A day trip from Nice: St. Paul de Vence, Vence and Grasse

St-Paul-de-Vence is gorgeous but tourist-packed. Still worth it. If you like modern art, the Fondation Maeght is an absolute must. It's a bit of a walk from the town; I think there may be a bus stop that's just a tad closer to the FM.

Vence I enjoyed a lot. I felt like the only tourist there on a May afternoon in 2017. Vence has a rather large historic area (not super-close to the bus stop; take a map with you) but is not perched on the side of a hill like St-Paul-de-Vence, so the location isn't as spectacular. I visited both Vence and St-Paul-de-Vence by bus on the same day (spending quite a bit of time at FM), and I am a notoriously late starter, so I know those two can be combined. For what it's worth, aside from the fabulous art museum, I'd much prefer to return to Vence.

I have not been to Grasse and do not know how it will fit into a single-day trip by bus. However, it may help you to know that there is also train service to Grasse. From Nice the trip on the regional train takes 70-75 minutes each way. The train runs along the coast at least as far as Cannes before turning inland. It's possible that Grasse would combine better with one of your other side-trips. Are you going to Cannes or Antibes? At the very least, it appears that traveling by train in one direction would allow you to see some different scenery.

Since I haven't been to Grasse, I can't say with certainty whether it's worth it. My impression from reading several guide books before my trip was that it wasn't necessarily something to do if you didn't have a serious interest in perfume. There are so many interesting possibilities along the Riviera; for me, Grasse just didn't end up close enough to the top of the list.

In case you haven't found it, here's the website of Lignes d'Azur, the company providing most of the bus service in that area: https://www.lignesdazur.com/en.

I often encountered delays at the Nice-Ville station when trying to buy tickets from the vending machines. I found it helpful to buy my ticket the night before each trip. If it's not convenient for you to do that, do allow extra time at the station.

Two other train-related points:

• Pickpockets work the trains; remain alert. If someone gets into your personal space, be super-alert.

• For regional and inter-city trains, there are higher-cost and lower-cost periods. A tiny diagram of the white (peak) and blue (non-peak) times of day is posted on the vending machines, but it is very hard to read, and I don't think it addresses holidays, which are also a factor. Try to find the little paper calendar brochure when you first get to France. Ask at an information counter if you need to. If you buy a non-peak ticket and end up traveling during a peak period, I'm sure it's the same as having no ticket at all, a rather expensive experience. Although the current calendar is presumably online somewhere, I can never find it when I'm actually looking for it. Be careful; there will inevitably be older versions floating around out there, and you will need the 2019 calendar.

In fact, I just found the 2016 calendar. At least you can see what it looks like.

St. Paul de Venice is lovely. I would skip Grasse unless you are interested in going to the perfume bottle museum.

Both of your responses were so helpful! Thank you for taking the time!

Have you checked Rick's Provence and the French Riviera book? The new edition just came out. He does cover Grasse in the book. Like the others, I plan to skip it.

I was in St. Paul de Venice in April and found it to be magical. Definitely a town I want to visit again. It is a short ride from Nice. Enjoy!

First, be aware that Rick's France book has much less detail on this region than his Provence And The French Riviera book.

Second, I'm not so sure that it's easy from a transit standpoint to see all three in one day. Buses to places along the Riviera coast are frequent; to places inland, like these three, they are less frequent. Check schedules carefully, and be aware that service is quite curtailed on Sundays.

Third, I found a quick walk around the town of St. Paul de Vence sufficient. It's lovely but crowded, and felt too much like a place where local life has been replaced by catering to tourists (who came in large tour bus groups). However, I spent at least 2 hours at the Fondation Maeght outside of town, and enjoyed this a lot. I didn't get to Vence or Grasse.

We had been planning to visit Grasse when we stayed in that area a few years back - our airbnb hosts said it wasn't really that great a place to visit and suggested some other spots (caveat - unless you really want to check out the perfume stuff). We had a car rental - we stayed in Villeneuve Loubet, which wasn't far from St Paul - we didn't deal with any crowds at all - were there in early Oct, got there early, stayed thru lunch. We then stopped in Vence, but didn't stay very long. Then went to Gourdon...a little hill town, then to Antibes.

I think the day may be kinda rushed, where you're going to be using public transport. Oct you will have less daylight hours too. I'd probably pick two of the three.

Repeating a bit from the above... The tourist traffic in St. Paul de Vence will drop down quite a bit in October, it and the Foundation Maeght are the worthy stops. Bus 400 also will take you to Vence -- besides the old quarter there is also the Matisse Cathedral. When househunting we stayed just outside of town -- outside of the main hours the foot traffic drops tremendously.

Getting to Grasse really requires another day and may not be worth it, for the reasons noted above. If you do a car rental, go to Gourdon and Tourettes-sur-Loup (and the Gorges du Loup) instead. .