Quote:
Originally Posted by morninggents
If you have time to spend sightseeing the general area avoid St Tropez. I was there in October and it's really gone downhill since last there 25 years ago. Frejus and St Maxime are worth a visit as is Menton, a little gem between Monaco and the Italian border.
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menton is popular for that reason with teams from the support series - it's a short hop on the train from monaco. never been, myself - if i've been round that way i've ended up at the ventimiglia market (very popular with the locals and used to have some remarkable european made fake handbags), or a bit further up the road in bordighera. ventimiglia (called vintimille in french and on the trains) had some issues with refugees and migrants congregating there because the french were checking ids at the border and on the train, but that seems to have passed.
i think morninggents has been away from the cote d'azur for too long unfortunately - st tropez was changed by the massive influx of foreign and parisien money, and changed again by the russian money most recently. my folks enjoy a long walk there during the off-season (october to may really), but generally if you're looking for a more authentic holiday small town without the champagne lot around you're much better off visiting st raphael/frejus (good shout, morninggents!). like many of the coastal towns closer to nice they've merged into one urban mass over the decades. vast parts of frejus were flattened when a large dam broke nearby in the 50s so it's not quite as old as some of the surrounding areas but along the seaside it has a fairly large wide beach (for the mediterranean) and a wide street/promenade behind.
i'd urge the op not to waste too much time on monaco - the train line will take you to some fabulous places that are far more pleasant and less "disneyland" than monaco. from a language perspective you'll be fine with english, but make sure you know what your preferred coffee is called in french
