Cote D'Azur

[JtS]

The missus and I are flying into Toulon and flying out of Grenoble 6 days later, with the idea of seeing Toulon, Marseille, Montpellier & Grenoble.

Any hints or tips?

What was that hotel dalliance liked?

[ursus arctos]

Cote D'Azur

Hmm, this is a huge topic and I think some sense of direction would be helpful.

Toulon is primarily a naval base, are you sure that you want to stay there? And Montpellier and Marseille are in opposite directions from Toulon, which will complicate travel a bit. Even from Marseille, the trip to Grenoble will involve a change and take four or five hours.

Have you ruled out the more traditional "French Riviera" places? Nice, Antibes, Cannes, St. Tropez, Beaulieu-sur-Mer, Menton, etc? Have you considered more "Provence" type places like Aix, Cagnes, Vence, etc?

Basically, what would like to do/see?

[JtS]

Cote D'Azur

Right, it's kind of a scouting mission to look for places we could possibly move to in a few years time. It would be nice to be in a largeish city (I'm a london geezer after all) but accessible to the Alps in winter for snowboarding.

The general idea was fly in to Toulon, mid afternoon, spend the night there, then drive over to Marseille, spend a night or two there, then drive over to Montpellier, spend a night there, then drive up to Grenoble, stopping in Avignon for lunch or something.

[ursus arctos]

Cote D'Azur

Ah, that helps a lot (and I didn't realise that you had a car).

That's pretty much it for "largeish cities" in that triangle. And I don't think I would change anything in broad outline, and all four places are quite different. You would have to go further east to Nice to hit the next one, and you probably don't have sufficient time. Avignon is historic, arty, and studenty; Nimes is more the "real city" in the vicinity (though still one with very impressive Roman ruins in the middle of downtown), so it might make sense to stop there instead.

Putting Grenoble aside, I always think of the two biggest cities with easy access to the French Alps as being Lyon and Geneva. Two other interesting smaller cities in the Savoie are Chambery and Annecy, which aren't that far from Grenoble and worth a look.

[dalliance]

Cote D'Azur

There's not a huge amount to Marseille to be honest though the beaches are nice. An interesting place to stay is Le Corbusier's Unite d'Habitation Hotel, one of his first ever social housing designs. It's not luxurious (or expensive) but is a fascinating place to see.

I've never been to Nimes but everyone speaks well of it. Montpellier is lovely and has a great hotel / restaurant called 'Le Jardin Des Sens'. the restaurant has three Michelin stars and is considered one of the top twenty in the world.

Avignon and Aix-En-Provence are both worth a visit, though perhaps easier to get to on a short TGV trip from Marseille than by car. Wonderful places to stay and eat there are La Mirande (Avignon) and the Villa Gallici (Aix).

[linus]

Cote D'Azur

In Marseille, you might like to do the Calanques, the rugged white cliff coastline outside of town, accessible mainly via hiking. It's quite gorgeous, some of the most beautiful coasts in France, and a good hike will be nice since you will be doing all that driving.

You might also want to check out Toulouse down the line as another potential candidate for relocation, it is not close to the Alps, but the Pyrennees are nearby. Pleasant city with good food, good economy and a large European expat community.

[Zombie]

Cote D'Azur

Another vote for Nimes here - I just love this place. It's got a good pedestrian-sized city centre, yet doesn't have as many tourists you might think it deserves (I assume they're all in Avignon, which has perfected the art of parting you from your tourist euro/dollar)

[Etienne]

Cote D'Azur

Montpellier is supposed to be the place with the best quality of living in France right now.

Nimes is probably a better choice to live than Avignon, though Avignon is gorgeous and its proximity to Nimes is a major plus point.

Toulouse is fab too.