But as with all idealised PR images, the truth is somewhat more prosaic. For starters, you need to pick your time carefully to go to the Côte d'Azur. Whatever you do, avoid the peak months of July and August. For some strange reason, people in France simply refuse to change their age-old tradition of everyone taking their holidays in July and August. If you're in Paris, it's great, because the city is much quieter than usual yet you will still find plenty of places open. But if you're on holiday elsewhere in France in the middle of summer, it can be a nightmare, with endless traffic jams on the autoroutes, including the A6 from Paris to the south of France.
It's all part of the French holiday tradition, the bison futé, which lists all the really spots for traffic jams. In many respects, life in France is ordered logically, yet when it comes to summer holidays, the French just refuse to alter the way they do holidays. They all want to go on holiday at the same time. Not alone will getting to the Côte d'Azur mean crowded motorways, planes and TGV trains, but once you get there, all the seafront walkways, of which the Promenade des Anglais is the most spectacular, will be absolutely packed with holidaymakers, sightseers and backpackers from all over the
world.
So if you want to holiday in comfort on the Côte d'Azur, far better to go out of season. Even in
November or December, the weather is usually quite mild and often sunny, so very pleasant weather for walking or just wandering. Mind you they do have the odd earthquake. They had an enormous one in Menton but that was way back in 1887 and everyone has long since forgotten about it. Funnily enough, there are quite often minor earthquakes in the south of France, up to about two on the Richter scale, but they never do any damage and no-one bothers talking about them.
Once you've settled into the Côte d'Azur for a nice quiet winter vacation, away from the maddening crowds of summer, the next thing you need to consider is where to go. Everyone has their own personal preferences, so yours may well not agree with mine. First of all, the places to avoid. Three spots along the south-east coast of France drive me nuts - I can't stand them! The first is Nice. Everyone raves about Nice as the perfect holiday resort, but I don't agree. The best thing about Nice is when you're leaving it. The airport is built out into the sea at the western end of Nice and it's
the third busiest airport in the whole of France. If you happen to leave on a clear day, with the skies bright blue, which will be the case much more often than not, the views from your window seat are
just incredible. You'll see not only Nice but virtually the whole of the Côte d'Azur, stretching right back to the mountains of the Alps.
Nice itself was once Italian - it's only been French for about 150 years, and much of the late 19th century architecture in the city centre is heavy and dull looking, in other words, totally uninspiring!These days, every effort is made to promote the city with its countless museums, parks and gardens, but I'm still not turned on! True,the old town quarter in Nice is delightful and many's the salad niçoise we've had there. The old port quarter too is rather appealing, but as for the city centre, no! The Promenade des Anglais is the great walkway that fronts the beach in Nice. It's been around since
earlier in the 19th century, a time when so many English people made the Riviera their home, and the present version was opened nearly 80 years ago by the Duke of Connaught, one of Queen Victoria's
sons. These days, many of the über rich who live in these parts are Russian.
These days, the English connection with the Riviera is well and truly past history, although the place is still a favourite holidaying place for English holidaymakers. The Promenade des Anglais in its present guise looks a bit like any motorway anywhere, but at least it's a terrific spot for walking. At
the western end of the walkway is the Hotel Negresco, one of the famed historic hotels in Nice, with a strange looking cupola on its roof, the design of which was allegedly inspired by the breasts of La Belle Otéro, a great society figure in France in the late 19th/early 20th century. There's another popularly peddled story about the Hotel Negresco that definitely isn't true; the huge window in the Royal Lounge wasn't the work of Gustuv Eiffel, better known for a certain tower in Paris.
Nice also has a problem with crime - where doesn't? - and that doesn't help either.
The other French city on the Côte d'Azur that I find equally repellent is Cannes. True, it's the home of big film and other festivals, but that doesn't make the place any more acceptable. Neither is the seafront part of Cannes any great shakes. If you go inland in Cannes from the seafront, it's even
less pleasant.
You're probably wondering why I don't include St Tropez on this list of not-so-nice places. I actually like St Tropez, which is nearly 100km west of Nice. I like the harbourfront walks, lined with many restaurants and bars; even the monster sized yachts can have a certain appeal. But there's a proviso in
all this; don't attempt to go anywhere near the resort in the middle of summer, it's jam-packed and not very pleasant. But if you go just before Christmas, as we've done, all the innate charm of the place is easily seen and appreciated.
Finally, in this list of places in the South of France that I can't stand is the principality of Monaco, which is almost entirely covered by Monte Carlo.The perfume here is particularly obnoxious, that of the super rich who live and holiday here. I can't say that I find anything of any great interest in Monaco and I'm not particularly turned on by all the Prince Rainier/Grace Kelly love story stuff. I've been to Monaco just once and that was quite enough, thank you very much.
Despite these negatives, there are loads more places all along the Côte d'Azur that are much more interesting and attractive, like Antibes with its newly refurbished Picasso museum, and Menton,
which gives a better insight into what the old style Riviera was like than anywhere else. And before I
forget, Nice has one big plus when it comes to seeing all these other Provençal hotspots. The main SNCF railway station in Nice can be the starting point for trips all along the coast, in both directions.
Trains along the coastal route are pretty frequent and there are various saver fares if you're on holiday.
Don't let me put you off the Côte d'Azur, anything but. However, the three biggest cities along the coast are the least attractive places in Provence. And above all, don't even think of going to the
Côte d'Azur in the middle of summer!