Epic France Trip: Days 4-9 South of France

Here is how we spent 6 gorgeous days in the south of france where we toured many Villages, ate the wonderful foods of provence, and enjoyed the beautiful mediterranean on the french riviera!

When I was planning our trip to France, it was without question that we would make our way to the south of France. Visiting this location has been a dream of mine for years! There was no way I was going to Paris and missing this! To say it was absolutely wonderful would be an understatement. So let me show you all the details of our fabulous 6 days! And if you missed the first portion of our trip where we spent 3 magical days in Paris, go here.

Day 4: Arrived in Nice, France

We took an early morning train from Paris to Nice, and we arrived around 3:00 in the afternoon. This was our first experience with a double decker train! We felt like we were riding in style! I booked these tickets well in advance and made sure I could pick our seats. We arrived at our hotel, the beautiful Hyatt Regency Nice Palais de la Mediterranee. This hotel is located right on the Promenade des Anglais and right next to the Old Nice area.

After getting a little snack and a drink, we set out to explore the Promenade and climb up to see the view from the Tour Bellanda. This gives beautiful views of the Bay of Angels from Castle Hill. It should definitely be on your list of things to do in Nice.

This little climb was no joke!! It was certainly worth it though. The stairs weren’t too steep and there were stopping points along the way. There is also an elevator option, but that was closed by the time we arrived.

Once we made it to the top, there was a place to get refreshments and enjoy the view. This would be a fun activity for families too! It was so neat to see the beach below, and we thought it was so neat to see how it differed from our white sandy beaches we have on the gulf coast. Once we hiked back down, we went down to the beach to dip our toes in the Mediterranean Sea. Walking on those rocks required down a pretty steep slop required some agile movements from us. We got a good laugh!

After all that climbing, we couldn’t wait to stop at one of the bars along the Promenade. We found a nice little balcony spot at the wine bar, Modiva. This was definitely a pinch me moment. I couldn’t believe we were in the South of France enjoying a glass of wine along the Mediterranean!

Next up, we had dinner reseravations at Bocca Mar. This was an excellent choice! It was located right across the street from our hotel and right on the beach. I had some of best burrata ever there. It was truly a great ending to a wonderful day! Plus, the Scottish bachelor party table next to us provided us with quite a few laughs! HERE’S A VIDEO OF OUR DAY TRAVELING TO NICE!

Day 5: Exploring Nice, Eze, and Monte Carlo

The next morning we set out to explore Old Nice, which is filled with historic buildings, churches, quaint restaurants, and beautiful squares. You can also catch the different markets depending on what day of the week you are there. We were able to see the antiques market in the Cours Saleya. I love old stuff, so this was perfect!

We stopped for lunch at a nice cafe, Restaurant la Claire Fontaine in Place Rosetti right near the beautiful cathedral. We tried some of the specialties of Nice like the Salad Nicoise and an assortment of some of their specialties like onion pizza, zucchini fritters, and meat-stuffed vegetables. I didn’t love my steak, but everything else was great.

That afternoon we headed out on a half day excursion to see the medieval village of Eze and then Monte Carlo. We also made a stop at the Fragonard Perfumery in Eze as well.

I could have spent longer in Eze. It gave me all the Rapunzel fairytale feels. It’s definitely a stop I would make again. You can catch a bus there if you don’t want to do a tour, but we liked that the tour would take us to two great locations that we didn’t have to navigate ourselves.

After seeing Eze, our guide brought us to Monoco to check out the Prince’s palace and get a view of the beautiful port. We then headed into Monte Carlo along the Formula 1 track.

We only stayed here for a few hours, and that was just the right amount of time for us. We just wanted to see it, so this tour was perfect. We loved hanging out by the famous Monte Carlo Casino. We got a glimpse of the Prince leaving a hotel too! We sent pictures of all the insanely fancy cars for our boys, and they were FREAKING OUT! That alone was worth it!

We headed back into Nice where our guide stopped at a few good photo spots of Nice. Overall, I’m so glad we booked this tour. The day was packed, but we got to see so much! This is a very similar tour to what we did. HERE’S A VIDEO OF OUR DAY IN NICE, EZE, AND MONTE CARLO.

Day 6: Arrival in Aix-en-Provence

After 2 nights in Nice, we headed by train to my favorite stop on the whole trip…Aix en Provence! I was more excited about this location than any other location on the whole trip!

This was our first Airbnb of the trip. It was down a narrow street and on the 3rd floor of a very charming old building in the center of town. It had a beautiful balcony, a little kitchen, and was perfect for 2 people.

Aix-en-Provence is such a clean city and smells of baking bread and lavendar soap. Once we dropped off our luggage, we headed out to get lunch.

