant view of the Mediterranean.

And of course in town is the La Colombe D'Or, historic restaurant where artists used to stay in exchange for a painting (thus, fabulous art collection throughout).
posted by DoubleLune at 4:29 PM on September 3, 2019

The whole Cote d'Azur is pretty well touristed, but we really liked Antibes. It's a bit out of the way, smaller and quieter. There's a great Picasso museum, a tiny public beach, excellent restaurants, and one of the fanciest hotels in the world, Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc. Easy to get to via train from Nice. BTW, "gypset" is offensive.
posted by wnissen at 4:35 PM on September 3, 2019

Response by poster: @Winessen - thanks for the reminder and tips. For what its worth, I do have genes and ancestry that matches those of Romani descent and grew up with a handcrafted (by my artist father) "Gypsy" wagon in our backyard.

@doublelune - thanks for the tips!
posted by specialk420 at 5:18 PM on September 3, 2019

Best answer: Provence:

• Cassis - calanques, eat bouillabaisse, Pastis et Compagnie
• Marseille - Mucem, Undartground
• Les Baux de Provence - Carrières de Lumières and Château des Baux de Provence
• Avignon - Les Luminessences D'Avignon at Palais des Papes, Les Halles, Jardin des Doms, Ginette et Marcel tartines, Airbnb
• Abbey Notre-Dame de Senanque
• Pont du Gard
• St Rémy market
• Fontaine-de-Vaucluse - Vallis Clausa paper mill
• Roussillon ochre trail, Gordes viewpoint

Bon voyage !
posted by eyeball at 9:46 AM on September 5, 2019

Response by poster: Thank you @eyeball
posted by specialk420 at 4:00 PM on September 6, 2019