In this post, I’m sharing our itinerary while we were visiting the French Rivera: where we went, for how long and what we did while we were there.
If you’d like to see our trip in action, you can watch the “FRANCE” highlight on my Instagram page. Click here to see!
Mon – Wed: Le Rouret.
We left on a Sunday evening out of the Atlanta airport and flew nonstop to Paris, arriving early Monday morning. From there, we caught a flight to Nice, which is on the southern coast of France. Once we arrived at the airport, we headed straight for the rental car area and picked up the car we had reserved through a company called Sixt. We packed up the car and drove the 35-40 minutes to our first Airbnb in the village of Le Rouret.
There, we stayed two nights and got out first taste of France. I loved starting our trip off here because it was quiet and the pace of our surroundings was slow. It was the perfect refuge after a long day and a half of traveling. Our hosts were amazing – so kind, helpful and hospitable. The Airbnb we chose was a small cottage located on a large residential property – something akin to a pool house, but we had plenty of privacy. I would stay there again in a heartbeat!
What We Did
While we were staying in Le Rouret, we did two notable things: ate at a Michelin star restaurant called Le Clos St Pierre and visited the medieval town of St. Paul de Vence.
Our meal at Clos St Pierre was truly incredible. It was one of those places where the menu is set for the evening and you’re served a three or four course meal that you’ll be dreaming about for weeks.
The little village of St. Paul de Vence was the perfect introduction to French culture and history. It was so picturesque, the people were super friendly and it was full of the cutest shops, restaurants beautiful art galleries.
On our last night in Le Rouret, we drove over to the little town of Valbonne where we had dinner at a delicious spot called Cafe des Arcades. It had the most beautiful outdoor seating area, but we sat inside due to the weather. It was cute inside too and the food was fantastic. Garrett had their muscles and I tried the escargot. We then shared their truffle pizza, which was divine. Highly recommend!
Wed – Thrs: Cannes, Nice
Cannes
The morning we left Le Rouret, we drove south to Cannes and spent a couple of hours having drinks, walking around and then had lunch before driving east to Nice. Cannes was beautiful. A seaside town on the bay with lots of restaurants along the beach and tons of shops and cute alleyways. It was just a quick trip into this famous beach town, but I’m glad we stopped in!
Nice
Our Airbnb in Nice was right behind the Port of Nice and was in a great location to walk to everything! We were in the town of Nice for the second part of Wednesday and all of Thursday so, a day and a half – and I’d say that was a good amount of time. There’s lots to do and see in Nice, but after spending the entire time we were there walking throughout the city, we felt satisfied that we’d gotten a great idea of what Nice had to offer.
We walked along the coast, explored the shopping, stopped into the museum of modern art, sat in the square with a demi bottle of rose to people watch, had drinks on the beach, saw (and smelled) the most elaborate flower market, ate at several different restaurants and climbed the steps at Castle Hill that gave the most amazing scenic view of the city and the harbor. We packed a lot in during our day and a half – which is why we felt confident in our decision to head off to Monaco and Eze on Friday.
Friday: Monaco and Eze.
We weren’t originally planning on visiting these two places, but we had the itch to explore outside of Nice on Friday. It was a short drive to Monaco from Nice – maybe 20 minutes or so. Monaco was beautiful. Lots of shopping and had a laidback, coastal vibe to it. We parked at the harbor, walked around the city and then stopped and had lunch at Les Pearls de Monte Carlo before leaving. Y’all, I HIGHLY recommend this restaurant. It’s literally right on the water and had the most delicious seafood we’d had all trip!
The Town of Eze
On our way back to Nice from Monaco, we stopped in the little town of Eze. It’s very small but the main attraction is well worth the stop. This is were we saw Le Jardin Exotique, which was absolutely incredible. The garden itself was beautiful, but the views it lent as you climbed toward the top were breathtaking. There was also an old historic church that gave you the chills when you walked around the inside.
And here is where I’ll leave this post, friends! I will share our trip to Paris in it’s own post in the next few days 🙂 Let me know if you have any questions about anything or would like me to elaborate on any part of our trip! I’m happy to add info if you need 🙂 Thanks for reading!!
Pin this post for later!
Want to refer back to our trip to the South of France later? Pin this post for safekeeping!
