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Cannes port (cruise)

Posted by (Massachusetts) on

In July I will be on a cruise with my family. We will be spending one day at the Cannes port. I believe it is a 10 hour stop (although a little less because it is a tender). I have Rick's Mediterranean Cruise ports book, but I still have some questions.
We don't want to spend all of the day in Cannes...maybe walk around for an hour or two and spend some time in another spot.
We are looking for some suggestions.

Here are my possible ideas...
1. Antibes for a few hours and then go back to Cannes for a little while (whatever is left before we have to head back to the ship). My question is how often is the train between Cannes and Antibes? Is a bus a better option for traveling between these two places? (Rick's book only mentions the train and bus from Nice to Antibes). It looks like the train is only 15 minutes. Is that right?

  1. Second choice is going to Nice for the whole time...maybe with an excursion. I'm not generally a huge fan of large tours, but I understand that they can be efficient when cruising.

  2. Rick's book mentions boat excursions to two little islands near Cannes (St. Marguerite or St. Honorat). Has anyone done that? This sounds fun.

  3. Excursion to St. Tropez. There is a recommended site in Rick's book and that website doesn't work.

Posted by
28096 posts

For checking train schedules I recommend the very user-friendly Deutsche Bahn website. It won't show fares for French trains, but the fares on the regional trains along the Riviera are modest, and this is the easiest way to see how frequent the trains are. Use a date next week that matches the day of the week you're at Cannes.

Your origin is Cannes. Use Nice Ville as the destination so you can see all the stops along the way. Choose one of the trains and click on "Show details" then on "Show intermediate stops". The train I chose gets to Antibes in 13 minutes and all the way to Nice in 40 minutes.

You don't need a tour to go to Nice or any other coastal town; the train, though it makes frequent stops, will probably be at least as fast as a tour bus, and your time will be your own. However, if you hope to see a number of places along the Riviera, including at least one hill town (like Eze or St-Paul-de-Vence), a cruise excursion might be the prudent approach.

St.-Tropez doesn't have a train station, so getting there involves either a bus or a train and a bus. I haven't been there, but given the many easier-to-reach options, it's not what I would choose on a port day.

I also have not been to any of the islands near Cannes. Or to Monaco, for that matter. But I know a lot of people want to go to Monaco. It you're potentially interested in Monaco, you can choose Menton as your destination on the Deutsche Bahn website, and Monaco-Monte Carlo will be one of the stops on the way. But that takes about 70 minutes from Cannes.

I do not cruise, but I think the usual suggestion is to head first for the place farthest away from your port, then work your way back. That gives you more flexibility if you run into some sort of transportation glitch. I wouldn't want to have to pay for a taxi all the way from Monaco to Cannes, for example.

I think Antibes is a very good choice. It is both attractive and convenient. Hard to beat that combination.

Posted by
4267 posts

Check out ToursByLocals.com. You can hire a private tour guide. The website lists different tours under the cruise excursion heading and the various guides. The guides are all licensed. We used them during a British Isles cruise.

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