Day trips from Nice: Monaco or Cannes?

I haven’t been to Cannes, but I ended up in Monaco twice and was totally underwhelmed both times. I don’t gamble either and other than walking through a pleasant park on the way to the bus stop to go to Eze, I found nothing of interest.

Is this an extra day, after you have spent time in Nice? Because there is probably more to do in Nice than in either Cannes or Monaco...

Monte Carlo’s casino is extremely elegant and then there’s the castle. I liked the aquarium that’s loaded with colorful tropical fish. If I were a designer, I would get ideas for patterns here.
Have never been to Cannes but it would be the last place I would visit in the riviera; too resorty for me.

Yes, I will have already spent a day and a half in Nice. There seems to be some museums in Cannes which I might check out. The draw of Monaco is partly just to say that I've been there, since it's an independent country. Unless there is an attraction there which I'm not aware of, I don't think I'd go more than once, though.

We took the bus to Monaco one day from Nice. We spent the day at its Aquarium, really a wonderful place on what turned out to be a soggy, rainy day. Its director, for years, had been the celebrated oceanographer Jacques Cousteau.

I think the prince's car collection, the aquarium and one or two gardens are among the most popular sights in Monaco.

To be honest, I just stopped at Monaco to get my passport stamped and because a friend really wanted me to see it while I was there. I just stopped in the casino and walked some of the grounds and took the bus back to Nice.

But on the same morning as going to Monaco, I took the train from Nice to Menton. I walked over to the gorgeous Italian hilly buildings and had a great time photographing them, taking a break down at the beach that faces Italy, and then I went back up to have an Italian lunch. I took the bus to Monaco from Menton,

I've been to Monaco many times and sometimes stay there or down the coast. I may be in a minority but I love it. The 3 dimensional puzzleness intrigues me - the residents are sometimes elderly so they have come up with all sorts of ways to level what is a distinctly non-level country. You will find public elevators, escalators, people movers in all sorts of places, including what initially looks like private buildings.

I also love the Jardin Exotique which is the most amazing three dimensional cactus garden, even better than the one at the top of Eze le Village (which itself is pretty spectacular). I love looking over both the petit and grande harbours. The aquarium can keep me riveted for hours, and I have still seen less than half of it.

I don't understand how people can get bored with Monaco. I've never been in the casino, nor have I wanted to.

No interest in Cannes other than as a train station.

Cannes primarily is known for luxe shopping and the beach clubs. Other than that, it holds less interest for many, and it is notable light on museums. If you are interested in museums, there are better ones in Nice, Antibes, St. Paul de Vence and other towns and villages. They vary by artist or subject. As mentioned, Monaco does have the Oceanographic Museum, the chateau on the hill, the cars, a small old town and even more luxe shopping than Cannes. The two gardens are also popular, and there is a high concentration of Michelin starred restaurants.

Many people combine Monaco with Eze or Villefranche-sur-Mer. These two villages offer a contrast to the bigger cities. Or you could easily spend the day and half just in Nice, and visit museums (or just a half day in Monaco).

In addition to the towns mentioned by Gooster, there's a Picasso Museum in Antibes, a Leger Museum in Biot, a Cocteau Museum in Menton and a Renoir Museum in Cagnes-sur-Mer. This web page covers a lot of the Riviera art museums but omits two of my favorites, both in Nice: the Museum of Naive Art and the Museum of Asian Art.

https://www.iconicriviera.com/best-art-museums-french-riviera/

We spent a few days in Cannes while on a tour several years ago. Our take was that in the non-film awards season (this was spring), it's not much. Good for an afternoon maybe. Monaco (also part of the same tour) was fun, but again, an afternoon, maybe longer if you want to sit and get some really good people-watching in. The casino is actually interesting to visit, even as a non-gambler. They were setting up for the Grand Prix, so that was fun to watch for a bit. I looked at my blog and one of my comments about Monaco was "takes about an hour to tour" lol. We thought Nice was more interesting. We also went to St Paul de Vence and that was cool.

For what it's worth.

Hi Alan, I like Monaco, I’ve been there twice. We took the bus from Nice, stopped at Starbucks to buy a souvenir cup, walked up to the castle to see the changing of the guard, visited the church where Princess Grace and Prince Rainier are buried, and had lunch. After that we wandered around the garden, found a bench, and checked out the yachts. It’s all very beautiful and well maintained. I haven’t been to the world-class oceanography museum yet but it’s supposed to be very nice. I think Monaco is worth a visit!

The Oceanography Museum certainly intrigues me, especially since the aquarium was led by Jacques Cousteau. I remember watching his documentaries when I was little! I see that there is a combination ticket that includes the Oceanography Museum and the Prince's Palace. This moves Monaco up a little over what I was thinking before, which was more of a Passport stamp and cross it off my bucket list.

We did a day trip from Nice starting in Menton and worked our way back. We enjoyed Monte Carlo and window shopping the million dollar watches and the million dollar cars outside the casino. It was fun just to wander.

In Cannes, our favourite part of the day was a ferry to Isle St Marguerite. There's an old Spanish fort there to wander around and a jail cell said to have housed the real Man in the Iron Mask from Alexandre Dumas fame. Another good day.

it does not take very long to travel between the Riviera cities. I would actually go to Antibes over Cannes--prettier, better walking, historical, Picasso, market, setting. Then Monaco, mostly to enter another country.