I don’t think you’ll have trouble with lodging with a small child and I would stay away from the major chains if possible. The non-budget chains are usually over-priced compared to private hotels. The budget chains like Ibis can be unfriendly to children. Ibis generally has a two person to a room limit even if it’s a relatively large room with 2 double beds and the extra person is a small child. There are wonderful smaller hotels and short-term rental apartments or villas (better choice??) in the area. Self-catering at least part of the time with the abundance of wonderful fresh food has some appeal for me. As long as you specify what you need (crib?) by e-mail or fax in advance I don’t see any problems. In some ways it’s actually tougher with an older child because true triples, with a 3rd bed that’s big enough for a tween or teen and adequate room for three people to move around, are relatively rare.

Antibes would be a great choice for your beach stay. As for off the beach, we stayed in La Gaude in the Alpes Maritime which was a delightful small town, with walkable small (very) market, green grocer, butcher, tabac/tavern and restaurant/pizzeria, walkable medieval streets (most too narrow for a car), friendly locals who would love your child and a couple of playgrounds. However, it certainly wouldn’t have anywhere that sold milk at 4:00 AM — frankly, the 24/7 supermarket or big box is pretty much non-existent in Europe other than a few deli/mini market type places in or near airport or train station.

Restaurants do not generally cater to small children — no crayons, crackers to munch, kids menus or high chairs. Unless you want to eat every meal in McDonalds or hold your child on your lap for every meal look into one of those fold-up seats that hangs from the table or one that straps to a chair. For example: http://www.alibaba.c…

Spend some time looking at location of any lodging. For example, La Gaude refers to both an area and the village itself. Some lodgings with La Gaude addresses could be quite isolated, while others would be in the heart of the village.

PS Milk may not be much of a problem. What’s sold in Europe is usually the ultra-pasteurized milk that can be stored at room temperature.

Thank you! That is all terrific advice. Is La Gaude a good pace to explore Provence? It looks like it is much closer to the coast. Do you have any advice/experience with gites?

La Gaude is in the Alpes Maritime, but La Gaude, Vence, St. Paul and St. Jeannet are all very similar to the villages in Provence,. However, they are all relatively small and not on the rail line, so not good places to explore Provence without a car. While there’s good bus service, the small size of these towns and the complexity of train + bus may mean they aren’t good choices for you. Aix-en-Provence, St. Auban and Veynes are all in Provence and have centrally located SNCF stations. Digne might be a good choice, but the SNCF station is on the edge of town. There’s a Chemin de fer de Provence station in Digne — that’s the narrow gauge scenic rail line that serves some of the smaller towns in Provence. There’s good service from Nice, but not from the main train station. The narrow gauge station is about a 20 minute walk from the SNCF station — again, a complexity that might not be fun with a two year old.

Check Ville Franche sur Mer for a place to stay on the Riviera. The train station is practically on the beach, it’s a nice beach (coarse sand) and there are lots of good restaurants, etc. in a small space. It may be a slightly cheaper place to stay.

How are you getting to/from Southern France?

Have a look at the resorts from Pierre et Vacances. I especially enjoyed this one: Les Restanques. It’s near St. Tropez and very gorgeous. If you book it outside the French school vacations, prices can be reasonable. So go in september, much cheaper and not as hot.

http://www.pierreetv…

The little houses with a garden are the nicest.

A car would be nice though, because you want to travel around a bit. Keep in mind that many beaches are not sand but stone/ pebble beaches.

Bring your own travel chair with you. When my children where smaller, I would breng a cloth type hanging chair with me that you could hang on a table. Ideal for restaurants in France and Italy!

I used to have one of those cloth type hanging seats and it was great. I’m not sure they sell them anymore as older kids could push off against the table pedestal with their feet and launch themselves (and chair) across the room.

I found them very safe

This is the one:

http://foto.koopjesk…

Excellent advice from oldlady. I second Antibes. It’s smaller, quieter, and makes for a nice family vacation. Of course, I do highly recommend renting a car and taking daytrips.

