Activitities on the Riviera

To discover our paradise, avoiding tiredness, restaurant expenses, bad surprises and for your security, rather than moving from hotel to hotel, you should rent a self catering accommodation such as one of mines which are centrally located (in Vence or La Gaude, close to Nice). I will give you plenty of information to make your trip memorable as you can see per the comments from my previous guests (http://www.rivieraapt-accommodations.blogspot.com/).

I have a special page for medium/long term visitors.

Your main activity will probably be sightseeing, you should refer to http://www.rivieraapt-villages.blogspot.com/
There are many other ways to get entertained.

You can attend events (http://www.rivieraapt-events.blogspot.com/), there are many each day.
You can visit workshops & museums, go to amusement parks if you have kids, stroll in beautiful gardens if you are fond of flowers… You will find lots of information on this page.


As a genuine Provence native, I will give you an insight in our traditions (http://www.rivieraapt-traditions.blogspot.com/) and invite you to some of them as I am myself a member of several folk groups.

You can attend cooking lessons (http://www.rivieraapt-cooking.blogspot.com/).

In Nice, there are an opera, several theatres, concert halls, and nightclubs, …

For nightlife (night clubs, music hall shows…) or gambling, you can go to Nice, Cagnes/Mer (Terrazur), Antibes, Golfe Juan (in summer) or Monaco.

If horse races interests you, Cagnes/Mer has one of the most famous French racetracks.
You may want to share the excitement of soccer game in Nice stadium.

Sports

Next to Vence, you can practice all types of sports, e.g. water sports (swimming, water skiing, jet skiing, windsurfing, sailing, diving, fishing, ascending parachute, renting a motor or sail boat, mountain rafting …), country sports (biking, tennis, golf, spelunking, horseback riding, Ballooning…) and mountain sports (hiking, rock climbing, mountaineering, canyoning, via-ferrata, hunting, fishing, Bunjee Jumping, skiing as at an hour from Vence, 465 peaks are higher than 2000 meters and 6 over 3000 meters…).


I have tons of contacts, and sometime special rates for any sports you think of.I will be glad to help if you stay in an accommodation of mine (http://rivieraapt-accommodations.blogspot.com/).
I will help if you have specific fields of interest,. For example I found information for some guests about these activities:

• fly fishing in our mountain rivers (with an association which initiates and provides you with equipment but the wetters for a tiny fee);
• rental of a small catamaran at 84 Euro per half day or of a big catamaran accommodating up to 12 persons at 610 euro per day if you skip or 830 euro per day if you do not have a navigation license and need a crew;
• air gliding;
• piano rental;
• and so on

Près de Vence, vous pouvez pratiquer toutes sortes de sports. Par exemple sports d’eau (natation, ski nautique, jet ski, surf, voile, plongée, pêche, parachute ascensionnel, location de bateau, rafting …), sports de plaine (promenade, tennis, golf, spéléo, cheval, Ballon…) et sports de montagne (randonnée, escalade, canyoning, via-ferrata, chasse, pêche, parapente, saut à l’élastique, ski car il y a 465 sommets de plus de 2000 mètres et 6 de plus de 3000 mètres à une heure de Vence.…).

 Vous trouverez les meilleures adresses dans le guide que j'ai écrit et qui se trouve dans mes gîtes (http://rivieraapt-accommodations.blogspot.com/).

Musées Museums

In general museums are open from 10:00 to 12:00 and 14:00 to 17:00. They are closed on either Monday or Tuesday. If you are one of my guests, refer to me for accurate opening hours.

In any national museum, you can buy a Museum Pass which includes unlimited admission to 62 museums, historic monuments and gardens on the Côte d'Azur, from the museum Picasso in Antibes to the famous monastery at Saorge.

• ‘Nice pass’ is valid for 24 hours (24€), 48 hours(36€), 72 hours (54€).
• ‘French Riviera pass’ is valid for 3 (15 € ) or 7 consecutive days (25 €)

 Admittance is free of charge for children up to age 7 Children and with discount for under 15 & elderly; an id card may be required. Foreign students have also reductions but they must get an international student card from their country.

There are reductions for other people either on Sunday or on certain occasions.

Here is a non exhaustive list of our museums, you will find details in my guide book in my rentals (http://rivieraapt-accommodations.blogspot.com/).

