Skip St. Tropez.  The Côte d’Azur is not a good winter destination.  St. Tropez is a lovely town; but its main draw is sun and beach.  However, it’s cold in December. 



Here’s a good itinerary:

Arrive Milan, 1-2 days
Torino 2-3 days, plus day trip to Bardonecchia if you’re interested in skiing
Annecy or Dijon, 2 days
Paris for remainder of your trip

Another option:

Arrive Rome, 1-2 days
Florence, 1-2 days
Annecy, Dijon, or Grenoble, 2-3 days
Paris for remainder of your trip



You’ll be fine.  You’re not going to Afghanistan.  You’re going to France and Italy.  If you have to ask about your safety in these countries, then you’re being ridiculously cautious.  You do need to practice common sense, and the same precautions you would at home.  Often times, tourists leave common sense behind when traveling; and many do not have a back up plan should they lose their money/wallet. But just as an FYI, you’re even safer in these countries than in the USA or Canada.



Standing out as a tourist is not a big deal.  France and Italy each receive 60 million and 40 million tourists respectively (the world’s #1 and #5 tourist destinations, respectively).  They’re used to seeing&nbspeople from all over the world, in every shape and color.  You’re not the first tourist, nor the last, nor the only one.  And in Paris (which has a sizeable non-Europen-descent population), people might not even realize you’re a tourist, unless you speak.

love_the_beach
 
thank you very much for your reply! I really really appreciate it, I must apologise if I seem too overtly paranoid;
 
the 2 options you have suggested are perfect! I am leaning towards option 2 at the moment.. what is the best mode of travel from one place to the other? should I book in advance for transportation?
 
once again, thank you!
 
 

Option 2 does seem better. Not sure why luv would recommend Milan except that it’s further north (i.e., closer to the mountains). Train is your best bet. You don’t need to book in advance (though I haven’t traveled here in the winter, so someone can check me on that). It would be a good idea to check the timetables in advance though so you know when to arrive at the train station. You can do that while you’re at the station or here:

http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en

I suggested Milan as a city to fly into, and because it’s close to the Alps, and it’s very fast and easy to get to Torino from there. 
 
Another good itinerary would be:
 
Arrive Rome, 2 days
Torino 2-3 days, plus day trip to Bardonecchia if you’re interested in skiing
Annecy or Dijon, 2 days
Paris for remainder of your trip

hey delfrio;
 
thanks very much for that! the website link is particularly useful…
I just realised that the cheapest airtickets from the UK to France is by stopping at St Tropez, Toulon still! is there any recommended way around this? I have checked up the schedule and it takes roughly 12hours to get from toulon to milan!

Which airline is this fare for?  I find it odd that they’re advertising cheap tickets to St. Tropez or Toulon.  Of course, it’s off season…but the volume of flights from Britain to the French Riviera should be drastically reduced this time of the year.

Which airport are you flying out of?

im flying from london to toulon,st tropez via ryanair! or at least planning to!
http://www.ryanair.com/site/EN/cheapflights.php?dest=TLN&base=STN
 

That’s interesting.  London Stansted to St. Tropez for £5 (and I noticed the deal ends today).  It comes to more than £12 if you check in one luggage, plus travel insurance, and all that stuff.  Which is still a very low price.  But here’s the reason why:

Ryanair flies to airports that are far from passengers’ final destinations.  For example, their flights to “Barcelona” are actually to Reus (near Tarragona) or to Girona, both of which are about an hour drive from Barcelona, without traffic.  Ryanair’s flights to “Barcelona” do not take you to Barcelona El Prat International.  With the money you’ll spend to get to Barcelona from either of these towns (which are far beyond the reach of Barcelona’s suburban commuter rail), the total cost may come out cheaper if you just fly into Barcelona El Prat.  In your particular case, we’re looking into flying to Saint Tropez, only to take a ten-hour train ride to Torino or Annecy? 

I’m guessing that few of the people on the London-Saint Tropez flight are actually headed for Saint Tropez.  For most, their final destination is probably either the French or Italian Alps, or other destinations in southeast France.  The Alps are a popular winter destination for Britons, so it’s possible Ryanair has decided to cash in on this.

