Why? When my boyfriend (now my husband) was spending a year in Cannes as part of his university French course, I would save up to fly over and see him every other month. There was nothing quite like the joy of touching down at Nice airport for the start of a visit. It's so romantic down there - a glamorous destination with waving palm trees and a glittering sea.

The best thing: Sipping champagne cocktails at the Hotel du Cap, watching the sun sink into the sea at the end of the day. Also picnics taken in the Gorges du Verdon, a spectacular river valley high up in the Alpes-Maritimes.

My ideal day: I'd get up early and make for Antibes or Nice market to buy food and fresh local fish for dinner. I'd have a long, lazy lunch at the Colombe d'Or, followed by a siesta. I'd get up for a refreshing swim before cocktails and dinner on the terrace.

My advice: Seek out posh hotels for champagne cocktails. You get all the fun and glamour of the hotel for a fraction of the price of staying there.

Getting there: easyJet (0871 7500100, easyjet.com) flies Stansted-Nice from around £73pp return.

Where was your best holiday? A villa holiday near Antibes.

What is the best hotel you have ever stayed in? Hotel Meurice in Paris (033 1 4458 1010, meuricehotel.com, from €636 per room per night) - it is staggeringly glamorous.

Where do you want to go next? New York City. I've never been.

What do you never travel without? Earplugs and a notebook.

· Wendy Holden's fifth novel, Azur Like It (Headline, £12.99), is inspired by 15 years of visits to the south of France. It is published on September 15.