OT: Monaco/Nice

[malcolm]

Going in the spring. First week of April. Should we bring the bikes and if so what is nearby? Will Alp d'Huez and the like still be too cold? I would appreciate any advice, cycling, eating, drinking etc.. Thanks

[goonster]

Monaco is really just a place where people stack money. No riding there, atmo.

April may be a great time to go to Nice. Nobody should go in August. (Ask me how I know). Regardless of the season, the coast will be pretty busy. If you bring bikes, head toward the hinterland.

If you don't have bikes, take the narrow-gauge train to Digne-Les-Bains.

The Alps are not that close. By American standards.

To Drink: Provence = Pastis + Rose. The wines will be cheap and good, but dry. Do not expect to find New World fruit bombs. Instead, instead in Sauternes with foie gras or confit de canard for twelve Euros in the supermarche.

[malcolm]

Monaco is where the conference is. I'll be looking to spend as much time away as possible. We do have 4-5 days before it starts, but don't want to stray to far, say a couple hundred miles or so.

[mosca]

Canyon Du Verdon and Lake St Croix are quite close to Nice - beautiful scenery and excellent cycling around there. San Remo is also quite close by - nice town and some real cycling history in that area.

[jeffg]

Monaco is really just a place where people stack money. No riding there, atmo.

April may be a great time to go to Nice. Nobody should go in August. (Ask me how I know). Regardless of the season, the coast will be pretty busy. If you bring bikes, head toward the hinterland.

If you don't have bikes, take the narrow-gauge train to Digne-Les-Bains.

The Alps are not that close. By American standards.

To Drink: Provence = Pastis + Rose. The wines will be cheap and good, but dry. Do not expect to find New World fruit bombs. Instead, instead in Sauternes with foie gras or confit de canard for twelve Euros in the supermarche.


April will be great.

The Alpes Maritimes has fantastic riding. The coast climbs such as the Col de Nice, Col d'Eze are just fun in the early hours (and gorgeous), out in the hinterlands (but not far) climbs such as the Col de Madone Utelle (heard of that one?), many climbs near St. Paul de Vence, and if you have a bit of time even the Col de la Bonnette.

As for wine, drinks, food etc. Provence (if not Nice/Monaco in particular) is my favorite region.

Wine: Near Nice try Bellet (white/Rose), which is in vogue now beyond provence but very hard to find, even if Paris.

As for Rose, I am a fan of Bandol and its red as well.

The Vaucluse has Gigondas, Vacqueras, Chateauneuf-du-Pape (Red).

Palette has good red, rose and white.

Dessert wine: You have to have a Muscat de Beaumes de Venise chilled with macerated fruit or a simple fruit tart with lavender honey ice cream. Sauternes is froo-froo stuff from that other wine region of France ...

Spirits: Marc de Provence, which is not as elegant as Cognac and is more like Grappa, but, like Pastis, is great with a Grand Aioli (only try if you can stand so much garlic it is very spicy).

Food: Where to begin?!!! Try local specialties such as Pissaldiere, Estoficada, Daube, or just have a great grilled hangar steak over olive wood with fresh mashed anchoives and garlic on top. Exalt in vegetables, grilled fish and lamb, etc.

Sights: See Coctau's murals in Villefranche, hit the beach in Beaulieu or Cap Ferrat, check out St. Paul de Vence, the Matisse museum (in Cagnes sur Mer, I believe) and say hi to Amherst alum Price Albert. Or, you could just relax in Moustiers-St-Marie where Ducasse lets his hair down rather than the posh restaurant in Monte Carlo.

That is just a insufficient start as to what could await you if you forget the Monaco high rises and keep your eyes open ...

[velotel]

spring on the coast is terrific. The city centers themselves are as always crowded but outside of that, life is calm. Even the roads along the coast are calm that time of the year. There's excellent riding out of Nice and Menton, also over in Italy out of San Remo for example, but be prepared to climb, which apparently you are since you mentioned Alpe d'Huez, because that's what you'll have to do as the mountains rise directly from the coast between Nice and Ventimiglia. There's a sweet loop out of Menton over the Cols de Braus and Castellon, around 100 Ks with some 1400 meters of climbing, high point just over 1000 meters. Steepest grades, and not much at that, about 8%. There's a fine climb up to the Madone d'Utelle that starts in the Gorge de la Vésubia at St Jean la Rivière then you can drop down the back side (actually the last 6 Ks are an out and back to the summit) and then attack the climb to Col d'Andrion if you want a challange. The upper section after a few Ks of flat features 7 Ks with an overall average of 9%. This is an up and back climb as the otherside is an unpaved forest road. Then there's the Col de Turini with three different routes to the col. This can be tied in with the Col de Braus also. There's one version that's a slight modification of the road between l'Escarèn and the Col de Turini that features a section at around 15%.

Regarding Alpe d'Huez, I don't know what you mean by spring but if you're talking April, May for example, riding Alpe d'Huez could be very sweet indeed. Actually better than in the summer because that road bakes in the sun and can turn into a pizza oven ride. By mid April there's little traffic on the road so the climb is quite tranquil. But getting from Nice to there will entail a good 4 hours of driving via the autoroutes.

Apparently you'll have a car and if so, another very good option is to drive up the Gorge du Verdon and ride the roads around that canyon. Stay in Castellane or Moustiers St Marie. Great place, great riding.

