We took advantage of the summer of 2017 to get to know two more regions of our beloved France, French Riviera (Côte D'azur) and the Provence. 

Those who follow us know that since we moved to Europe in 2014, we have tried to go to France every year to celebrate our dating anniversary in July, but in 2017 we could only go in August and we took the opportunity to celebrate our dating anniversary, Celo's birthday and the wonderful news of a baby in the oven. <3

(Update: this annual romance goal in France was before we had kids… lol)

Route on the map

The itinerary for this trip passed through the places below:

Some details:

• You pins reds were our stops to sleep.
• You pins blues were the places we passed through but didn't sleep.
• We drove clockwise from Nice.

Detailed Itinerary

• The schedule below was not 100% planned, but it was carried out:

To tell you everything about this trip, I will divide the posts as follows:

• Summary of 10 days in the south of France – see details here
• 3 days in Nice, Monaco and surroundings – see details here
• 4 days on the beaches of the South of France – see details here
• 2 days in the Provence region – see details here

Car Rental

We always prefer to rent a car to make these week-long trips with several people. stops, but after reading on some blogs about day trips from Nice to Monaco by train and bus, we decided to spend the first weekend of the trip without a car. We walked around Nice and went by train/bus to Monaco and I think if I had to do it all over again, I would do it exactly the same. On Monday we picked up the car from Europcar, which we rented through website from the Rentalcars, and we continued our journey to the long-awaited beaches of the French Riviera.

Accommodation Côte D'Azur, Provence and Monaco

We try not to change hotels too much on our trips, but since the route was quite long at 10 nights, our optimized itinerary included 5 hotels, which were in the following cities/municipalities:

• Nice – We stayed at a hotel with an excellent location, close to the beach and the trendy streets, but without breakfast. The room was recently renovated, but you could tell that the hotel was not super new. I still recommend it. The name of the hotel is Club Inn and when we went the rating was 9.0. Click here to see more details about it.
• Frejus –  Our hotel was practically on the beach and we only had to cross a street to be there in that wonderful water. Comfortable room, cozy atmosphere and best of all, a Michelin restaurant inside the hotel, with delicious meals (including breakfast). Very friendly owners too! The name is Cap Riviera and his rating was 9.1 when we went. More details here at this link.
• La Ciotat – We stayed in Hotel Corniche du Liouquet (note 8.8 – more details at this link.), which is located on a very remote road, in the middle of nature, and despite having been recently renovated and being all modern, I didn't fall in love with it. I found the daily rate expensive (130 euros without breakfast) and the service poor, since some of the staff didn't even speak English.
• Trets – This city is in the middle of nowhere and has nothing very interesting, being just a strategic stop to sleep. The hotel Citotel Hôtel de la Vallée de L'Arc It was tidy, but there was no receptionist after 8pm. I found the daily rate expensive for what it offered (we paid 79 euros without breakfast) and the 8.3 rating questionable. You can see more information at this link.
• Bagnols-en-Foret – Another strategic stop to sleep, but it was a very pleasant surprise! The owners of the house are very friendly, the house is cute and we even had a very tasty breakfast with them. On the Bike Lit is the name of our bed & breakfast, with a score of 9.6. See more details at this link.

Restaurants in Côte D'Azur, Provence and Monaco

France has a reputation for good food, and I mean good! We ate very well during our trip and I'll tell you more about the restaurants in the posts detailed information about the places we visited. The only thing I would like to emphasize here is that restaurant opening hours are quite annoying, especially if you want to have lunch later because you had a great breakfast.

Our routine is usually to wake up at 9am, have breakfast at 10am, go out for a walk, have lunch around 3pm/4pm and only have dinner around 8pm/9pm. If you're on our team, forget about that schedule in France! Restaurant lunch hours are very short, usually ending at 2pm, and dinner doesn't last very late either.. We had some trouble because of this simply because we didn't plan properly, but here's a warning so you don't end up in trouble too.

