France is easily my favorite country to visit with its rich culture, unparalleled food, and endless beauty. While Paris really is always a good idea, there’s so much more to the country than it’s capital city. This romantic 10 day itinerary focuses exclusively on the South of France with 5 nights in the Cote d’Azur and 5 nights in Provence.

Nights 1-3

Hotel: Chèvre d’Or in Eze

We spent our first 3 nights at Chateau Chevre d’Or in Eze. After a long flight from Miami to Nice, we picked up our rental car and drove the apx. 30 minutes to the medieval hilltop village of Eze.

When I say this hotel was drop dead gorgeous, I literally mean take your breath away, can’t believe you’re not dreaming, pictures cannot do it justice level beauty. Upon arrival, we were greeted with welcome cocktails on the terrace, overlooking Nice and the Mediterranean. We could never get enough of that view and ended up having drinks on the terrace each night of our stay.

The hotel has unique rooms scattered throughout the village. Our suite was two stories, spacious, and had views from every window.

Day 1

• Land in Nice and drive to hotel
• Welcome cocktails on the hotel terrace
• Custom perfume at Galimard in Eze: The town of Grasse is known for being the perfume capital of France and is typically where you go to design custom perfume. However, perfumeries Galimard and Fragonard both have locations in Eze Village as well where you can attend workshops to design your own scent. If you’re looking to bring home a one of a kind souvenir, this is the place to go.
• Explore Eze Village: If you are in the Riviera, Eze is a must. It’s a quick train ride from Nice and work spending a couple of hours getting lost in its alleys – each way you turn is more picturesque than the last.
• Dinner at Chèvre d’Or

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Day 2

• Explore Villefrance-sur-mer: Charming & colorful coastal village. Go before 10 AM before the crowds pick up. This is also a great alternative town to stay in for (comparatively) less expensive accommodations in the French Riviera.
• Tour Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild: Arrive when it opens at 10 AM to avoid crowds.
• Lunch: Grand Hotel du Cap Ferrat. This is a secluded Four Seasons hotel in the residential Cap Ferrat neighborhood. If you’re looking for a relaxed, “don’t move from the hotel” type of vacation, consider this for accommodations since they have a lot to do on the property. We just dropped in for the day for lunch at their beach club. Reservations are a must for non hotel guests as their multiple restaurants are popular and book up quickly.
• Explore Nice
  • Ice cream at Fenocchio, old town square, drinks at the Negresco Hotel, Castle Hill  
• Dinner: Pizza at La Taverne d’antan in Eze. We picked up pizza to go, opened a bottle of wine, and dined on one of the many private terraces at Chevre d’Or.

Day 3

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• Explore Antibes
• Lunch: Eden Roc Hotel: I had low expectations for this property. Its so famous and hyped that it couldn’t really be that great. Right? Wrong. We LOVED the Eden Roc. We loved it so much that the 46 euro price tag for a cheeseburger didn’t even sting. The property was truly magical and the service unparalleled. We may have already booked a stay there for next year…
• Explore St. Paul de Vence: Another medieval hilltop town on the Riviera. Go for the quaint alleys and art galleries.
• Pool(s) & couples massage at Chevre d’Or: The property has 3 pools. We had to try them all! Bring champagne.
• Dinner at the hotel terrace bar

Nights 4-8

Hotel: Bastide de Marie in Menerbes

On day 4 we woke up early, packed our bags, put the top down, and took the scenic route to St. Tropez. From there, we would head to the Bastide de Marie, our home for the next 5 nights.

One of the main reasons for this vacation was to enjoy lavender season in Provence. Peak season is considered late June/early July and the purple buds are pretty spectacular in the Luberon and Valensole areas of Provence. We knew we wanted to base ourselves somewhere in the Luberon to have easy access to valensole plateau and the many charming Luberon villages.

We found the perfect location with Bastide de Marie. This small (12 uniquely styled rooms and 1 cottage) property is a luxury home away from home in the French countryside. It’s a design lovers dream – the décor and furniture are so intentional and perfectly tailored to achieving their vintage, French country aesthetic.

