Touring - Marseille or Nice

We are going to be spending 3 months in France starting late April 2006. Our plan is to start in the South and work our way North as the weather warms up. We are not sure whether to fly into Marrseille or Nice. The one that is the easiest to get out of on a tandem and easy to get to accomodation for the first night, as we will be in zomby land after flying direct from New Zealand with a 6 hr stop in San Francisco and 2 hrs in Frankfurt. Any help will be most appreciated.
Cheers Brian & Sue

Marseille would probably be better in the situation you described. Overall, cycling along the Cote d'Azur (French Riviera) is not too pleasant due to heavy traffic. You can go due north from the Nice airport to avoid much of the traffic, but that puts you in the Alps by the end of your first day of riding. (I've done that myself, and the 2nd day I biked over the Col de la Bonnette. But this was intentional and immediately after biking on Corsica.)

From Marseille, you'll have a much wider choice of places to go. A good option for your first night would be a short ride to Aix-en-Provence, a lovely town that's much more tranquille than Marseille. There are lots of accomodations available in Aix.

Thanks for that, the Alps on the second day would not go down well with my Stoker.
Cheers Brian & SUe

Hello!

I was in France in 2002, arrived in Nice and left from Marseille, did Corsica and Provence. If we talk only about airport, Nice is certainly a very nice place to arrive. You are right in town with bicycle path from the airport. It is great. Marseille is too big for my taste but if you want to arrive in Marseille, there is a small camping ground near the airport called "Marina Plage". Not the nicest camping I have seen but definitely very near the airport (10 minutes) by bike.

I spent a few days in the Nice area. Very, very crowded.

Thanks Guys. Decisions, decisions, decisions. Marseilles sounds good with the camping ground so close. Any other advise greatly appreciated.
Cheers Brian & Sue

Do you know if this camping ground is open in April. We are landing on th 15th April and just want somewhere to bed down for a night and get our bearings. I've looked at their web site but it is not that usefull. I can't find out if it is open for camping or not. Can some one help.
Cheers Brian & Sue