French Riviera, Provence & Monaco - Itinerary Help

With 13 days, you should be able to fit in time in Provence. You can take a train to a station in western Provence. Ideally you can rent a car because it is more efficient with limited time to see the various villages and sites. Then you can return from, say, Avignon via TGV to Paris center.

On your Monaco trip, I would go earlier in the afternoon to ensure you can see what you want to see and then catch a train back to Nice. You can also combine it with a trip in the morning to Eze le village.

I've been to Cannes during the film festival -- unless you have tickets to an event it can be a bit limiting as everything (streets, restaurants, etc) is overrun with people, temporary structures, barriers and the like (there are public activities as well). Screens will be set up so the crowds can view the arrivals, as it can get quite crowded. St Tropez is quite a journey from Nice, you usually require a ferry or a train/bus combo (and the main beach is a shuttle bus/taxi away).

KeilaC,
Provence is a very large area (over 12,000 sq. mi.). Do you have any particular part of Provence you wish to visit? If you are thinking of towns and villages such as St. Remy de Provence, Arles, Orange, Isle-sur-la-Sorge, Vaison-la-Romaine, etc., then that will affect your mode of transport and time it will take to get there. How many nights would you have available to stay there, out of your 13 days? Do your 13 days include arrival and departure days? If so, you have 11 days on the ground to sightsee. Be sure to account for travel time between Nice and wherever in Provence you decide to go, plus travel back to Paris. It may only take a half-day, depending on where you decide to go from Nice, or it could be all day. Likewise, return to Paris time will depend on where you are in Provence.

Re Cannes, I can only imagine that Cannes would be less enjoyable with the all the foofaraw of the film festival, but that is me. You may feel differently about crowds.

Staying in Monaco...I wouldn't choose to, but if that is a major wish for your husband, then go for it. I have no recommendations for hotels there, but I do believe it is a very pricey locale.

The local train works well for visiting towns along the coast east and west of Nice, but it is popular with pickpockets. Be careful there; if someone gets into your personal space for no apparent reason, assume you are being targeted by a pickpocket.

There will be extra folks taking the train during the period of the film festival. I sometimes saw lines of 5 or 6 people waiting to use the ticket-vending machines at Nice-Ville station. Either buy your tickets online or hit the machines the day before.

Rick has a guide book dedicated to the Riviera and Provence. I highly recommend you get a copy of it.

Two added possibilities for fun when in Cannes are:
1) the beautiful hamlet just above the city called Le Cannet ('cannay'). Place Bellevue and its view would be the focus there. Bus #1.
2) the Iles de Lerin, accessible by short ferry; of the two isles we recco St. Honorat for its hike, monastery (wine/chocolate).
Good luck.
I am done. The Riviera.

just be aware that the train running along the coast is, from time to time, interrupted by landslides on the tracks. We were stuck in Ventemiglia recently for an extra two hours due to a landslide on the tracks.

landslides on the tracks are very rare

Thank you all so much for the very informative responses. Total travel time is 15 days so that's why I said 13 days. I tried to do some more research on Provence. I am learning there is definitely quite a lot to see and will need to narrow it down. Thank you all for the suggestions. I had no idea we could do the train to Paris so I'm glad we didn't book roundtrip tickets for Paris/Nice since Paris is where we fly into from LA. I think we will fly into Nice and then do Provence and then a train to Paris. I may have also convinced hubby to not spend the night in Monaco. I do recall it being pricey but it his only wish for this trip. Lastly, I think we will do Cannes and skip St. Tropez.