Yes. Nice is one of the easiest places to base yourself on the French Riviera because you have a walkable Old Town, plenty of restaurants and beaches, and easy train access to places like Villefranche-sur-Mer, Antibes, Cannes, Èze and Menton. We stayed in Nice for most of our trip and found it really easy to take day trips without constantly changing hotels.

I’d recommend at least five days, but a week or longer gives you much more room to slow down and actually enjoy each stop. We spent 10 days in the South of France, which gave us time to use Nice as a base, take several day trips and spend a few days in Saint-Tropez without feeling like we were rushing from town to town.

Not necessarily. If you’re staying around Nice and planning to visit towns along the coast, the train makes it surprisingly easy to get around without a car. A car becomes more useful if you’re heading somewhere less connected by train, staying outside the main towns or planning to spend more time around Saint-Tropez.

Yes, especially if you’re based in Nice. Many of the most popular towns sit along the same coastal train line, so places like Antibes, Cannes, Villefranche-sur-Mer and Menton are easy to reach as day trips. We were there in August and expected the trains to be much more chaotic than they actually were.

For the classic beach trip, I’d visit between late May and September. July and August are the busiest months, but they also have the hottest weather, warm water and the full summer atmosphere. If you want fewer crowds while still having good weather, June and September are great options.

You really don’t need to see every town. I’d pick one main base and then choose a few day trips based on what you actually want to do, whether that’s beaches, shopping, coastal walks or wandering through old towns. Trying to squeeze in too many stops can turn a very relaxed destination into a surprisingly hectic trip.

Ferries are the easiest for the Cyclades. Blue Star and SeaJets are the two most common companies, and most routes take 1 – 4 hours. Flights are also an option between most larger islands for longer distances or if you get sea sick easily.

They feel completely different. Nice is much better connected and makes a great base if you want to explore several towns along the Riviera, while Saint-Tropez feels more like a destination in itself with beach clubs, shopping and long lunches. If you have enough time, I loved splitting the trip between the two rather than choosing just one.

Definitely. If you’re mainly exploring the eastern side of the Riviera, you can stay in Nice and take day trips almost everywhere. I’d only switch hotels if you’re heading farther west toward Saint-Tropez or want a few slower days somewhere outside the main train route.