25th Anniversary in France?

[cruisinskier]

Hi all. We are considering an Azamara cruise in late April 2013 in the south of France. My wife really wants to do France and I can probably easily be convinced.

 

This cruise starts in Barcelona (which we really enjoyed earlier this year and would be glad to go back), spends 2 days in Marseille, a full day at each of St Tropez and Cannes, and then overnights in each of Nice and Monaco. Our post cruise plans at this early stage are to then spend a few days seeing the sights driving from Monaco to Geneva where we would then fly on to Paris for 3-4 days to end the trip.

 

I guess my questions are, given the above itinerary, is there enough of a variety between these ports? The ports are fairly close together so wondering if there is enough variety and options for an active couple (we will both be 49 at the time). We like to see local history, visit scenic villages and we typically have a fairly full itinerary in each port to see as much as possible. We enjoy lots of walking to truly see the local culture. A few hours on a beach is enjoyable but we are not "beach people", I burn too easily and spend my time thinking of the sights I am missing. :o We typically do not do many ship tours as we would rather customize port excursions via private tours or DIY to maximize our time and see the things important to us.

 

We have just started doing some research and it looks like there is lots to do in the Marseille area (Aix, Arles, Avignon, etc) and we were not able to dock at Monaco earlier this year so other than Barcelona, all ports would be new to us.

 

We would appreciate any feedback you can provide in regards to these ports. I think my biggest concern is that visiting St Tropez, Cannes, Nice & Monaco all on the same trip, is there enough to keep us busy in each port without revisitng places we saw in the previous port? With 4 stops within 125 km, it also gives us the chance to see places that we missed in the previous port.

 

Post cruise our plans at this early stage are to drive for 3-4 days from Monaco to Geneva, stopping to see whatever appeals (who am I kidding...I will have it all planned out by then!.......we do want to see Chamonix which based on my screen name I would rather do in the winter!). We then hope to fly from Geneva to Paris for another 3-4 days before we return home. But these plans could easily change as we continue with research.

 

So what do you think? We definitely want to see Eze and St Paul de Vence but other than the port towns, what else is there to do at these stops?

Thanks!!