France
My recommendation is to do a combination trip staying in both Paris and Cannes. It's the best of both worlds and gives you city, culture and a beach resort all in one vacation. I recommend visiting the city of Paris first if you are traveling with kids. We went to Cannes first and it was nice to have a beach day with jetlag from LA but my kids had no desire to pick up the pace for the city afterwards. I think conquering the city and then relaxing in the beach clubs along the French Riviera is a better method. We flew between the two cities, but you can easily take the train instead. If you are going to fly, Nice is the airport you will use for the South of France and I highly recommend flying into Orly airport in Paris (ORY). This is much smaller and easier to get into and out of than Charles de Gaulle (CDG). This was my third trip to Paris so we only stayed for three nights and then spent the majority of our time in Cannes enjoying the slower pace that the French Rivera offers. I've stayed in Nice previously and didn't love it as much as staying in Cannes. Nice is a bigger city with more people and rocky beaches. Cannes has incredible shops to explore, sandy beaches and wonderful beach clubs and hotels. This is where the advertising and film festivals occur each year so you know it's good enough to draw in the rich and famous and have them return year after year. From Cannes you can easily take a train or ferry ride to visit all of the surrounding towns. Ile Sainte-Marguerite is a quick 5-minute ferry ride from Cannes and has great snorkeling and diving with caves to explore. The island aslo has a delicious outdoor restaurant with stunning views, a small cafe on the water and a Royal fort (more like a museum) to explore where the famous prisoner, the Man with the Iron Mask was imprisoned for 11 years on the island.
You can also take a ferry to Monaco (which my kids absolutely loved) and gamble in the Monte Carlo casino like James Bond. Warning it was a bit windy in June during our visit and some people got a bit sea sick and chose a diferent method of transportation home. You can take a different ferry to St. Tropez and return to Cannes the same day. Nice is one quick train stop from Cannes if you want to explore the shops and beaches. It's worth staying on the train a little longer and strolling the cobblestone alleys of the seaside village of Villefranche-sur-Mer or continuing on to Eze where all of the perfumes are made and you can tour the perfume factory. Antibes was my favorite train stop and we took an Uber to Hotel du Cap-Eden-Rock and had dinner by the sea. They have a very strict dress code here and will not bend the rules. My youngest daughter and I had a fabulous dinner. My husband and oldest daughter were turned away because of their clothing chioces. Don't think I'm mean for ditiching them. Before we left the hotel, I told them to change because they wouldn't get in and they chose to ignore me. I didn't say I told you so but I did enjoy the dinner and told them all about how unbelievable the food and views were. They've dressed better for dinners since then :)
As for Paris, no matter what you do you can't go wrong. The food is heavy but delicious and every which way you look there is something else to explore. My favorites were:
Going to the top of the Arc de Triomphe
Going to the top of the Effile Tower and separately watching it light up at nightfall (be outside and in full view for this). It's a memorable moment
Spending three hours in the Lourve and seeing the Mona Lisa (I don't recommend planning less time than that to explore the museum unless you only have a few exhibits you want to see)
Taking a boat ride down the Seine River
Going to a market buying wine, cheese and champagne and sittting in a park among the locals having a picnic
Touring the Champagne houses and caves in Reims and Epernay
Touring the grand palace and gardens of Versailles
Visiting Basilique du Sacre-Coeur and Cathedrale Notre-Dame
For specific hotel and restaurant recommendations I will add an update when I have that page finished. As for the activites all of the above are a must do but it took me three trips to Paris to experience this entire list. To be honest, I belive all of the above are worth experiencing and the long lines to explore them but my favorite moments in Paris were strolling the streets, stopping at random cafes, eating in the park with Parisians and just taking the city in organically. Exploring Reims, Epernay and Versailles is a full day commitment for each excursion but I really enjoyed those experiences.
