9 days in southern France

Hi,

I%26#39;m about to buy a ticket flying in and out of Nice for 9 days starting April 6th. I have been to Paris and Marseille and am eager to explore this new (for me) part of France. I want to see as much as possible, including cities, beaches, museums, Roman ruins and maybe even go into Italy a bit. I definitely won%26#39;t feel comfortable driving so will depend on public transportation. I would really appreciate any help with planning an itinerary for my 9 days. I was told that I should stay in Nice and take day trips. Does this make sense? I%26#39;m on a somewhat limited budget, probably more hostels than hotels. Also, I realize that this will be during Easter and I hope that this won%26#39;t limit my options too much. Thank you for your help and expertise!

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South of France is Great (i was born there....that%26#39;s help)

there are thousand of things to do

- For the beaches : best is the Riviera, not necessarily Nice (which is nice but crowded...) better be around Antibes, Juans les pins (par parties alrs or slighter more on the west (Toulon for example)

- Museum and History (Arles, Provence in general, Aix en Provence (best of All in my opinion)

Personally i would not recommend staying Nice as it is really on the east part, better stay Antibes, Grasse or if you are looking for more authenticity go to Draguignan (the real provence)

for more info there is the french tourist office http://in.franceguide.com/

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Nice is the bets place for a budget trip- plenty of hostels and cheap and cheerful budget hotels

Also Nice is the main transport hub for the area and transport by bus and train is cheap.

Bus journeys cost one euro and will take you to monaco, menton or into the mountains

You can easily base yourself in Nice for ninedays and take day trips to say- Eze village, Villefranche, Vence, St paul de vence, cap ferrat, le turbie,

by train de pignes entrevaux or annot

train de merveilles- tende, la brigue, sospel

coastal trail - antibes, cannes Ventimiglia and sanremo in Italy

roman remains - Nice has its own small amphitheatre , bath complex and habitations at Cimiez plus archaeological musuem

la Turbie- Trophée des Alpes, or Trophy of Augustus is a unique structure -35 metres high with small museum and great views over the coast/monaco, plus nice little unpretentious mediaeval village

ventimiglia has a Roman theatre that is still used for plays and an archaeological museum and archaological site

Vence has some sarcophaguses and inscriptions and pillars all around the mediaeval old town and remains of an aqueduct you can see between st paul and vence if you take

Antibes-the ramparts are partly roman but reworked by the miliraty architect Vauban. The 12th centrury chateau grimaldi has some roman bits and pieces though its principally a picasso and modern art museum now. Antibes alos has an archaological museum

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Thank you both for your great advice! I%26#39;ve been reading some guidebooks to try and figure out where I want to go and when. There are just so many places to go and I%26#39;m only in the country for 10 days. I%26#39;ve worked out an itinerary that I%26#39;m hoping you can please look at and let me know if it sounds reasonable with all the bus/train travel that will be involved! Thank you again for all of your advice!

Tuesday: Arrive in Nice and see city

Wednesday: Villefranche and St. Jean Cap Ferrat

Thursday: Vence and St. Paul de Vence

Friday: Avignon (travel on Friday or Thursday evening?)

Saturday: Nimes and Pont de Gard (sleep in Avignon?)

Sunday: Orange and Vaison la Romaine and Arles? (sleep in Avignon?)

Monday: Aix (market on Sat?) and travel back to Nice

Tuesday: Antibes, Cannes, St. Tropez

Wednesday: Eze and Monaco and Menton (too much?)

Thursday: fly back to US

I%26#39;ve tried to follow the order of travel given in guidebooks but this order makes it impossible for me go to the big markets in Aix, Arles, Vaison la Romaine and the rest. So, any advice on the order in which I travel to the different cities would be very helpful. I%26#39;m also not so sure about the time it takes to get places and how long to see everything so I may be planning too much for each day.

If there are cities that I have not included but you think would make for a better visit please let me know!

Also, Easter will take place during my trip and I was wondering if everything would be closed or if public transportation would be effected.

Thank you very very very much!!!

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