The coast ride from Nice to St Tropez is terrific too and in the off season, St Tropez is one of my favorite villages in France. The riding in the hills between the coast and the autoroute is terrific though considerably less beautiful now due to lots of forest fires recently.

[michael white]

yes, I would mention the coast ride, the Cap de L'Esterel, I think it's called. Roughly from la Napoule around to St Tropez. It's gorgeous like you wouldn't believe, and very popular with cyclists from everywhere. Any traffic you meet will be respectful.

For art, I would say my two top visits would be to Musee Picasso in Antibes, and Fondation Maeght in St Paul-de-Vence. These are both not to be missed for the art lover.

Ypu'll probably see lots of pro riders on the roads.

If it were me, I'd spend as little time as possible in Monaco itself. But some of the little hilltowns are almost too bijoux. Everything else is fabulous.

[malcolm]

Any place in particular that would be good to base operations within a couple hundred miles of Monaco for the week preceeding the meeting as that is when we would do most of our cycling. Thanks

[velotel]

Any place in particular that would be good to base operations within a couple hundred miles of Monaco for the week preceeding the meeting as that is when we would do most of our cycling. Thanks
maybe Vaison la Romaine or Bédoin or Sault. What they all have in common is their proximity to Mont Ventoux. But while Mont Ventoux really is a great climb what I'm suggesting is much more than the mythic climb because around the mountain is a paradise of cycling featuring small roads, lots of cols of varying degrees of difficulty (mostly on the easier side, at least in terms of height), gorgeous valleys, and always a wonderfully satisfying village/town not too far away. Cycling as good as you'll find. Vaison la Romaine might be the best option as it also serves up lots of history (roman ruins), a terrific town, good restaurants, etc. Driving time from Nice is around 3 hours according to viamichelin.fr, 300 Ks distance, so that falls within your demand.

Here's a link with lots of info http://www.lemontventoux.net/description-cols.htm
It's in french but the photos are multilingual. That particular link lists cols in the vicinity. The next link, http://www.lemontventoux.net/circuits-velo.htm
lists circuits you can ride with towns, gorges, and cols listed so you can locate the routes easily with a map. Distances are given. Click on a tour link and you'll receive more detailed info and more pics.

[jeffg]

maybe Vaison la Romaine or Bédoin or Sault. What they all have in common is their proximity to Mont Ventoux. But while Mont Ventoux really is a great climb what I'm suggesting is much more than the mythic climb because around the mountain is a paradise of cycling featuring small roads, lots of cols of varying degrees of difficulty (mostly on the easier side, at least in terms of height), gorgeous valleys, and always a wonderfully satisfying village/town not too far away. Cycling as good as you'll find. Vaison la Romaine might be the best option as it also serves up lots of history (roman ruins), a terrific town, good restaurants, etc. Driving time from Nice is around 3 hours according to viamichelin.fr, 300 Ks distance, so that falls within your demand.

Here's a link with lots of info http://www.lemontventoux.net/description-cols.htm
It's in french but the photos are multilingual. That particular link lists cols in the vicinity. The next link, http://www.lemontventoux.net/circuits-velo.htm
lists circuits you can ride with towns, gorges, and cols listed so you can locate the routes easily with a map. Distances are given. Click on a tour link and you'll receive more detailed info and more pics.

Of those, Vaison would get the nod for me. The Beffroi in the medeival part of the city has fine accomodations and is not too pricey.

I would also say the hilltop villages of the Luberon are not too far from Mont Ventoux for a day trip and have other great cycling. Moustiers was also mentioned (Gorges du Verdon).

I stayed near Les Baux and still rode Ventoux quite easily, but for convenience nothing beats rolling out bed from Crillon-le-Brave or one of the nearby villages and climbing Ventoux before breakfast

[mosca]

What velotel and jeffg said - we stayed in Vaison La Romaine on my trip this summer and really liked it there. Good size town for tourists, not too big or too small. Also spent a few nights in Forcalquier, which is also a nice sized town, a little closer to Nice and in a good central location with access to a lot of great roads and scenery in rural Provence.

If you decide to go in that direction, pm me and I can give you some more specific info. The cycling there is hard to beat, I'm envious!

[malcolm]

Will Ventoux be doable in early april?

[stevep]

Of those, Vaison would get the nod for me. The Beffroi in the medeival part of the city has fine accomodations and is not too pricey.

I would also say the hilltop villages of the Luberon are not too far from Mont Ventoux for a day trip and have other great cycling. Moustiers was also mentioned (Gorges du Verdon).

I stayed near Les Baux and still rode Ventoux quite easily, but for convenience nothing beats rolling out bed from Crillon-le-Brave or one of the nearby villages and climbing Ventoux before breakfast

ditto,
great spot and nice hotel.
weather variable on ventoux. i was on ventoux in july in a snow storm.

[Pbraun]

The riding around Monaco is great! Especially if you like climbing. The col de Madone up to St Agnes begins a short ride away in Menton. The ride to Ventimiglia in Italy along the coast is nice. The col d'Eze is nearby. Ride up past Eze to La Turbie and over the ridge to Peille. Then ride to L'Escarene to Sospel. Get a decent map and head inland for some really excellent riding. I had a conference there for several years and always brought my bike. It was like a dream come true.

[velotel]

Will Ventoux be doable in early april?
Could be hot and dry, could be cold, snowy, and closed. And both within the same week. But in France no problem because there is more great riding than you can probably imagine. If the weather around Ventoux is down, stay on the coast and ride in the mountains above Nice/Monaco and over along the coast in Italy. It's all great.