Hyeres, Sanary or Juan-les-Pins with Kids??

All of these look beautiful, but which would be best for two schoolage kids and two adults who like nice beaches, shopping, good restaurants and not too many American tourists..

We%26#39;ve visited Sainte Maxime and loved it, just wanted to try something diffrent.

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Hi, I don%26#39;t know St Juan les Pins but I would pick Hyeres over Sanary. Sanary is Ok, but fairly small. Hyeres gives you the old town (with ruined castle), a five mile peninsula with beaches either side, islands at the end of the peninsula two of which you can visit, loads of water sport and is very very popular with French families. If you stay there you need to decide whether to stay near the beach or in the town. It%26#39;s useful to have a car though there are buses along the peninsula but note these do not run late in the evening. My own preference is for staying in the town (Hotel les Orangers) but you might prefer to be by the sea eg in La Capte. Have a look at www.hyeres-tourisme.fr

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Thank you for the input. We will have a car, so we are mobile. I actually found a nice villa in Hyeres town.

Is there a promenade area to walk around with shops and restaurants? Is it livelier than Sanary/Bandol area?

Thanks so much

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I know juan les pins well but not the others - in summer JLP is very buzzy with a lot of tourists - especially ones in their mid 20s-30s

Its not rowdy and is a family friendly place with nice beaches but to be honest i think Old Antibes would be a better choice over JLP

Staying there you would have the option of going to juan les pins easily but be staying in a quieter , more historic area [old town, castles,picasso museum , markets etc] - plus public transport is better from Antibes for exploring the wider area.

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Hyeres is sort of split, the mediaeval town is a coupla miles inland, and has touristy shops and some wonderful delis, and a huge range of restaurants. The beaches have sort of beach shops along them and the village of Giens actually has its own market (Hyeres main town has a market on, I think Saturdays). It%26#39;s a really spread out, spaced out sort of place. There are ordinary shops in the town too of course. If you go on to the island of Porquerolles it has a few shops and restaurants too, no cars, fab beaches and pine forests.

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Sorry, missed the second half of your question. I was in Bandol last year and visited Sanary and Sanary was Ok though a bit ordinary I thought, I didn%26#39;t like Bandol (and I was there for a week, so I had plenty of time not to like it! Hope I%26#39;m not offending anyone by saying so). What I like about Hyeres is there%26#39;s loads to do (for me, anyway), the old town to explore, all those beaches, the Roman site at Olbia, you can take a trip to Le Lavandou etc.