Antibes is between Cannes and Nice, on the South eastern coast of France.
The French Rivera has a fantastic train route with trains running from Ventimiglia, Italy to Frejus, France, 37 stations in total, the railway runs along the coast with beautiful and not so beautiful views.
It is easy to base yourself in one of these towns and do any number of day trips.
The best time to visit in my opinion would be May or September as full summer temperatures, make exploring a lot more arduous.
I mention the below towns in bold and suggest researching the others, I have been to Monaco and Cannes on previous trips and prefer the smaller more old style towns, but they are of course worth a visit.
Frejus // Saint Raphael // Mandelieu la Napoule // Grasse // Juan les Pines // Golfe Juan Vallarius // Antibes // Biot (village) // Eze // Villefranche sur Mer // Beaulieu sur mer // Nice // Monaco // Menton // Ventimiglia
The trains are quite consistent with the exception of routes to Mandelieu and Grasse, pick up a time table from any station - I can never seem to find a copy online.
The timetables are double-sided so make sure you are going the right direction and beware of 'jours de ...tours' on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, the timetable changes.
The fares are quiet expensive if you are exploring every day, Antibes to Grasse was 12.50 Euro return for one person, having limited French we didn't attempt to purchase a card similar to an Oyster card, but perhaps this is an option.
An Isabella ticket (day tripper) was mentioned by the Guardian in their article from 2011 for 10 euros, but this has increased to 20 euros a day.
Buy your train tickets before you board, the ticket officers rarely come and check tickets, we only had our tickets checked once out of 10 trips, but the fine for not having a ticket, I believe is around 80 euro.
The trains are heavily air-conditioned with toilets and generally covered in graffiti.
ARRIVING INTO NICE
Flying into Nice, I generally get the 250 bus straight into Antibes - 8 euro and a 30 minute journey, again pre-purchase your ticket at the kiosk outside the terminal, it is tiny and badly sign posted, let the bus driver know you want to get off at Antibes, and they will stop on the main road behind the Gare / train station. (2a) see map below.
Antibes Old Town is roughly the area between (10) (5) and (8)
Walking from the Gare (4) or bus station (2a) walk with the boats to your left towards (5), if you continue walking pass (5) this will take you to Millionares Quay, where the super yatches are docked, ignore the no entry signs.
Walking back towards (5) look out for the archways under the harbour ramparts, these lead to the plages - one is a tiny rock beach and the other is Plage de la Gravette, most beaches have fresh water showers on the beach. You can continue walking up the hill past (5) this will take you onto the city ramparts high above the sea, walk past Chateau Grimadi / Musee Picasso down to the main beach, around a 15 minute walk.
Back at (5) turn onto Boulevard d' Aguillon, along this road are restaurants and bars - I think the saying still applies the further away from the water the more afforable the restaurant. Avenue Thuret and up towards Rue la Republicique all have a cornucopia of restaurant choices aswell as from (5) up to (7)
(7) Is the site of the Provincial Marche (market) which is open till midday then converts into covered cafes for lunch and dinner.
(6) is the Carrefour supermarket open till 8pm, also a fantastic fruit shop next door.
(13) Is the main tourist office - there is also a small office on Avenue Verdun
(9) Musse Picasso
For the Ladies (22) or (15) or even one street up, have some good specialist stores - There is a great white porcelain store, a crystal store and a bohemian sarong/chemise store.
The English book store is at the begining of Rue Aubernon, near (5) they sell great deco postcards, have new books upstairs and a good collection of used books downstairs. The dampness downstairs is quite something.
On Thursdays there is a market in Place de Nationale and on Saturdays an Antiques market.
RECOMMENDATIONS
I suggest grabbing a map and geting lost in the Old town area between (10) (5) (9) and (8)
You will find amazing restaurants and beautiful alley ways like this.
Your TABAC is your cornerstore, these are generally open late.
If you haven't travelled in France before, learn a bit of French before you go, not everyone speaks English nor should they have to, you could get away with learning the phrase below.
"Je voudrais" (zhuh-voo-dreh)
Equals "I would like .... " I'm a fan of saying this followed by a long drawn out errrrr as my finger finds what I want on the menu, followed by a big smile and merci.
Do say Bonjour, Bonsoir (evening) and Au revoir when entering and leaving a shop/restaurant, these places are treated like entering someones home.
"Je ne parles pas francais" (Jaynay parly pa, fronsay) "I do not speak French"
Lots of Merci's, Pardon's, Excuse moi's and hand gestures are always fun.
I have never found the French rude apart from when you sit in their beautiful outdoor cafes and only order a coffee.
When ordering a coffee/cafe say:
Je voudrais un Noisette, merci (Noir-zette)
Noisette means hazelnut in French, which will be a shot or two of coffee and a little bit of fluffy milk on top - a little hazelnut.
Or order an expresso, I would avoid cafe o'lait - as the milk is UHT and always awful.
I'm a big fan of Michel Thomas for his audio french lessons, he is hilarant - his rules for his lessons are:
To relax.
Try not to remember what I am saying.
Do not write anything down.
You can actually hear him spitting as he talks.
I found 10 lessons with 10 chapters on each, just floating around on the internet.
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