A walking holiday on the Côte d’Azur

We had excellent weather and this provided the background to a very enjoyable holiday. I would recommend a trip to the Rothchild Gardens-we went by number 81 bus and walked back. The gardens are lovely and the musical fountains are brilliant.

A few museums in Menton were closed, the new Cocteau museum and the Palais de Carnoles, and the Basilica of St Michael the Archangel was under wraps and closed. You might warn future visitors. There was still plenty to look at and enjoy.

Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild was wonderful. Loved all the different garden styles. Great excitement watching two large yellow turbo prop fire fighting planes buzzing over us then taking on water from the bays either side of the gardens. 

The coastal footpaths were well maintained and views lovely. Walk notes were good with interesting highlights. 

Excellent hotels.  Stunningly beautiful walks.  Seriously considering booking the same holiday again.  We didn’t think we could ever match our Amalfi coast walking holiday, but we enjoyed this one just as much.  the only thing was, we would like to have visited Eze. So maybe that could be included. We found a very good restaurant one minute from the Welcome Hotel.  It was called La Caravelle. Rue de L'Eglise.  Excellent food and price and was open in March.

My sister and I really enjoyed this holiday. We arrived on November 2 so at the very end of the season (which we quite like, and we are very well aware that it means many things might be closed!). But this was also just after the storm of October 31 (which also battered Venice) so we found there was a lot of damage to sea front restaurants and the sea wall at Menton. The Jean Cocteau Museum there was completely closed because of flooding to the basement as was the Bastion. Hope it will be open again by the spring of 2019?  Meanwhile the Palais de Carnolès (behind the hotel) seemed already to have been closed for renovations for quite a while (this looked quite sad and abandoned!) but the public citrus gardens surrounding it are still open. 

When at Menton we enjoyed the walk round Cap Martin but had to overcome a few challenges because of the storm damage E.g. discovering that the path we had just walked was actually closed because of stormy seas! Also steps down to/up from beach washed away... But we found another way...

We loved the gardens at Val Rahmeh. As you warn, to do the entire Route 1 around Menton might be too much of a good thing? The bus was difficult to work out so garden lovers might like to do as we did and get the hotel to book a taxi to the gardens to get us there as they opened. (Do check opening times as they close at lunch time!) and then wander back to and down through the old town as suggested. The cemetery is also definitely worth a visit.

Re restaurants: the nearest reasonably priced option to the hotel Prince de Galles as recommended by Inntravel was ‘le P’tit Resto’ which is only short walk from the back of the hotel. Highly recommended! We went there for our first night and then made a reservation for the next night and then the next as Madame was so friendly and the food so good. Also, not just tourist fare - langue de boeuf anyone? Small, unpretentious and quite busy with locals so do book!

Yes, once in Beaulieu (Walk 4) do spare time to go to the Kerylos museum. An ‘Edwardian’ take on an Ancient Greek villa and life there. Not to be missed and it is right on your route. Later on this walk we found that the cafe/bar at Paloma Beach had been completely wrecked by the storm.

The Hotel Welcome was lovely and our ’cabin’ room up in the roof gave us a wonderful view over the harbour (and fireworks on our final night there).

Thankfully a huge cruise ship (Celebrity Eclipse = passengers 2850) which was moored out in the bay when we arrived was in the process of re-boarding (which took several hours). Apparently these huge cruise ships, for which Villefranche provides a sheltered harbour, can put big pressures on this small town and its station etc? There is a web-site where you can check when cruise ships will be there and how big they are.

We enjoyed the Villa de Rothschild gardens, but not as much as the Val Rahmeh, though the musical fountains were good! The famed tea rooms were closed so do check dates online. 

In Villefranche restaurants can be quite pricey. The recommended Le Serre was closed until Xmas. We enjoyed two meals at La Grinotiere (3 Rue du Poilu) and then an even better one at La Caravelle (3 rue de l’eglise).

In Villefranche the Chapelle St Pierre is worth a visit and the Citadelle and its gardens are worth a wander - it is free after all! (The galleries were closed when we were there.) Neither will take you long.

There is a lovely little open-air Provencal market every Saturday and Wednesday 8am - 1pm in the Francois Binon gardens near the tourist office. Tasty free samples!

Route 6: You advise that shoes or sandals are all you need for this holiday but this was one where we were very glad we were wearing boots (and wished we had our walking poles) as it was raining and quite slippery. The weather was not good so when we got to Pointe Sans Culottes we decided to return by road, which was easily done - just turn right at the top of the steps.

This holiday presented a very good introduction to the South of France. The information provided by Inntravel allowed the walking to be supplemented by a range of cultural and other visits.

We deviated to walk up to the Fort Alban on our way back to Villefranche sur Mer from Point Sans-Culottes. We had an excellent view and the Fort is interesting, but it did make for a very long day. We thoroughly enjoyed our visit to the Citadel despite your notes being a bit lukewarm about it. The walks generally were very enjoyable. 

The situations of the two hotels were just perfect, but we particularly liked the Hotel Welcome at Villefranche, with its remembrances of Jean Cocteau and a superb setting for breakfast right by the water's edge. 

This was an excellent holiday with 2 great hotels. We enjoyed all the walks and had warm sunshine every day, around 22 degrees in mid October.

The Val Rahmeh gardens in Menton were well worth visiting, but had large numbers of mosquitoes so go prepared! We both got bitten extensively.

In Menton we liked the P’tit Resto where Madame was very friendly and the food was good local cuisine, reasonably priced. The plat du jour was invariably good and the restaurant was very popular with locals.

At Villefranche we found Le Serre to be very good with a nice atmosphere. Les Garçons was more expensive, but had excellent food.

We travelled by rail there and back from the UK and all the travel arrangements worked very well.

Now planning our next Inntravel trip.

Highlights: Arriving at Welcome Hotel and seeing the view from our 5th floor bedroom. The gardens you recommended us to visit at Menton. And the walk from Menton to the beach area at Cap Martin. The walk from Beaulieu-sur-Mer to St Jean Cap Ferrat was beautiful with the spectacular Rothschild Villa to visit as well. All in all a very interesting walking holiday with some very good food. 

Both hotels were excellent but the Welcome Hotel was in such a good location and the staff so helpful it was outstanding for us.

In each of the hotels we were thrilled to find our rooms had views of the sea. Waking up to bright sunshine, blue sky and warm air was a delight. The restaurant at Hotel Prince Galles was excellent and saved battling with the uncertainties of local places which this early in the season seemsed not to yet be open.

At the Welcome Hotel, lacking a resturant, the bar had platters of cold meats, or cheese which served us very well.

A perfect holiday for the first half of March, leaving grey England for the blue skies of the South of France. You judged the walking just right for us as we slow down, so we were able to enjoy the visits you suggested to the Villa Rothschild and the Villa Kerylos (the latter a real one-off, fascinating). Other highlights: the wild freesias growing on Cap Ferrat, the view from our hotel balcony in Villefranche over the beautiful bay and tranquil little port, I think the best hotel view I have ever had.