nice - Travel With A Butterfly

Ah… Nice! The most central location for the French Riviera. Nice is probably the best place to serve as your base when visiting French Riviera. In fact, it was where we stayed most days when we were visiting Monaco, Eze, Menton, Cannes, and almost went to Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferret if it weren’t time constraints.

Today, I will write a blog about the two hotels we stayed at, and the random things we did around Nice. If you want to find more information about where to eat in Nice, you should check out my Bakeries to Fine Dining Restaurants in Nice blog post as I cover a few bakeries, and from a simple café to a one star Michelin fancy restaurant.

For everything about French Riviera, here are the couple of blog posts you should read about as well after this – my first time at Cote D’Azur, one day itinerary at Menton and Monaco, one day itinerary for Èze and Cannes, visiting a vineyard at Chateau de Cremat, seeing lesser known touristy spots like Saint Maxime, Verdon Gorge, Plateau de Valensole, and Gréoux-les-bains, and a weekend at Saint Tropez.

Let’s start.

Continue reading The Ultimate Guide For Exploring Nice

France

The Fantastic Bakeries to the Fine Dining Restaurants in Nice, France

ByRyan Lee

Since there is so much stuff I want to write about for Nice, I’m going to be splitting the Nice blog posts into two parts – basically one for the places I ate, which will be this blog post, and everything else, including the hotels, in the next post. We ate a diverse range of different restaurants, from bakeries and pastries, to taverns, to one star Michelin starred restaurants.

Here are all the blog posts I’ve written so far about the French Riviera:

My first time at Cote D’azur

A One Day Itinerary to Menton and Monaco

One Day Itinerary for Èze and Cannes

Chateau de Cremat – the Bellet wine vineyard near Nice

Sainte Maxime, Plateau de Valensole, Verdon Gorge, and Gréoux-les-bains

What We Recommend for you to do in Saint Tropez

The Ultimate Guide For Exploring Nice

Continue reading The Fantastic Bakeries to the Fine Dining Restaurants in Nice, France

France

Hidden Gems of the French Riviera – Sainte Maxime, Plateau de Valensole, Verdon Gorge and Gréoux-les-Bains

ByRyan Lee

When you search French Riviera, you will often see the search results filled with Nice, Eze, Monaco, Cannes, Antibes, and Saint Tropez. Actually, why bother searching when I could tell you about my first time going to Cote D’Azur? Or I wrote again in my blog (2nd time going) about going to Eze and Cannes and Menton and Monaco. So you can check all of them out. You can see my video clips at https://www.youtube.com/@travelwithabutterfly. Or if you’re like me, a tourist who wants to visit the off beaten paths and go to less touristy places, you can check out Sainte Maxime, Plateau de Valensole, Verdon Gorge and Gréoux-les-Bains. It’s so less touristy that most of the people in the region, including the staff in the hotel, that they actually don’t speak English at all. You can also read about Saint Tropez or places to eat in Nice or things to do in Nice.

We stopped by Sainte Maxime from Saint Tropez because we had to drop off our friend. He had to go back to Nice to catch his flight the next day. At first, he didn’t really want to go to Saint Tropez because of the inconvenience of going to St. Tropez and back to Nice and worried he might miss his flight. But since we were driving to Plateau de Valensole for the lavender fields, we would pass by Sainte Maxime there, which would be easier for him to catch an Uber, take it to Saint-Raphaël, and take a train back to Nice in the evening. I think the uber from Saint Maxime to Saint-Raphaël costed about €50. Had he taken from Saint Tropez directly to Nice, it would probably costed him €300!!

Continue reading Hidden Gems of the French Riviera – Sainte Maxime, Plateau de Valensole, Verdon Gorge and Gréoux-les-Bains

Spain

The Matadors in Seville

ByRyan Lee

When you think of the culture of Spain, one might imagine passion, royalty, and excitement. Seville embodies these traits perfectly, and its passionate heat was felt throughout my time there; it was hot enough to wear t-shirts during the day whereas in Barcelona it was already cold.

Seville is notable for its bullfighting events and its flamenco dancing. I was unable to witness either of them, although I did watch some flamenco dancing that was on the streets.

In a way, Seville reminded me of Nice (you can read my blog about Cote d’Azur here), where everything was spacious, a tram ran through the city center, it was the whole vibe and atmosphere that was very similar… I guess both cities being part of the Southern part of their respective countries lends itself to create such an atmosphere.

Continue reading The Matadors in Seville

France

Cote D’Azur with Arnold Schwarzenegger, Yachts, and Bastille Attack

ByRyan Lee

You see all these pictures of the French Riviera and think this area cannot be that nice right? Right? When I arrived in Nice, it was everything I expected and more.

I was based mainly in Nice for the week I was at Cote D’Azur… Nice is ideal if you’re traveling to places like Monaco, Antibes, Eze, and Saint Tropez. Actually, I would recommend staying one night at Saint Tropez as there is no public transportation to go there (well very inconvenient), so usually people either take the boat or drive there themselves. Besides Saint Tropez (spent a night there), all of my other trips were day trips. I didn’t go to Marseille, but from what I’ve looked at you will probably need more than a day there plus it is a bit farther. However, you can definitely go there by public transportation, ideally the SNCF train. Continue reading Cote D’Azur with Arnold Schwarzenegger, Yachts, and Bastille Attack

Misc.

Luxurious Airbnb Places Around The World

ByRyan Lee

Got a bit of dough to throw around? Want to impress your girlfriend/boyfriend? Want some motivation in your life? Look no further. I’ve provided ten accommodations from Airbnb from around the world that will guarantee to make your wallet thinner. I selected these accommodations based on pricing, uniqueness, and feel… some of the accommodations I saw, as expensive as they were, didn’t seem very “luxurious” and felt too “homey” for me. I set out to find accommodations that define luxury.

Important Update (Nov. 8, 2022): Upon trying to repair the broken images on this page, I realize that 9 out of the 10 Airbnb links redirected you to their homepage airbnb.com, presumably because the original airbnbs aren’t listed anymore. I apologise if you have been brought here. But don’t worry, I will be continuing to do top 10 airbnb places in different cities again soon. Continue reading Luxurious Airbnb Places Around The World