Summary of the Trip to the Côte D'Azur, Provence and Monaco

This trip was one of the few we did without a well-planned itinerary, precisely because the goal was to rest and see how I would cope while pregnant. I think I liked the slower pace of it so much that I'm seriously considering adopting it for the next ones...lol. Here's a summary of what we saw, did and liked the most:

• Monaco – This principality is charming! The streets are well-kept, the buildings are charming, the shops and restaurants are very attractive and the fancy cars driving around will leave anyone speechless. It’s a lot of money in one place! We visited the Palace, which left a little to be desired inside, but it has a spectacular view, and we liked the area around it. We walked from the Palace to the famous Monte Carlo casino and only went inside. hall entrance fee, because to get to the gaming tables we had to pay almost 40 euros. We walked around the streets more, including one of the most famous curves of the Monaco F1 circuit and then took the train back to Nice.
• On the train journey between Monaco and Nice, we stopped at Villefranche-sur-Mer for dinner and it was super nice. The place is lovely!
• The city of Eze It has a very interesting garden and a beautiful view of the region. We went there by car, driving along the beautiful road between Nice and Monaco, but you can also go by bus.
• Nice It's Rio de Janeiro without the noise, violence, trash on the streets and rude people (sorry, cariocas, but these are the most striking features of Rio to me, besides the natural beauty, of course). It has a wonderful waterfront with turquoise blue sea and chic buildings, a park with a spectacular view of the city, a Russian Orthodox church that we found to be beautiful and an area with pedestrian-only streets that are a delight to stroll around.
• St Paul de Vence is one of the oldest medieval villages in the region and is a must see! The streets are beautiful with their little shops selling expensive products, but it's impossible not to be enchanted by the place.
• On the way between our hotel in Fréjus and Cannes we passed pther a road by the sea with red calanques beautiful. We stopped several times to take photos and this took away some of the time we had reserved for Nice, but what a beautiful place!
• Cannes surprised me! It also reminds me a bit of Rio de Janeiro, but the amount of expensive cars and stores was what caught my attention the most. The beach was crowded, both the free part and the beach clubs, and the restaurants too, even with the high prices. It seemed to me the point, he knows?
• We went to Saint Tropez by boat from Sainte-Maxime, following the tips of our hotel owner, and it was the best thing we could have done. The boat ride was super nice and we loved seeing the city from the sea, with all those yachts and boats in the marina. What a beautiful view! The streets, buildings and houses are old and walking through the alleys is a very pleasant walk.
• We then stopped at Port Grimaud, which, despite being less well-known than its neighbor Saint Tropez, left me much more enchanted! The city is full of canals, bridges and houses that look like dolls and the energy of the place is really cool. I recommend a visit!
• One of the most beautiful beaches we visited in the region was recommended by a friend: Saint-Clair in Le-Lavandou. Long stretch of sand (no more rocks!!!), calm turquoise blue sea water, some restaurants on the sand and easy parking. We spent a lot of time relaxing and enjoying the sun and ended up not getting to know any of the cool restaurants, so be warned that lunch time is until 2pm!
• We went to dinner in a town called Saint-Cyr-sur-Mer, which was close to our hotel, and we loved the complex with cool restaurants with all kinds of food. A cozy atmosphere with nice music and that dim light, you know? If you're staying nearby, you already know where to go to eat!
• Our last day on the French Riviera was the one that surprised us the most, to tell the truth. We went to Cassis to go hiking through the region's famous calanques, but we discovered at the time that the trails were closed due to the high risk of fire – it's very dry there – and the strong winds. The solution was to buy a boat trip at the city's marina to see the region's calanques, which are simply wonderful! I'll tell you more about the trip later. post detailed, wait! After the boat trip, we ended the day with a flourish, resting on a delightful beach called The Beast, which, luckily for us, was in front of the parking lot of the same name where we left the car. It is made of rocks – yes, you will have to wear flip-flops the whole time – but the water is calm and clear.
• We stopped at Aix-en-Provence, The main city in the Provence region and we loved it! A larger medieval city with many charming streets, shops, restaurants, churches and squares. It was a great place to walk around… we were lucky enough to arrive while a food market was still open, so we were able to buy some delicious snacks.
• We really wanted to meet you Gorges du Verdon, which is a canyon with a turquoise blue river in the middle, simply wonderful, but the problem is that the road was too winding for my taste and pregnant stomach. We ended up getting to know the canyon just above, with a few stops for beautiful views, but we want to come back one day to take a boat down there and sail down that wonderful river inside the valley. Take a look look at google images here for you to be enchanted too.

The trip in photos

Read all about this trip in the links below

• Summary of 10 days in the south of France – this post!
• 3 days in Nice, Monaco and surroundings – see details here
• 4 days on the beaches of the South of France – see details here
• 2 days in the Provence region – see details here

Book your tours securely below