I'm headed to to France for a wedding in St. Tropez on the 2nd of July. I'll be landing at Nice Cote d'Azur on Thursday 30 June at 20:00. My initial thought is to not go to ST until Friday morning. My initial searches suggest that a train to St. Raphael and then ferry to ST is a good option. I see that there is a ferry that departs at 9:30 and again at 14:30 from SR. I'm aiming to be on the morning boat.
The question that I'm looking to have answered is where should I stay on Thursday night? My first though would be to stay in Nice, perhaps close to Nice Ville station. Would it be better to not go to Nice at all, as it would be taking me further away from SR?
Posted by
Rick Steves' Europe
16893 posts
While Nice Ville station is a short bus or taxi ride in the "wrong" direction, it has a wide selection of direct trains to St. Raphael, at least hourly, and most take 10-15 minutes less than departing from the airport area.
If you stay at an airport hotel, the closest train station is Nice-St-Augustin (see directions at the bottom of this page); from there, there are a couple of direct trains to St. Raphael, e.g., 7:30, 11:30, 12:30 and more with a connection required.
Or, you could take a taxi across the river and stay closer to St-Laurent-du-Var station; the 11:30 train stops there but the 7:30 and 12:30 do not; those trains do serve Cagnes-sur-Mer and Antibes.
Or, I just noticed the helicopter options, but St. Tropez is a bit far.
Posted by
OP
2 posts
Thank you.
While looking into the St Raphael-St Tropez ferry, I see that this website (http://www.azuralive.com/2014/07/public-transport-les-bateaux-de-saint-raphael.html) claims to be the only ferry between the 2 towns. The site says that tickets can only be reserved in person at the office, not by phone or on line, and that it's recommended to do so 2-3 days ahead. If that's the case, then the ferry might not be possible for me.
However, this website is dated 2014.