South of France February/March

[skylineonfire]

Is it unrealistic to expect favorable weather and relative warmth for a 10 day jaunt to the south of France in Feb or March?

I've got 40 days paid vacation to use before April 1st and I really want to at least fit one trip in. Any recommendations as to the quickest way to warmish weather or at least a relatively safe bet of sunshine and good roads in the south of France, Spain etc?

[John933]

That time of the year is going to be a catch can type of weather. More in to southern Spain and you have a better chance of the sun. France that time of the year is usually wet. It can rain hard as late as May. Good bet is your gong to catch some crap.
John933
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My trip

[Peirre oBollox]

you have 2 or more options to get to the South of France (Nice) or further afield fast, without the bike and avoid the few days of nasty weather riding through France at that time of year.
BUT its not cheap
1. Ride it to Paris and shove it on the autotrain, https://autotrain.uk.voyages-sncf.com/en/ then take a train later or the next day, pick it up and ride. Then do the reverse to get it home.
or use the Autozug trains https://www.dbautozug.de/autozug-en/destinations/ for places elsewhere.
2. Have the bike shipped to Nice, you take the bike to 1 of several depots in the UK a few days ahead of your trip, have it strapped to a stillage, then a truck takes it to a local depot in Nice, and then you catch a cheap flight to the south of France grab a taxi from the airport, pick up the bike & ride, enjoy. Then when finished drop the bike off back at the local depot in Nice take a taxi to the airport go home & pick the bike up in the UK a few days later.
Take a look at www.flybikefly.com to see what I mean. These guys had a stand at the NEC bike show which is where I saw them
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I accept no responsibility for swearing, drinking, motorcycle riding or your pregnant teenage daughter.

[Pie-Roe]

This time last year I was in Fayence, visited Monaco, Cannes and Nice.

Weather was pleasant. Tshirt/thin jumper around midday, coat at night. Can only imagine in March it would be better.
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Previous: GSF600, FZR600 x2, ZXR750, XT600 Tenere, CB125, CZ125, ETZ 250, ER5, CCM R30, DRZ400, RF600x4, RF900x2, GS500, VTR1000F, 640 SMC, CB250 NIGHTHAWK, GT550x3, GPX750 TE610, CB500, X11x2, SV650, ZING 125, TL1000R,CB250 Superdream, CBR1100XX

[doggone]

It's getting down there though.
March can be OK but north of the Alps, like here, it can be a winter month.

[MG]

[Peirre oBollox]

I guess where the OP means as "South of France" To me it means Monaco, Cannes and Nice.
But taking the Ferry to northern Spain and crossing the Pyrenees into France, there's a good chance of Snow to consider while crossing the Pyrenees. They`ll also need to factor in the riding time to cross into France. The ferry crossing the Bay of Biscay maybe interesting as well in Winter
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I accept no responsibility for swearing, drinking, motorcycle riding or your pregnant teenage daughter.

[MG]

Well in the OP he says France, Spain etc, and he might be wise to skip France altogether and make haste to southern Spain at that time of year, as others have suggested.
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'03 Honda Cityfly 125 > '02 Honda CB500S > '98 Honda CBR600F

[RidersRest]

I would say Spain is better and you can ferry there missing out France, we spend a bit of time in Spain during the winter and live is France headed back there for a month or so...

https://www.whereistonynow.co.uk/spain13.htm

https://www.whereistonynow.co.uk/gib13.htm
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RidersRest Bikers only B&B in the beautiful Central Massif - France
Touring France not sure where to go? Central Massif on a motorcycle...

[J.M.]

The weather in the north-west of Spain was a bit bad recently. A friend of mine from San Sebastian shared the following pictures. I think I'd also favour heading down further south. (I hear they have more topless girls on the southern beaches too!)

https://scontent-b-lhr.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/t1/1780675_749226451754104_1654229719_n.jpg
https://scontent-a-lhr.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn2/t1/1604618_749226531754096_274771248_n.jpg
https://scontent-a-lhr.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn2/t1/1656275_749226601754089_1221232628_n.jpg
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2004 R1 & 2018 XSR900

[FrankGill]

[Casper]

How's the weather in Italy. The further south the hotter it is. If you cant be arsed with the riding or cold over the Pyrenees then stick the bike on a train.

https://www.seat61.com/Motorail.htm#Auto Slaap Trein

[vmax30]

[vmax30]

[gorillaonabik...]

Lived in Marseille for a few years. March is sunny and we used to go from the beach to the slopes at Pra Loup in March. Locals mostly aren't on the beach in March but we did it because we could. There are around 300 days of sunshine per year in Marseille / the Cote d'azur.

If you want to spin by Marseille, just check the Mistral isn't blowing as it reaches 60mph. Nice is more touristy and Marseille can get a little ungentlemanly.

For example, I was surprised someone tried to mug me in Marseille in broad daylight in a good area. I was an overmuscled 18 stone prop missing a few teeth, covered in bruises and sporting a 19 inch neck so I just wanted to illustrate that things can get tricky in Marseille even if you know what you're doing.

Otherwise, just enjoy Nice etc... Weather will be good enough unless you're unlucky and you can have a fantastic time. I'm tempted to go down myself around the 18th April but suspect I'll go somewhere else in France.
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FZR400 (blown engine), ZXR750 (blown engine), ZX6R (accident), CBR600 which had engine issues after which I learned to change gear..., CBR900, CBR924 (stolen), CB600, CB1300 (everything blew up), BMW K1300GT (written off, hit from rear while stationary), Bandit 1250 for a couple of months, Triumph Sprint ST 1050 (nicked) and somewhere in there, I wrote off a Ducati 748 at Cadwell.

[c-m]

Antibes, Menton are worth a visit. From the former you can take an easy ride into Cannes for a look around. From the latter Monaco is just 6KM down the road.

Menton is the warmest place in France during the winter.