Settle in because it’s time for pt. duex of my France travel guide. In case you missed it, I shared pt. une a few weeks back covering all of the fun that we had in Paris. As a reminder, Tom and I spent two weeks in France with his parents at the end of May and it was truly an experience of a lifetime.
In this installment of my France travel guide, I’ll share everything we did in our first nine days in France and they were a VERY busy nine days. In these nine days, we visited Eze, Nice, Monaco, Cannes, St. Paul de Vence, Avignon, and Carcassone, it was a wild ride. As always, this travel guide will outline where we stayed, what we did, what we ate and of course, what I wore.
Where We Stayed
While we may have visited seven different cities we only stayed in three of them, each with a hotel as beautiful as the next. Seriously, Tom’s dad CRUSHED the hotel game here with three amazingly unique and luxurious hotels. I loved them ALL.
For the first four days, we stayed in Eze at a hotel called Chateau de la Chèvre d’Or, which is nestled within the nooks and crannies of Eze Village (an incredible medieval village overlooking the French Riviera). Eze is only about 15 minutes away from Nice so in a way, it is a quiet little escape from the hustle and bustle of the city. Honestly, I found it surprising how urban Nice actually felt, so it felt kinda nice being away from it all. The rooms at the Chateau de la Chèvre d’Or were extremely comfortable (really big bathrooms with two vanities and closets, so of course it worked for me) and had GORGEOUS balconies overlooking the Mediterranean. I loved hanging out on the balcony in the morning or before dinner, it was so serene.
After Eze we were off to Avignon where we stayed at a hotel called Le Prieuré, it was amazing. Le Prieuré is actually an old priory that was refurbished into beautiful villas that were absolutely gorgeous. Our rooms were super spacious and included a huge patio that was perfect for afternoon reading or pre-dinner cocktails. Sitting on this patio may have been one of my favorite things about the entire trip. Similar to our situation in Eze/Nice, Le Prieuré was a short drive from the center of Avignon, in a town they called Villeneuve-lés-Avignon. The area felt way less touristy than Old Avignon and you could easily find locals living and dining around the area. Even though it was an outside Avignon, there were still a ton of restaurants and bars to enjoy that were walking distance and Le Prieuré itself had a Michelin-starred restaurant on site.
Before heading to Paris, our last stop was Carcassone. This was a walled city right outside Toulouse, bringing all of your Game of Thrones fantasies to life. This hotel (Hotel de la Cite) was legitimately built into the castle walls making for a super special experience. Everything to do in Carcassone was within the castle walls so staying at a hotel within the walls was super convenient and pretty essential. This was definitely the smallest hotel room (I guess they didn’t need much room during medieval times) that we stayed in but it was a good tradeoff for how gorgeous the hotel itself was. My favorite part of this entire hotel was the quaint bar off the lobby. It felt like an old library stocked with delicious, artisanal cocktails and games.
I would easily go back to any of these hotels TOMORROW. They were all so gorgeous and definitely a highlight of the trip.
What To Do
Across our three locations in the south of France, there were SO many things to do, but I’ll narrow it down to my absolute musts.
Eze: With this city is only a short drive from many of France’s iconic locations, including Nice, Cannes, St. Paul de Vence, Monaco (not, France, but close?), there were so many things to do it was almost overwhelming. My favorites were: 1) aimlessly wandering around new and old Nice discovering places to enjoy an Aperol Spritz, 2) Exploring the quaint village of St. Paul de Vence. This city is full of adorable shops and scenes to snap your next most-liked post on Instagram, and 3) a boozy brunch at Anjuna Beach. Unfortunately, it was pretty cold and rainy during our time in Eze, but this was still worth the time. Anjuna Beach was the perfect way to end our time in Eze as it overlooked the gorgeous Riviera and the food/drinks were AMAZING. I’d love to visit during a warmer time to get the full experience. You may be surprised to see that both Cannes and Monaco aren’t on my list of musts, but honestly, I don’t think I was able to spend enough time there to get the full experience. On my next trip (if I’m lucky enough to make it back), I’d definitely prioritize these two to get the most out of the French Riviera.
Avignon: My first night in Avignon had a bit of a rough start after getting sick on the drive from Eze (let’s just say it was a very, very windy ride), but Tom was raving about the morning walking tour he went on. His two favorite parts of the tour were the Pont d’Avignon as well as the Popes Palace. After spending a morning reading on our private patio at Le Prieuré (which was another favorite part of the trip) and I felt a little better, I loved walking around the gorgeous town of Avignon. There are so many adorable shops and cafes to peruse in and out of, but the most unique thing we did while in Avignon was getting a fish pedicure. It was probably one of the weirdest and coolest things we’ve ever done. On our second day in Avignon, we took a drive out to the Châteauneuf-du-Pape wine region. Châteauneuf is already one of my favorite kinds of wine so this made me VERY excited and of course, we visited the winery of one of my all-time favorites, Vieux Télégraphe.
Carcassone: Our two days in Carcassone was an absolute fantasy. Exploring the castle walls and the village within felt truly like a fairytale. The weather was a bit cold and rainy, but that made for a perfect excuse for trying every cappuccino/hot chocolate in sight. My favorite part was by far exploring the ins-and-outs of the castle walls. We walked around the entire perimeter taking in the gorgeous views of the French countryside. It was basically a scene out of a Taylor Swift music video.
What To Eat
Similar to my Paris travel guide, we ate at so many places throughout the South of France, but here are my top recommendations.
1| Le Remparts. I don’t know what’s better, the food or the view! This restaurant was located within our hotel in Eze, making it a very convenient option. We ate there not once, but twice!
2| Chez Pipo. This is the place that you go to try out some traditional Nicois cuisine. Most notably, Socca, a chickpea flatbread that is native to the Nice area. This came as a recommendation from one of Tom’s friend and it was an amazing one.
3| Restaurant L’Escargot. Tapas are always a good idea. Carcassone is actually in close proximity to Spain and this place was the perfect spot to try out some French tapa dishes. So delicious!
4| La Petite Cuillere. Go for the vibe, stay for the charcuterie board. This place had an adorable atmosphere with outside seating and I could have easily stayed there all night. In terms of food, this was a great place to get some staples– steak, burgers, etc.
What To Wear
Top (Red Dress Boutique) | Jeans (Gap) | Shoes (Sperry Top-Sider)
Last but not least, what to wear when visiting the south of France?! We visited in late May and it was a lot colder than I was expecting. While yes, I had no idea where we were going, I assumed most of Europe would be similar to the warm temps we experienced in Italy two years earlier. I was wrong and with the exception of a few warm days in Avignon, I wore jeans most of the time and short-sleeved blouses most of the time.
I’d say my favorite outfit during this part of the trip, was the one I wore the morning we were in Monaco. It was a little rainy when we left the hotel, but I definitely didn’t want that to keep me from dressing for the occasion. I loved how colorful this outfit was fitting in with the rainbow-colored buildings in old Monaco, yet very comfortable as we were walking a lot.
