Day trips from Nice

Monaco and Eze or Antibes

Cap Ferrat & Villa Rothschild. St Paul de Vence (half day?). Cap Martin, Menton and Monaco. La Turbie and Eze.

And Grasse.

You could probably spend a month in Nice and not run out of day-trips. You've got plenty of time. You need to buy (or get from a library) a guidebook that covers the Riviera comprehensively. There are many, many picturesque towns; the question is: Do you have special interests that might cause you to choose one particular picturesque town rather than another?

There are lots of wonderful gardens in that area. Menton, Monaco, and the Villa Ephrussi on Cap Ferrat come immediately to mind, but there are certainly others, and I'm told there's a good one in Nice out near the Asian Art Museum. The two major Menton gardens are both built on the sides of hills, and if anyone in your party is unsteady on his feet, they might be challenging.

Other towns have important museums of modern art, the best in my view being the Maeght Foundation in St-Paul-de-Vence, but beyond that it depends on whose work you like best. I also liked the Asian Museum in Nice, which has decorative art as well as sculpture and paintings. Of course, Nice also has museums focused on western art, including Matisse and Chagall. The city also affords an opportunity to visit a museum of naïve art--and quite a good one it is.

There are destinations with other types of sights as well: the Oceanographic Museum in Monaco-Ville, the Prince's car collection in the same town, etc. There are lots of walkways along the coast, such as on Cap Ferrat and Cap d'Antibes. Just be aware that some stretches (usually at the farthest points from the mainland) may not be paved or graveled.

For a day less strenuous than most, I really enjoyed the narrow-gauge train that runs inland from Nice (separate station) through Entrevaux to Digne-les-Bains. Check price before committing to this one. I recall paying close to $50 (RT), which seemed sort of high.

May is not high season on the Riviera; that would be July and August. So check websites ahead of time for hours and days of operation. In May, some sights may be closed an extra day each week. I found the tourist office just outside the Nice-Ville train station to be very helpful. If you tell them which of the surrounding towns you plan to visit, they will probably be able to provide maps for at least some of them.

Despite its not being peak season, you will still encounter mobs of tourists in some locations. I didn't get to Monaco, but I suspect it is very, very busy. Certainly St-Paul-de-Vence was packed to the gills; the nearby town of Vence was comparatively deserted (but that's not where the Maeght Foundation is).

Weather can be unsettled (intermittently overcast and rainy) even on the Riviera in early May. By the end of May this year it was much more consistently warm and sunny.