Cruise ship docks in Nice for one day

Nice is on the French Riviera, but it doesn't sound like there's enough time to leave town. It has beaches, but they are pebbly.

Nice is the French Riviers. Where do you want to go. Monoco ?? Villefrance ???

Stay in Nice. Plenty to see and you can go up to Eze. Google if. Also google “things to do in Nice”.

Monaco/Monte Carlo was our least favorite port on the Med last year. Hot, crowded, and "meh." Wish I had listened to the others on the Disney Cruise boards who said it was an anti-climax. I also wasn't a huge fan of Eze, but it was super crowded and hot there too. If I were visiting it when it was cooler and/or less crowded I think I would have liked it better, but mid-July was not the time for either of those.

According to this cruisecritic.com article, there are two possibilities for where you'll be:

1. Some (smaller) cruise ships dock at the Port of Nice on the Quai du Commerce pier, about a half-hour walk away from the city centre.
2. Others anchor in neighboring Villefranche Bay and tender passengers ashore into the delightful little port of Villefranche-sur-Mer. Tendering means the ship anchors in the water and small boats ferry passengers to/from land, and is often slower than just walking on/off the vessel.

I spent several days on the Riviera in late March and Villefranche was my favorite town. There's a self-guided walk in the RS France book. Residents told me that the village doesn't get swamped with cruisers - nearly all head straight for the train to other towns. The train runs through Villefranche west to Nice and Antibes and east to Monaco and Menton on the Italian border. You could visit any one of the towns where the train stops, maybe even 2-3 of them. Consider starting in Villefranche while everyone else is crowding onto the trains, then taking a (hopefully) uncrowded train.

If you dock in Nice itself, the train station is some distance from the seashore. If you don't want to spend the day in Nice, maybe take a taxi to the train station and head for wherever sounds good to you, getting back to Nice mid-afternoon so you are in plenty of time to board.

As others noted, Eze, Monaco, Nice itself, Antibes, St. Paul de Vence and Cannes are within easy reach. And yes, there are two docking locations -- the VilleFranche-sur-Mer location is more common for the large ships. It's a further walk from the Nice Old Port dock location to the transit (either train station or buses). Uber does work well, once you are out of the crush of the disembarkation. You can take the train to Nice and get off at Nice Ville station. Connect to the tram (1.50E) and head to the old town, or walk down Jean Medecin to Place Massena. In Nice, go to the Cours Saleya market in the AM and then head up Castle Hill for a great view (elevator is near the Hotel Suisse). You can also take a hop-on-hop off bus or Le Petit Train. The Chagall and Matisse museums are up on Cimiez hill -- take an uber or bus 15 from just behind Galeries Lafayette@Place Massena on Rue Debouchage.

If you want to just hang around Villefranche-sur-Mer, there is a beach that is large grain sand. You can also take the bus or walk to the Villa Ephrussi, and continue on to a walk around Cap Ferrat. Some also like the Villa Kerylos in Beaulieu-sur-Mer. If you are active, there are also hiking trails up to Mont Boron, the ridge between Villefranche-sur-Mer and the Nice Old Port.

Note the RS Provence & the Cote D'Azur book has much more information than the France book.

I'd second recommendations to either spend the day in Nice itself or Villefranche sur Mer. We recently spent an entire day walking around Villefranche, doing part of the RS Cap Ferrat walk, and touring the Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild. The RS Provence and French Riviera guidebook was very helpful.