My advice is: unless you’re interested in Saint Tropez itself which just isn’t a winter destination you should consider flights into Milan or Rome.  You might find good deals.  I looked on Expedia and Orbitz and found a one-way flight for 18 December (I picked a random date) from London Gatwick to Rome Fiumicino for just US$120 on British Airways.  Easyjet’s website has flights from London Gatwick to Rome Ciampino for slightly cheaper than than, at around £45 to £50.  Flights to Milan Linate are £60 for 18 December, but £50 for 17 December.   Depending on your itinerary, flying with BA or EasyJet might be more worth your money, as opposed to flying with Ryanair.

Hope this helps.

If you end up taking the Ryanair offer, we can till work with your itinerary from there.

once again, thank you very much for that luv_the!
 
I decided to book to go to St Tropez still as I really wanna sit by the beach and just relax…I will plan to travel to other states within France and Italy as well by train. Is there a website to book transport online? I have been given quite afew but some of them take shorter than others etc etc. is there a particular “correct” one?
 
thanks everyone for your suggestions! you have been very helpful;

I thought you’d do it.  It was just ridiculously cheap.

Problem now is: with only a week to travel before ending in Paris, many points in Italy will be a little out of the way, such as Rome.  The question now is: what’s priority for you?  Do you still want to sample both countries?  You can still visit Rome, but that means cutting out significant time from France.  Or, if you’re interested, there’s plenty of points of interest in Italy not far from France.

I was thinking you can hang around the French-Italian border area, before heading for Paris.

Here’s a sample itinerary:
[ol][*]Arrive St. Tropez, 2-3 days.  (including day trip(s) to Grasse, Menton, Arles, or Marseille)
[*]Torino, 2-3 days (optional day trip to Bardonecchia or Chiomonte for ski/snowboard)
[*]Annecy or Dijon, 2 days
[*]Paris for the remainder of your holiday[/ol]

Let us know what was the final price you paid for the Ryanair flight.  I’ve never flown with Ryanair, but the airline has been accused of posting misleading prices on its website.  It seemed to me that the price couldn’t exceed £15, taxes included (I pretended I was reserving a seat on the website, and the total cost for me came out at around £14).  But it’s possible that the advertised £5 can become £50 or more.

hey there!
 
yea, it was too cheap to pass off this opportunity! in total, I paid 14pounds! including checking in one bag; I will tell you guys how everything goes! but I have flown ryanair before part of a group tour and everything went well!
 
that was one of the another things that I was wondering about, arriving in St Tropez really makes the travel time to places in Italy rather long. So I was also thinking of spending my time in france…and then coming back to Italy later;
 
what other points of interest are there within the france italy border that you would recommend?
 
thanks heaps again!
 
 

It’s up to you.  If you are from Britain (as opposed to living there temporarily), then you’re so close to Italy…you can always visit Rome on another trip.



What do you have in mind? &nbspersonally, I recommend one of the itineraries I suggested, or something similar.

hey luv_the_beach
 
once again, thank you so much for your recommendations! i’d probably stay in France this time and come back to italy another time. would you have any idea how far toulon is from st tropez, monaco and cannes?

This might help you a little bit with distances (the dropdown changes countries):
Mappy

THANK YOU SO MUCH, EVERYONE!!! esp luv_the_beach; u guys have truly been so helpful and amazing!!
 
I have decided to base myself in toulon after arriving in hyeres airport. you were right about ryanair, the airport is away from actual st tropez…but then again st tropez doesnt have an airport! but anyhow, there are buses from the airport to toulon and st tropez as well.
 
I found a great accomodation just a stone throw away from the toulon train station, so I’ll be making day trips to nice, cannes and st tropez…before heading off to paris!
 
thanks so much again guys, ure all truly so lovely! if you have any more recommendations on particular places or things to see in the above mentioned places…it would be greatly appreciated! u guys rock!

