Hub alternatives, or stick with Nice?

Hi,

My girlfriend and I are planning a last-minute trip to the Cote d%26#39;Azur for four days in a couple weeks and are trying to choose a base hub. We%26#39;ll be traveling around a lot—the museums in Nice and Antibes, trips to Villefranche, Eze and the like—so I don%26#39;t anticipate spending all that much time in the hotel itself. Still, it%26#39;d be nice to stay in a nice area with a nice patisserie, restaurant and the like.

I%26#39;ve always stayed in Cannes, once on a trip with my family when I was a teenager and the other times because I was there covering the film festival, but thought it%26#39;d be nice to stay somewhere new. (My girlfriend%26#39;s only ever been to Paris.)

I was wondering if anyone has favorite nice little towns to stay in, or if Nice is the best bet. For example, I see that cheaper hotels can be booked in JLP than in a lot of the other areas, but I%26#39;ve only been to Antibes, and don%26#39;t know how it compares (other than having no real old town to speak of).

A particularly appealing factor would be a nice neighborhood near the train station, since we%26#39;ll be taking the TER a lot to go from town to town.

Thanks for your thoughts/info!

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If you%26#39;re planning on traveling around by public transport, then Nice really is the best place, as it%26#39;s not only got the train connections, but the bus connections too.

If you only intend to use the train, and prefer somewhere other than Nice, then Cannes, Antibes or Beauliue are much better than Juan les Pins, which isn%26#39;t a major station, so not all the trains stop there.

Check some of the hotel recommendations for Nice on TripAdvisor. I%26#39;m sure you%26#39;ll find this is the best hub for traveling around.

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Definitely stick with Nice, especially if you want to travel inland to the mountains by train to somehwere on the train des merveilles or train des pignes line.

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Thanks for the insights! I think I%26#39;ll take the advice and stick with Nice, as I haven%26#39;t been since they put in the tram, and I think it may solve my main reservations with the city. My reservations being: In Cannes, I could stay in Le Suquet and be within 10 minutes of the bus station, harbor and train station, whereas Nice is so big that everything isn%26#39;t so easily accessible by foot. But with the tram now in the equation, I%26#39;m hoping I%26#39;ll be able to get everywhere I need to go fast. I think I%26quot;m going to stay near Place Giribaldi. That way I%26#39;ll be near the buses and tram stop, plus within walking distance to old town. Does that make sense for the car-less traveler?

On a side note, what%26#39;s Beaulieu like?

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I would say that central Nice was very accessible by foot and that Nice is a really small city hoever a place near place garibaldi would be a good choice of location for getting around carless.

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Thanks for the input. I didn%26#39;t mean to suggest that Nice isn%26#39;t walkable—indeed I%26#39;ve walked it many times. It%26#39;s just that a 20-minute walk to the train station can feel a little long if you have a 20-minute train ride ahead of you.