its coming to the time when i need to book this years summer break to southern france. we will be stoppng between 7-10 nights depending on cost.
the places im looking at going and avoiding are;

avoiding;
st tropez
cannes
monaco

going;
nice,
st maxime,
frejus,

from experience, are any of the above locations reasonable. i am not going for a budget hoilday but also cant warrant £2k for acomadation plus a fortune when i get there! so i would be looking at £2.5k for 2 people all in, with acomadation and food and drink. we dont want nightlife etc but fairly quiet,hotel pool,beach within walikng distance,decent resteraunts for reasonable value! or a small villa ( i know these are more expensive acommadation-wise but we would save loads on food and drinks etc if we stayed at the villa for a large amount of time)
any help would be great,thanks

[Edited on 13/5/11 by daniel mason]

Go little bit further north of Italy ..... Piedmont,Tuscany, Lombardy Veneto, Umbria, Trentino-Alto Adige.
We started going to Norther Italy about 6 years ago and have been hooked ever since, last year was the exception we went further south.

[Edited on 13/5/11 by britishtrident]

was hoping for beach areas bt. we will be travelling by car as i dont like flying at all.

i believe splitrivet (bob) on here had a house down that way that he rents out. Might be worth a look, though iirc not too close to the sea.

cheers joelp, but i have already spoke to him re this and its not what i was after

My place is quite a bit from the sea (about 1 3/4 hours) set in the middle of the countryside.
The south west coast is a lot cheaper than the mediterranean and not so commercialised look around the vienne or charente maritime the next departements over from mine, nice and easy to drive to and more the feel of real France although in August all of France quits work and heads south.
If you drive over from the tunnel you have to add 2 hours or so more to your travel time rather than going via Portsmouth- Caen but you'll save about £200 on the crossing and its 40 mins to cross the channel rather than 7 hours.
Cheers,
Bob

My brother's dad has a place near Carcassonnes in the south, about an hour from the Mediterranean and half an hour from the Pyrenees. The countryside is beautiful, and Spain is pretty close over the iawesome mountains of the Pyrenees (some absolutely cracking roads too). I went recently for skiing, and I imagine its brilliant in summer too. I don't know about costs too much for renting villas but i'd have though it'd be cheaper than the South coast closer to Italy.

I am a big fan of Northern Spain - Have you looked at Girona ?


Ryanair flights from all over the UK


Excellent public transport


And not many Brits.


Lots of culture and scenery- 10euro on train to Barcelona etc.



Loads of Spanish type folk.



Hire a car and drive to Andorra, or go look round the Dali Gallery in Figueres.



Menu del dia is around 15euro each - 3 courses,wine and coffee.



And only around 40 minutes up the A7 into Southern France if you want to do Perpignan for the day.



http://www.trekearth.com/gallery/Europe/Spain/Catalonia/Girona/Girona/photo894609.htm

Were staying HERE later this year, driving down on a friday and staying for 7 nights. Theres beaches nearby, as well as a couple of water parks within an hours drive.