We opted for a suite and (again) ended up with a massive space. This suite was also two floors and included a bedroom and a separate living room with a couch and large stone fireplace. It was the perfect setting for our late night bottle(s) of wine.

Book the room rate option that includes dinner – you will want to eat here every night. Dinner is a 3 hour long affair that starts with an aperitif on the terrace. You then move to the outdoor dining area for an appetizer, entrée, cheese course, desert, and unlimited wine from their on-property vineyard. The menu is farm to table, sourced locally, and changes each night.

If Bastide de Marie is booked, here are some other hotel suggestions in the region:

1. Bastide de Gordes
2. Coquillade Village
3. Château de Varenne
4. Chateau de Berne
5. Crillon le Brave

Day 4

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• Drive to St. Tropez: Private yacht charter, group ferry, and helicopter are the best ways to get to St. Tropez. If you do go by car, drive in early in the AM. Plan to arrive before 10 AM and leave before 4PM to avoid heavy traffic. We drove since St. Tropez was our day stop in route from Eze to Provence. We abided by the 10-4PM rule and were spared the worst of the traffic.
• Explore the port and eat ice cream at Barbarac
• Shopping: Check out the Luxury Chanel, Hermes, and Dior botiques
• Lunch at a Beach Club: We highly recommend newcomer Gigi, but of course there’s always the famous Club 55
• Drinks at the Dior Cafe
• Drive to Bastide de Marie
• Dinner at the hotel

Day 5

• Valensole Plateau: Type “Valensole” into your GPS and take the D6 all the way into town. By the time you reach the town of Valensole, you will have seen the motherload of lavender. They are as beautiful as they seem on Instagram! Make sure to stop in Valensole town. It’s another quaint beauty and the beast village with plenty of lunch options and any lavender themed souvenir you can dream up.
  • It was about a 2 hour drive from Bastide de Marie to Valensole
• **Gorges de Verdon: we did not end up having time, but this is on our to do list for the next visit!
• Explore Gordes:
  • Abbaye de Senanque
  • Pre-dinner drinks on the terrace at the Bastide de Gordes hotel
  • Dinner at Bastide de Gordes’ restaurant La Citadell

Day 6

• Chateau de Estoublon: This property is a stunning, 5 star chateau used almost exclusively for weddings and private events. They have a winery on property. The chateau arranged for us to have a private tour, wine & olive oil tasting, and lunch on the terrace. It was such a beautiful location! If you are hunting for wedding venues in France, put this one at the top of your list!
• Chateau de Romanin: If you’re looking for the big, commercial winery experience you would get at Napa vineyards like Sterling and Robert Mondavi, this is the French equivilant. This vineyard offers many group tastings/tours throughout the day and boasts an impressive wine cellar and fantastic views. I’m more of a mon & pop vineyard person, but this will give you the full “French winery” experience.
• Pool day at the hotel & afternoon “tea” – at Bastide de Marie, afternoon tea was really unlimited rose and a mouthwatering dessert – we didn’t miss the tea.
• Dinner at hotel

Day 7

• Village hopping: This was one of our favorite days of the trip! We had a pretty long list of towns we wanted to visit in the region, many of which are surprisingly close together. We essentially made a circle starting and ending at Bastide de Marie. The total drive time was 2 hours and 15 minutes (per GPS) but felt like nothing since it was broken up into 9 different stops.
  • Menerbes
  • Oppede
  • Goult
  • Gordes
  • Rousillon
  • Apt
  • Saignon
  • Lourmarin
  • Bonnieux
• Lunch at Bastide de Pierres in Gourds (pizza)
• Dinner at hotel

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Day 8

• Chateauneuf de Pape town and wine tastings
  • Chateau La Gardine
  • Chateau Fortia
  • Chateau La Nerthe
• Picnic at hotel
• Massage at hotel
• Dinner at hotel

Nights 9-10

Hotel: Hermitage in Monaco

Day 9

• Drive to Monaco
• Hotel Private beach
• Lunch & drinks at Bar Americane at the Hotel du Paris
• Shopping
• Saint Martin Gardens
• Dinner at Beefbar

Day 10

• Yacht charter for the day
• Drinks at Hermitage hotel bar
• Dinner was at Le Grill but it was terrible! 

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