Family Holidays: South of France family holidays and breaks

Take the Family holiday rating 4½ stars out of 5

Why

The area of France that stretches from Marseilles to the Italian border at Menton, or in other words the Côte d'Azur, is for many people the ultimate Mediterranean playground. The undisputed queen of the coast in the 19th and early 20th Century, this beautiful area has suffered from massive overdevelopment and in many places has become a pastiche of its former self. It is however, still possible to find between the frenetic tourist traps a land of remarkable beauty and if you can visit out of season, you will find the blue water, mimosa blossom and smell of pine in the sunshine completely captivating. The famous centres of Cannes, Nice, St. Tropez and the tiny principality of Monaco are still magnets for the rich and famous and even if the allure is not quite what it was, it is still a place to touch celebrity magic.

Top left: Monaco harbour
Top middle: Monte Carlo Casino
Top right: Sailing in the Gulf of St Tropez

Bottom left: Stretch of beach at Nice
Bottom right: Endless beach at Côte d'Argent

Do

Visit Monaco, it is an extraordinary place and if not exactly beautiful, makes up for it with the large quantity of beautiful people who live there. A shopping, gambling, gawping mecca, it is not quite like anywhere else on earth. May we particularly recommend the fabulous aquarium for children, set up by Jacques Cousteau and part of the Grimaldi castle in the old walled town; it is a magical introduction to the sea, which glimmers just out of the windows. We also recommend some serious yacht-spotting; this is the harbour for million dollar boats, with glamorous crews to match.

St-Tropez, once a pretty little fishing village before the invasion of firstly the Impressionists, drawn by the exquisite light, then the likes of Cocteau and Collette and finally Brigitte Bardot who introduced St-Tropez to the world. The international cult of St-Tropez, sun, sex and celebrities is still in force today. When bored of the miles of overly -oiled bare flesh take the children to the beaches either side of St-Tropez proper or to Port Grimaud, where the unabashed hedonism is a little quieter.

Nice can be a wonderful place to go with children. In season there are a million things laid on for les petits. Adults may be dubious about the delights of the Promenade des Anglais, with its promenading weirdoes, but children of all ages seem enchanted by this massive seaside walkway, where they can run, rollerblade, stop every couple of feet for an ice-cream, throw stones into the water (only at high tide!) and generally muck about by the sea. As for the adults, once you’ve had a few good gulps of sea air and got in the mood, then even the miniature poodles will (after a while) seem strangely charming.

Eat

Provencal cuisine is rightly famous internationally; there won’t be too many surprises for your children here, unless it is how delicious it all is. We recommend shopping at local markets for simple produce and whipping up your own baguette based picnic. Avoid places with menus in many different languages, the small local one will usually provide much nicer food for a fraction of the price.