• Musées des Beaux Arts Fine arts museums in Nice: Marc Chagall museum, Matisse museum, Modern Art museum, Asian Arts museum, Fine Arts museum, Raoul Dufy museum,
  Or nearby: Fondation Maeght (modern art) in St Paul de Vence, Picasso museum in Antibes, Renoir house in Cagnes/Mer, Fernand Léger in Biot, Fragonard museum in Grasse, Annonciade in St Tropez, Fine arts museum in Menton
• Folk Arts and Traditions museums: Costume museum in Grasse, Provence museums in Grasse and in Vence, Ecomuseum in Puget-Rostang, Handicraft and Folk Traditions museum in Valbonne, Olive oil museum in Cagnes/mer castle, Perfume museum in Grasse with possibility of learning how to create your own perfume…
• Musées d'histoire History museums: Napoleon and navy museum in Antibes, Napoleon museum in Monaco palace, Villa Kerylos in Beaulieu/mer, Villa Rotschild in St Jean Cap Ferrat, Lascaris palace in Nice, Prehistoric Terra Amata museum in Nice, Naval museum in Nice (overlooking the beach from Le Château hill slope), 
• Musées de la mer Sea museums: Sea museum in Cannes on Ste Marguerite island and in St Tropez, Oceanographic museum in Monaco 
• Autres Other museums: Doll museum in Monaco (palace) open everyday, Car museum in Mougins, Photography museum in Mougins, gastronomy Museum in Villeneuve-Loubet in the former house of Escoffier, one of the most famous French chefs, Butterfly and insect museum in Tourettes-en-Levens…

Vous trouverez les détails dans le guide que j'ai écrit et qui se trouve dans mes gîtes (http://rivieraapt-accommodations.blogspot.com/).

Workshops / Ateliers

You can visit many workshops on the Riviera. You will spend a nice hour and have the possibility to buy original gifts or souvenirs at a moderate price.



In my guide book (to be found in my rentals http://rivieraapt-accommodations.blogspot.com/), I list perfume factories including courses to create your own perfume, glassware workshops, ceramic miniature houses maker, Pottery, Pewter, Olive oil mill (in production from November to March), Maison de la Petanque, Pipe factory, Carpet manufacturer, glazed fruits & flowers, glazed chestnuts makers, traditional soap factory, candle workshop, Santons makers, stain glass, wax, waving, miniature furniture and accessories for doll houses, sculptors, Flowered hats, Painting on glass & wood, Beehives, Chocolate factory, Witch dolls maker…

Vous pouvez visiter de nombreux ateliers. Vous passerez une heure agréable et éducative et pourrez acheter des souvenirs originaux au prix fabrique. Vous trouverez les meilleures adresses dans le guide que j'ai écrit et qui se trouve dans mes gîtes (http://rivieraapt-accommodations.blogspot.com/).

Par exemple fabriques de parfum avec des cours pour créer votre propre parfum, souffleurs de verre, sculpteurs, peintres (sur verre, bois...), poterie, moulins à olives (en production de Novembre à Mars), maison de la pétanque, fabrique de pipes, de tapis, de maisons miniatures en céramique, d'étains, de fruits & fleurs confits, de marrons glacés, de savon traditionnel, de bougies, de santons, de vitraux, de cire, de tissage, de meubles et accessoires miniatures pour maisons de poupées, de chapeaux fleuris, de ruches, de chocolate (hum!!!), de poupées (sorcières…)...

Typical souvenirs from Provence

Dans le guide que j'ai écrit et qui se trouve dans mes gîtes (http://rivieraapt-accommodations.blogspot.com/), vous trouverez les meilleures adresses pour acquérir ces souvenirs.

The most typical souvenirs from Provence are:

• SANTONS: clay figurines which represent all the traditional crafts of Provence and are clothed in traditional XIXth century outfits. We put them in the nativity scene for Christmas.
• Tissus FABRIC: with cheerful traditional design. You can buy a table cloth or a skirt for 28 euro, you can also find bread bearer. Check the quality, the difference of price is often justified.
• POTTERY: you can find them in several places. Better to buy them in a workshop. Moustiers, Biot and Vallauris are the most renown places for it. Vallauris has a pottery museum with a ‘peace and war’ fresco by Picasso. Biot makes yellow enamel pottery marbled with green and brown. Moustiers is famous for its white, yellow and blue faience.
• Livres  BOOKS: always a good present and easy to fit in the luggage. FNAC in Nice’s Etoile shopping Centre (rue Jean Medecin) offers the best choice at best prices.
• Parfum PERFUME: either essential oils that you find in one of the factories which are listed in the workshop chapter or famous brand perfumes that you can find either at the Sephora shop in Nice or at the airport (duty free).
• Maisons MINIATURE CERAMIC HOUSES: quite a nice present but rather expensive. Gault is the original maker, you can find cheaper copies but the quality is definitely lower and they are worthless for collectors.
• Savon SOAP: natural traditional soaps which came with all kinds of shapes and flavours.
• Fruits Confits GLAZED FRUITS and FLOWERS: this is a tasty, colourful, easy to pack and not too expensive gift. The Florian workshop in Pont du Loup is the best spot to see how it is done and buy some.
• Huile OLIVE OIL: to be bought in one of the mills, you can also find other nice products in these mills.
• CONDIMENTS: an original and typical gift especially for friends of yours who like cooking. You can bring back either special local culinary preparations such as tappenade, aioli, anchoiade, … or olive oil or sachets of fragrant herbs, lavender, … or sweets (lavender honey, gingerbread, fruit or flower jams, calissons, crystallised fruits or flowers …).
• NOUGAT: another Provence sweet with honey and almonds
• VIN WINE: we are in France, the ww leading wine producer! The Provence traditional wine is Rosé. As for aperitif, the typical drink is Pastis (an anis-flavoured alcohol, similar to the Greek ouzo).
• Cadrans solaires SUNDIAL 
• Fer Forgé Wrought iron: a blacksmith near the cathedral in the old Vence city will make any piece that you will draw including gate, furniture … and ship it to your home.

In my guide book which is my rentals (http://rivieraapt-accommodations.blogspot.com/), you will find best addresses for all these souvenirs as well as a few more very original gift suggestions such as swords, cushions in the shape of your favourite animal, carved squashes… You will also find several pages on shopping, flea markets, size conversion table,… and ‘vide greniers’ organized by each village (a different one each weekend); a ‘vide grenier’ is a village wide ‘garage sale’; for great deals either get there very early in the morning before the professionals take the best pieces or very late when people pack and dump the prices in order not to bring back their stuff home.

There are also many craft markets all year round. I’ll let you know the ones not to be missed.

When you buy something which costs more than 300 euro, don’t forget to claim a Duty-Free form from the seller, in order to get tax refund at the airport on your flight back.

Attractions for kids

Attractions which your kids will like a lot include (details to be found in my guide book):

• Marineland (dolphin & killer whales shows, sharks… ) in Antibes, which is the 10th most visited attraction in France
• VisioBulle to admire marine flora and fauna through a glass bottom hull.
• Aquascope: to explore the underwater world from a glass-bottomed boat
• Aquasplash with many water games such as chutes, pool with waves…
• Butterfly Jungle, Tortoil Village…
• Little Farm with all farm animals and the Enchanted River
• Mini Golfs in exotic setting
• Mickey Club
• Skate board parks
• Aquarium & Doll museum in Monaco
• Miniature trains museum
• Amusement parks such as Kindia Park, Koaland …
• Childhood museum in Cannes with ancient toys
• Caves (Saint-Cézaire, Souterroscope de Baume Obscure, Audides…)

Attractions for adults

• Winery visit. The closest to Vence is Chateau Rasse which makes wine like Romans used to do.
• St Tropez Celebrity villa tour on boat
• Observatory of the Côte d'Azur
• Dancing
• There are many night clubs in Nice, Cagnes/mer or in Golfe Juan
• I have also good addresses for classier dance,
• for fun, you can also go with me to a baletti, where locals have a lot of fun dancing traditional dances
• Whales Watching: from beginning of June until mid September you can see sea mammals such as dolphins, sperm-whales, pilot whales, fin whales…
• Flights over the French Riviera in tourism plane, balloon or helicopter
• Horse races in Cagnes/Mer
• Thalassotherapy (Thalgo SPAs) where you can limber up with a sea-water and sea-weeds (wrap-up, baths, massage, high pressure springs, …) treatment to build up health or lose weight. They are very enjoyable and very efficient.
• French lessons, I can put you in contact with a professional teacher or help you register in a school.