Just to nitpick a little…the Riviera is a part of Provence.

Have fun!

Antibes has a sand beach.

Cil, that’s not the hotel that’s demolished, is it?

Yeah, I was with him. We had rooms reserved and everything, and when we got there, the place was demolished (I thought Herr told you). The address is 6 avenue Maréchal Reille…we found 4 and we found 8, but we couldn’t find 6. Between 4 and 8 was a demolished building, and it didn’t occur to us that that was it, until I asked a local. We all got a good laugh, lol.

(for newbies reading this: when you backpack, you gotta have a good sense of humor and be resourceful. We ended up staying somewhere else that had spare rooms for one night, and spent our second night at another place that had spare rooms for the 2nd night)

Apparently, Hotel Méditeranée’s website is still up and running. The owners also have a hotel in Paris (Hotel La Serre), but no where on their website have they indicated that the Antibes hotel is gone.

Like elsewhere in Europe (Spain, Greece, and I’ve also heard of this happening in the Netherlands), prices in France have shot up since I lived there in 2001. Back then, eating out at a restaurant in Paris cost roughly the same as it does in my hometown Chicago. It now costs considerably more. What used to amount to a $12 meal can easily go $18-20 now. This is due in part to the exhange rate which is very different now than it was in 2001: the dollar now buys less in euros (and euro-affiliated currencies before the euro became hard cash in 2002). But it’s also due in part to the rise in cost of living in the euro-zone countries. Particularly the countries that were cheaper (Spain and Greece) are no longer cheap. France was moderate in terms of prices, but has also become considerable more expensive.

Having said that, forking over $100 for a 3-person lunch…you’re not going to encounter that anywhere. Prices aren’t that ridiculous in France, and you can certainly limit your costs if you eat breakfast and lunch out of supermarkets, and go out to nice restaurants (for $16-20 meals) only for dinner. France isn’t cheap, but it’s not that expensive. It’s still much, much more affrodable than Britain or the Scandinavian nations.

And to be further nit-picky, whether or not the Riviera is part of Provence depends on how you look at it. Provence (the actual department of Alpes de Haute Provence) and the two departments I would consider “the Riviera” are all among the 6 departments in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region, so maybe technically all a part of Provence on the “new” administrative division system. The traditional province of Provence, and thus what many refer to as “Provence,” does not include the Riviera.

The historical region of Provence does to a very large extent correspond with the modern-day Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region. The entire Riviera falls within historical Provence, with the exception of the easternmost extremity: the eastern half of Alpes-Maritimes department, which includes Nice and encircles Monaco. You can tell the difference in architecture: Antibes, Grasse, and Cannes are quintessentially Provence, while Menton and the old quarter of Nice are more Italianate, having been annexed from the Kingdom of Sardinia in 1860. The concept of “Riviera”/“Côte d’Azur” is a relatively recent concept with the advent of mass tourism.

Since we’re both nitpicking.

I can’t stand LTB…he hates to be perceived as wrong.

luv_the_beach wrote:

Yeah, I was with him. We had rooms reserved and everything, and when we got there, the place was demolished (I thought Herr told you). The address is 6 avenue Maréchal Reille…we found 4 and we found 8, but we couldn’t find 6. Between 4 and 8 was a demolished building, and it didn’t occur to us that that was it, until I asked a local. We all got a good laugh, lol.

(for newbies reading this: when you backpack, you gotta have a good sense of humor and be resourceful. We ended up staying somewhere else that had spare rooms for one night, and spent our second night at another place that had spare rooms for the 2nd night)

Apparently, Hotel Méditeranée’s website is still up and running. The owners also have a hotel in Paris (Hotel La Serre), but no where on their website have they indicated that the Antibes hotel is gone.

OMG
I just found this post while doing some research.
The Herr never told me this, in fact I think he told me the place was fine, but I think I maybe got this place mixed up with another one. Did you guys also stay in Arles? I think I made a recommendation for a place there, as well.

Cil, the Arles place was very, very nice. Great location too.