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French Riviera SUDAZUR Explore Pass

Posted by (Northern Colorado) on

Unless I'm mistaken, the SUDAZUR Explore Pass in the French Riviera is good for "Unlimited access to trains, streetcars and buses in the 06 department and Monaco". The pass can be bought for 1, 3 or 7 days (for 35€, 50€, or 80€, respectively, plus 2€ for the card). Seems to me that for many visitors this is the best value and by far the most convenient means to pay for and validate all regional transportation.

However, unless I'm again mistaken, I can't find this transportation option mentioned anywhere in the brand new march 2026 Provence and French Riviera guidebook.

If I'm wrong about any of the above, please set me straight! If I'm right, what's the proper way to notify the Rick Steves Team to get this info into the online guidebook updates?

The only weird aspect of this is that as best I can tell, one cannot buy the pass from a machine at the Nice Airport, but must instead take the tram one stop (free), and buy the pass from a machine there. I guess that's to stay consistent with the principle that nothing in France can be completely simple and logical. :)

Source: https://www.ter.sncf.com/sud-provence-alpes-cote-d-azur/tarifs-cartes/bons-plans/pass-sudazur-explore-en

Posted by
36611 posts

I haven't looked at the pass itself - but €35 a day is huge price. How much transport can you reasonably use in a day? In Monaco, tickets from the bus driver are €2. On an app or a machine it is only €1.50 a ticket. 35/1.5 = 23 tickets.

In Nice and vicinity single tickets cost €1.70 and a day pass is €7.

What do you get for that €35 for a day?

Posted by
507 posts

The pass is for 3 for €35, 7 days for €50 or 14 days for €80, so €35 for three days and ease of use doesn't seem to bad to me.

We have six nights planned in Nice in October, and at this point plan to just buy the seven day pass, so we don't have to worry about tickets and so on.

The only downside seems that it isn't particularly easy to buy, a shame it can't be bought on line.

Posted by
8 posts

Hi Nigel, My mistake, the passes are for 3/7/14 days, which is quite a different structure than what I typed. Sorry for the confusion! Note that the pass is good for trains, too, including intercity travel, and day trips to the interior.

In our case, we'll be in Nice for 3.5 days, which nudges us to the 7-day pass for 50€. By my rough calculations, we'll come up a little short of getting full value in ticket cost, but the convenience is more than enough to make up the small difference.

Posted by
894 posts

I bought the 7 day pass last October. I was able to buy it from a machine at the Nice airport train station. Older information often says that you can't buy it at the airport but that was not correct. The machine is on the platform for the trains outside the airport, not inside the airport. I bought the 7 day pass even though I would only use it five and a half days. I did not keep track whether I broke even or not, but I felt that the convenience of never having to worry whether I needed to buy a ticket or needed change or had enough money on the card made it worth it. It also made me feel a little better when I felt stupid for hopping onto the wrong bus or train :).

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