dina4

If we can only explore one beach town and go to the beach for one afternoon, which should we choose? We have a 13 year old daughter and 16 year old son.
Thanks for any advice!

Underhill

Cannes is probably your best bet, as there are sand beaches there. A good portion of the Côte d'Azur coastline has pebbles rather than sand, unfortunately.

Tulips

Juan les Pins is more fun for teenagers, and also has a sandy beach. Depends on where you are staying of course.

sandi

Both Cannes and Juan la Pins are great as they have sand.

Reminder: many of the women at both take the sun topless.

Viajero2

I don't want to sound repetitious as much as I would like to emphasize the great choices Cannes and Juan Les Pins are for both, adults and teenagers. Your daughter will love the shopping stalls that border the boardwalk on Juan Les Pins. Antibes and Menton also are noteworthy. As far as topless sunbathing, it is the French Riviera, your kids are definitely old enough to handle this cultural aspect, but if you are overly concerned, avoid St. Tropez.

dina4

Thank you!
We're not concerned about the topless thing. We're staying in St. Paul de Vence and want to do one beach day or afternoon.
We will have a car, but is parking an issue in Cannes or Juan le Pins?

Tulips

When will you be there? July and August get busy, but even in July, we always drive to Juan les Pins and Cannes and find parking easily. In Cannes, there's a big car park next to the Festival hall (follow signs for Palais des Festival), which is right next to the beach. In Juan les Pins, we always find a place somewhere on the street.
From St Paul de Vence, drive down to the sea, and follow the "board du mer" route, through Antibes (you will have to go inland a bit, since you can't follow the sea through Antibes), then via Cap d'Antibes to Juan les Pins, and on towards Cannes. It's a nice road to take, and you can decide where to stop along the way. Lots of beach clubs everywhere. Juan is a little less expensive then Cannes.

Tulips

"Bord du mer"!

dina4

We'll be there in late June, but not on a weekend. Thanks for the great advice, Tulips. What is "Bord du Mer" ? Sorry.

Surfergirl

Another vote for Juan les Pins. We loved it, my son loved it, easy to find parking, great private beaches and lounge mats, shopping, food. I'm wearing my Jazz a Juan t shirt right now!

Underhill

"Bord du mer" is basically "at the seaside," in this case the road leading along the Mediterranean. It's a beautiful drive and a much quicker route into Antibes than the autoroute and then the road leading down into central Antibes--which tends to be very, very slow because of heavy traffic.

dina4

Merci!! You have been so helpful!

howian1

I have a similar questions. We will be looking at staying a week in Cannes or Nice. Would there be things to do for a 15 year old boy.