We had a wonderful lunch at Le Forbin. It is here that I became obsessed with the Provence version of ceasar salad. It was crispy chicken with such fresh flavored veggies. We then headed to grab a treat at Christophe Madeleines. These were delicious!

Next we headed back to the Airbnb to chill out and relax. We drank some wine and played some cards.

For dinner, we headed out to Le Petit Bistrot Place Richelme. This square was beautiful and bustling with people enjoying a beautiful dinner in a beautiful French city.

We definitely enjoyed people watching and the relaxed atmosphere of city in street side cafes on this trip!

On the way back to the airbnb, I grabbed a gorgeous gelato at Amorino too. HERE’S A VIDEO OF OUR DAY IN AIX!

Day 7: Provence Wineries and Luberon Villages

The next morning we headed out on a full day tour, which included stops at two Provence wineries and stops at nearby Luberon region villages. It was definitely worth the full day!!

We made some sweet friends, and our guide was fabulous! We stopped in the villages of Loumarin, Roussillon, and Gordes. Each of these villages have shops, historical buildings and churches, and cafes.

Our guide was sure to tell us what places to see in each village and gave us just the right amount of time at each stop. I love that we got to see such beautiful places.

We also got to stop at beautiful photo spots along the way. This tour was definitely worth it!

That evening we were pretty exhausted and just wanted something really simple to eat. A short walk from our Airbnb was this gourmet hot dog place called Aux Petits Oignons. They were delicious. We were just 2 Americans enjoying gourmet French hot dogs! HERE’S A VIDEO OF OUR WINERIES TOUR AND LUBERON VILLAGES VISITS.

Day 7: Lavendar Fields and Arrival in Marseille

The next morning we headed out on a half-day Lavendar fields tour. Our guide took us to two beautiful Valensole Plateau lavendar fields and a distillery.

We also got a picture in this beautiful sunflower field located near the distillery.

We also went into the town of Valensole for a little bit where we sampled some lavender cookies and lavender gelato.

The lavender gelato was actually pretty good. It was a nice refreshing little stop.

Next, we headed back into Aix and went to one of my favorite restaurants of the entire trip…Restaurant Tita. I got the chicken shwarma plate and was in heaven. This place is only open for lunch and you need a reservation. We didn’t know that, but we were able to make a reservation after the main lunch crowd. I would highly recommend this if you are ever in Aix!!

After lunch, we headed by train to our final destination of Marsielle. Marseille is the second largest city in France and on the southern coast. The picture below is the view of the city you see when you arrive at the train station. It was beautiful. We walked all the way down that hill to our Airbnb. We were just glad it was downhill.

Our Airbnb wasn’t quite ready and was having a maintenance issue. The owner worked as quickly as possible to get it resolved, but it took several hours. We were hot and very tired and really just wanted to relax. So we found a cafe near the port, and we relaxed there for a while.

Then when it still wasn’t ready, we did some more walking and found a nice British style pub near the water…oh the irony. We had a great time.

Our Airbnb was finally ready, and it really was perfect for the two of us. The only downfall was walking up 4 flights of stairs. But it overlooked the roofs of Marsielle and had lots of charm. Our host was very nice and offered us a partial credit on our stay due to the problems. We didn’t have any issues once we were there.

Overall, I didn’t absolutely love Marsielle. It was more of a party vibe, and not quite as clean as Aix. It’s a bigger city, and it has the things you would expect…and lots of grafitti. I was shocked at how much grafitti I saw on these beautiful old buildings. It made me kind of sad.

However, I’m so glad we visited Marseille because we had one of our most favorite and memorable days of the trip. It was a day I was most apprehensive about too! HERE’S A VIDEO OF OUR DAY 7!

Day 8: Calanques Boating Excursion

We booked a half day boating excursion with Bleu Evasion. This excursion took us out to see the Calanques on the coast, which are little coves. I get really motion sick, so I was scared to death to be in the middle of the water on a rocking boat and sea sick. I took my Dramamine, ate a good breakfast, and we got on the boat. Our guide, Christophe, was absolutely wonderful!! We stopped at a few and got to swim in the Mediterranean Sea. It was definitely a “pinch me moment.”

And I’m sharing the picture below which I took after having a super emotional moment. This was the last event of the trip, and this trip was the trip of a lifetime. It was in this moment that I got so emotional as a I realized all that we had accomplished and it was a result of all that I had planned. I couldn’t believe I planned all this!! I was so proud of us, and I couldn’t wait to get back home to our kids in this moment. HERE’S A VIDEO OF OUR DAY!

That afternoon we grabbed a bite to eat, grabbed our luggage and ubered to the airport. We caught a flight back to Paris. We stayed at the Hyatt Place at the CDG airport. The next morning, we headed home to see our kiddos!