Côte d’Azur

Côte d’Azur

Côte d’Azur and the French Riviera have no official boundaries, but I’m following the most common definitions – from Saint-Tropez to the Italian border. Our experiences have been very mixed – expect lots of traffic, heavily built up cities, and moments of calm.

This post is organized west to east – Saint-Tropez, Frejus, Saint Raphaël, Cannes, Nice, St. Jean Cap Ferrat.

Saint-Tropez

I didn’t love the town itself (really hectic, tons of traffic, felt really touristy.) I’d go into Saint-Tropez for a meal, or perhaps some shopping, but not make it my base.

The peninsula itself, however, was stunning and we’d happily return for more. I’d give this area 2-3 days for a relaxed visit.

We started at **Cabane Bambou on the outer edges of Pampelonne Beach – a postcard worthy beach club. It’s expensive, but the setting is great, and the food was excellent (try the vongole pasta). On the sea side, they have comfortable cabanas.

From there, we moved to the beautiful hilltop town of Gassin, with its stunning views – picture the rolling hills of Napa, with gorgeous blue waters beyond, views in every direction. It’s a small village with adorable narrow streets, and a large area with 4-5 restaurants overlooking Saint-Tropez. The locals flock to Cafe Perché, facing west, for their sunset cocktails.

We stayed at the gourmet restaurant/hotel, **Bello Visto, which has a few rooms.

The hotel: really nice, we’d stay here again. Very comfortable bed, great views, excellent and friendly service. Nice breakfast. Parking nearby on the edge of town.
The meal: almost perfect, but they got behind in the kitchen and it dragged on too long, and our main dishes were not amazing (appetizers were great). I think it was a glitch; we’d try again.

Frejus

We visited the impressive **Cathedral of Saint-Leonce. Frejus was one of the first centres of Christianity in France and the baptistry dates from the 5th century. It’s part of a larger cathedral dating from the 12th century – as these things go, there are a lot of layers in the structure to explore. It’s pretty, and worth visiting.

We also visited the **Musée archéologique – part of the same complex, and for 3 euros, why not? It’s small, but has some interesting local finds.

Frejus is perhaps not worth a stop (for people less committed to historic church touring) – it’s a sprawling, working class small city, but if you’re into Roman ruins, you could spend a half day looking at the various remains. It’s not where I’d choose to stay on holiday.

Saint-Raphaël

To summarize, Saint-Raphaël was okay, but not great enough to return to. I think it’s all about finding your place that has the right amount of calm in an area that is incredibly busy and built up, with horrible traffic. The beaches are just okay, lacking the drama you find in other areas along the coast.

We spent two nights at *Hotel-Restaurant La Villa Mauresque – a historic property. Originally the home of a doctor who built in “orientalist style” according to the times, it’s now a smallish hotel (22 rooms) with exceptional grounds. I loved the setting, including the two pools and the easy access to the sea. The rooms are odd – not exactly bad odd, but decorated in a very dated style and configured in weird ways. Dinner at the restaurant (Le Bougainvillier) was bad – the view is great, overlooking the pool and ocean, but the menu is very limited, and on the day we reserved, they were out of nearly half of the mains. We walked out and ate elsewhere. Excellent breakfast. In summary, while this place claims to be a 5 star, and certainly isn’t cheap, it’s not living up to the label.

Galen and I debated if we’d recommend coming here and concluded no, which is a shame. We’d try somewhere else next time.

We had two meals in the cute port just to the west of Villa Mauresque (there are four options, and if you keep walking, you’ll find several more within a reasonable distance).

**L’Etoile was the more casual of the two – we had the Linguine alla Vongole and a Burger, both excellent. It had a local crowd, a lot of seating, and affordable pricing.
**Bistrot Loudet was high end, seafood only, and very good. Excellent service, and they were quite nice to us – even after we showed up late, with a sign on the door saying ‘complet.’

San Raphaël (the town) itself was interesting – a natural port with a long historical record; today a touristic area with a surprisingly cute historical old town – for history lovers, this is where Napoleon Bonaparte and his forces arrived by ship from Egypt in 1799, prior to his coup d’état in Paris. During World War II, on August 15, 1944, it was one of the sites of a beach landing in Operation Dragoon, the Allied invasion of southern France, which you can explore at the surprisingly interesting **Saint-Raphael Archaeological museum, which includes war history (emphasis on the Tuskegee Airmen), a Romanesque church, and an overview of the Roman finds of the area.

*Restaurant Excelsior in the port was perfunctory at best, but it was clearly a popular local destination and had good people watching. It’s a busy area.

On the eastern edges of Saint Raphaël, lunch and a long afternoon by the pool at **Hôtel Les Roches Rouges was great. This is another Baumier property that I have mixed feelings about (probably wouldn’t stay here myself, but I can see why it’s popular with Americans). It’s an older property, restored to hipster glory, right on the sea.

There’s a sea-fed pool, food at the onsite restaurant (Estelo) is expensive but tasty, and the staff really couldn’t have been nicer, especially after they realized we could speak French (which they found shocking, which says something about the typical crowd). We weren’t charged, as non-guests, for lounge chairs by the pool.

My target space next time would be between Calanque des Anglais to the west and on the east, L’air du Temps on the outskirts of Theoule sur mer (no further, as Theoule sur mer itself turns into a suburb of Cannes, and not in a good way). You start to head out of the chaos, and the beaches shift towards beautiful, rocky, dramatic cliffs. I liked the look of Hôtel de Charme Relais des Calanques Cote d’azur (though unclear if it has a website, would require some effort to book).

Cannes

Another town I don’t like – Nice is better. However ***Astoux et Brun has some of the best oysters I’ve ever had.

Vence

We just barely scratched the surface of Vence (enough to want to return for a longer visit). The odd (in a good way) **Cathedral of Our Lady of the Nativity was our main stop, including the famous Chagall mural.

Nice

Like most of the coastal south of France, I do not love Nice. However, it’s better than Monaco and there are worse places to hangout at a beach club and drink cocktails. Make a point of staying in the old town.

Things we’ve tried:

***Palais Saleya Boutique Hôtel: Excellent location and very elegant, spare decor. Our room had a washing machine and kitchenette.
***Castel Plage: This is a very Euro beach club, but in a good way. Clean, private beach, high end, good food.
The *Promenade des Anglais to the west of the old town is highly billed and entirely skippable – it’s a highway experience with aging hotels and bad 1970s condo experiences. Stick with the old town and port area.
***Lavomatique Restaurant: a hipster choice, but quite good and friendly