Renting a car vs. taking trains

I would say it depends on a few factors such as:

1) Where if you had a car would you park in Aix and Nice and is it convenient and/or free? You really do not want to be driving in those towns as there is not need and I would not recommend it.

2) What are you priorities for getting to places "relatively close by" to Aix and Nice? Small villages? If so, yes you need a car. I am a retired photographer who really enjoys small villages and photographing them and landscapes. There is no option to be flexible and explore if you do not have a car. And services via train or bus to small villages is thin on the ground or non existant. And trains are often times not as cheap as many people would like to think.

One option you may want explore is renting a car on a daily basis from grocery stores like LeClerc who have very inexpensive ( 10-15 euros) daily car rentals. You do however pay for evey kilometer driven. I have not done but know people that have. If you are in city center Nice/Aix you would likely however have to get to a grocery store rental place on the outskirts of town is my guess.

Good luck with you transportation choices and your trip!!

wvdthree

Villefranche-sur-Mer, Monaco and Cap Ferret are all readily accessible from Nice by regional train; depending on where you want to go on Cap Ferrat, you might want to hop on a bus after the short train ride. A car would be a huge hassle; where would you park it?

Cannes and Antibes are also easy to reach; they're right on the regional train line. Again, there could be parking issues if you arrived by car. St-Paul-de-Vence involves a bus trip so is more of a challenge. However, I wonder about trying to get to all those places in a single day even in your own car.

A car is of much greater use in Provence than along the Riviera; however, all the Provencal destinations you've mentioned are connected by train, and if they are the only places you go, I don't see how the car will be helpful. I think most car renters in Provence are targeting a lot of smaller towns and villages that don't have good rail service.

And just in case you have not factored this in, cars will require you to pay tolls and parking, which can easily cost more than the train ticket. Plus fuel, at $8/gallon.

Thank you to everyone who replied and solidified my decision to NOT rent a car. We will definitely rely on the trains/buses.