Pierre et Vacances Heliotel Marine — Hotel in Grasse

I walked from the airport to the Hotel, which means, it is close to it. You can see planes landing and and starting from your balcony, so be prepared for the noise. For me, it was not so bad, if kept the window closed, especially, when during peak times like 6 a.m.

The reception was friendly, helpful and efficient. The studio has a sofa, which can be turned into a bed. The matress was firm, the pillow okay. You have to move the desk to open the bed. As I was alone, I kept the table at the wall. The kitchen is well equiped, only downside are the cutting knives, which don't cut at all. The air-condition works well and silently. The bathroom is not big and they offered just two pieces of soap and one roll of toilet-paper. No shampoo, no hair-dryer.

I was lucky to get a studio on the top-floor at a corner of the building, which meant, I had a L-shaped balcony of about 16 square meters. Just brilliant!

The beach is very close, just across the street, and there are even trees, where you can sit/lay in the shadow, if you want. The sea is just beautiful, very clean and blue. There is no sand beach but pebbles, so you may want to bring swimming-shoes, if you are sentive. Otherwise take it as a feet massage.

The next acceptable supermarket is a bit of a walk, but there is a small shop/bar next street, where can get e.g. croissants, bread, beverages etc.

There a bus stops nextby and also two train stations are not too far away. At the seaside there are rent-bikes available to cycle in Nice area for a reasonable price.

If you like shopping, you will find a very big mall not far away. On the way to it you will find several restaurants. Expect to pay...

I am impressed with Heliotel in St Laurent du Var. Previously I had been a guest 3 times in P&V in Nice (proximite Parc de Indochine) so I was expecting something similar. This time the apartment was so spacious that I believed we had been given a bigger one by mistake. We were 3, but there was space for 2 adults more. Very big balcony we did not use so much. Breakfast in apartment saves some bucks. Very pleasant people servicing the hotel. Biggest swimming pool I ever seen (Olympic size?). Swam many hours in pool and in the sea, using the public beach. Free parking! Grocery shop 700 m away (SPAR). I used my car to shop in the nearby huge Casino. We discovered that in the beach area that there are 10+ restaurants and "night clubs". Very discrete; no signs visible when driving on the road from Nice. Location ideal for Nice airport. But there is no noisy from the planes, anywhere! Why? Because of the sea? I have no clue. Sporty people can easily walk and jog to Nice center. The tourist bus line 100, 200, 500 takes along the coastline to Nice. It costs 1.5 EUR per person for 74 minutes. Parking in Nice was also easy, but not free! Visited Casino harbor in Monaco and went to Cannes after holidays in P&V was finished. We will certainly consider to visit P&V again. Only positive memories. We live in Geneva region and it only takes a few hours to drive to Nice region (via Grenoble and Sisteron). The climate in the south is fantastic the whole year. We visited in middle of September so we could walk outside without sweating, no sunburning and practically have the whole sea for ourselves (bigger than any pool, and you do not need to fill it with water...

Basic vacation needs met. We rented a ca. 48 sm apartment with views to the backside/mountains. Floorplan was very spacious and good size balcony. Kitchen was very sparingly equipped (but reception gave us some much needed spare cups and bowls). A small starter cleaning kit was included. Water boiler, toaster and coffee machine were in the kitchen. Unfortunately, there was no exhaust fan over the stove top, so boiling pasta water caused a lot of humidity on the upper cabinets. The fridge had a good size, with a small freezer. Bathroom was very roomy, but the tub's enclosure was a little to short, so you had water on the floor and the shower head was very low. The apartment had 2 large closets (8 hangers!!!!) and the bedroom had access to the balcony. Living room had two day beds and a good sized table for 5. Balcony has a table with 4 chairs, plus a lounge chair and a drying rack. No washer and dryer in the unit. Located in -1 for EUR 6 per wash (7 kg) including detergent and EUR 1.50 for 10 minute drying time. Washing summer clothes in the sink worked for us. Pool was kept up daily and not as full as we thought, being the 14th of July week and weekend. Pool bar prices okay. Tennis EUR 10 for 1 hour. Pastries and breads can be delivered to your apartment for a little extra (30 cents extra for a baquette, versus the bakery nearby). Overall, for a family of 5, it was a great getaway. We did not feel cramped. And although we saw the planes land over the M. Sea to the Nice airport, there was no noise. Also very little...