St. Tropez has a tiny tiny airport of its own, I thought maybe this was the airport Ryanair flew too, since Ryanair flies to small, non-busy airports no one has heard of (such as this one).  St Tropez is one of many small&nbsprovincial towns on the Côte d’Azur coast, well-served by the nearby big-city airports: Marseille Provence Int’l Airport and Nice Côte d’Azur Airport, as well as SNCF (French national passneger rail).    Apparently, Ryanair’s fares to “St Tropez” were too Toulon-Hyères airport…just like the Barcelona example I gave you!  In this case, you don’t have a choice, because St. Tropez airport itself doesn’t receive any scheduled flights (it probably receives a few charters, and I’m sure some&nbsprivate jets too).  But if you’re headed to a major city, like Rome, Barcelona, or Paris, it might be cheaper to actually fly to that city’s airports, and not some small provincial airport 100 km away.  I was thinking that St Tropez was that provincial airport Ryanair was flying to, for passengers headed elsewhere.  In any case, the price is ridiculously cheap for a reason.  St Tropez just ain’t a winter destination.  But perhaps you’ll get to see the other side of the Côte d’Azur that summer visitors don’t see: lovely, quintessential Mediterranean towns, during the quiet season.

Interesting point. So what is it? [8D]

 
I meant it’s not a winter destination.  I made the proper revision to my post.

 As you’ve discovered, there is no train to St Tropez! Toulon is a somewhat gritty town (think military base, sailors/marines) but, if you’re interested in seeing a French beach town, Sanary-sur-Mer is only about 5-6km from Toulon in the direction of Marseille. I have friends there, and would otherwise not have known about it, but it’s one of those little gems along the coast, and very easy to reach by local train from Toulon or Marseille. Worth a couple of hours.
  Since your plan is to eventually get to Paris, perhaps go to Aix-en-Provence via Marseille, perhaps Arles/Avignon/Orange, Annecy, Lyon, and Beaune and Dijon . All would be more-or-less on your route to Paris, and you’d get some variety on your trip. If your time is limited, you could choose to stop at fewer places, but each place could be seen in a matter of hours, except for Lyon, which might be worth a whole day, so you could, for example, see several towns within one day (especially Arles and Avignon, and Beaune and Dijon) and still move on towards another town.

luv_the_beach
 
yea, you were right! ryanair is rather tricky, but it was too cheap eh! haha. Indeed st tropez doesnt sound like a winter destination AT ALL, it was so hard to find even one accomodation open over the christmas period! toulon was much easier to find avaliable accomodation. would 40euros per night be a good price to pay for a hotel in toulon? once again, thanks for your insights! and I do hope I will be able to experience quaint lovely cities. haha.
 
 
basie
 
thanks for that! never thought of that option as well! to break up my journey to paris by having stops along the way…but would that make the train journey slightly more expensive than a straight trip? anyhow, it does sound very appealing. when you say toulon is a gritty town, in what aspect do you refer to? any advise you could offer?
 
cheerios guys!!

just one last question! what and which are the best beaches would you recommend for a nice day to just lie down and relax on? i really wanna do that, even though its technically winter…haha.

 
It’s hard to find lodging because most hotels close for the winter, although it’s possible there’s more toursts in Christmas-New Year’s season than the rest of winter.
 
Basie pointed out that St Tropez has no train station (I didn’t know that).  As Basie suggests, you’ll might as well skip St Tropez.  It’s a tiny, tiny town.  If you want to add a big-name to your itinerary, there’s [much larger] Cannes.  If you still want to go to St Tropez, the nearest train station is at St Raphaël.  But Basie suggested many excellent alternatives.
 
[]  Haha I realize we’re driving you crazy.  When you taking off?

heya!
 
nah, ure not driving me crazy! im driving myself crazy!! haha. anyhoo, I am leaving on the 15th of december from London! really excitied!
And ive decided to alter my plans! after arrival, i’ll take a bus to Toulon and then take a train up to Cannes to base my stay there instead! the accomodation is much cheaper, 20euros a night! will be doing day trips around nice etc. might skip st tropez as u recommended.
 
thanks again guys! and no recommendation on great beaches in the area?

There’s great beaches all along the Côte d’Azur.  But don’t expect the entire coast to be one long uninterrupted sandy beach.  There’s great sandy beach, then cliffs, then sandy beach again, and so on…  Pretty standard (and scenic) Mediterranean landscape. Each town on the coast has a sandy beach (or two or three) of its own.  Nice and Cannes have some long stretches of sandy beach. 
 
Since it’s not beach weather, then I would suggest a beach that’s pretty to look at.  The view from the hill-top towns of Èze or Roquebrune-Cap-Martin is especially stunning.