Shore excursion from Villefranche

To see the other areas you will spend more time on a bus and less walking around. When we were first cruising Europe we would often take the quick, overview type of excursion just to get a feel for the geography with the idea we would return another time for an in-depth visit. Personally I don't care for M Carlo so I would skip it and take the Nice, Eze excursion.

Monte Carlo is in Monaco. So, it's really just three stops, only one more than the ship's excursion. Eze is a quick visit walking up the hill, through the garden, the church, a shop or two. It's most stunning to look at from the outside. About two hours will be transit, an hour each way in a private car or minivan, I assume, given the distance between Villefranche and Monaco. Nice and Monaco will have to be highlights because there's much more to visit. So it really depends on how long you have in port and if the local guide can get you back well ahead of time. It's a very beautiful region and worth driving from Villefranche to Monaco. Even if the driver takes the autoroute one way and a Cornish back, the drive to get up to the autoroute is spectacular and the autoroute itself is all tunnels and viaducts.

I just checked the schedule and we would be spending about an hour only in each place (Eze, Nice, Monaco and Monte Carlo). I'm pretty sure an hour will be enough to get a taste of Monaco/Monte Carlo and Eze, but wasn't sure if that was enough tine for Nice.

That's not a lot of time for Nice. I'd want to walk along the Promenade des Anglais, get a coffee or drink at the Hotel Negresso, walk around Old Town and the pedestrian streets, have lunch, maybe go to the port area. How does the time compare with the cruiseline's tour?

Well the cruise line tours spend more time there especially, in Nice because they do not visit Monaco. It is just Eze and Nice. So that is the big difference.

Nice >> Monaco in my book! I'd opt for the cruise line tour, rather than getting a glimpse of too many places at once.

Can you do a tour of just Nice and Monaco? One of the highlights of Eze for use was walking up to the Chateau Eza restaurant and having cocktail on the patio and enjoying the view, I would hate for that to have been a race to the top, slug back a drink and head back down.

how does the other guide break down Monaco and Monte Carlo as two seperate places?

I'm one of the folks around here who really likes Monaco, in all its districts.

Monte Carlo is just one of the districts of Monaco.

do you not spend any time in and around Villefranche sur Mer? Pretty nice places, even if you (probably) tender in.

He told me that in Monte Carlo we would see the Casino and the grand prix where as in Monaco we would see the Royal Palace. He did explain how Monaco is basically a small village above Monte Carlo. To answer someone else's question....We could also visit just Monaco/Monte Carlo and Nice only, but I was told Eze was so beautiful that it was a must do!!

NIgel, what would you visit exactly in Villefrance. I don't see really see it come up much as a spot to do on excursions, so just figured there wasn't much to do there.

St Jean Cap Ferrat and Cap Ferrat is just around the corner, Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild is fabulous with great views, Greek Villa Kerylos is right on the water, a fav small town of mine, Beaulieu-sur-Mer, is right nearby.

The beach at Villefranche is attractive (but painful because of the sharp sand) and the town is good to walk.

But the reality is, with just one day in the area (I usually stay 7 to 10 days, in the late winter) you really have to choose what's most important to you...

I agree with Nigel Villefranche is a cute town. You could opt for the Hop On/Hop Off bus tour and skip the cruise tours. Nice is my favorite town in France - maybe all of Europe - you could get a private driver to take you and pick you up. As mentioned above yo would have enough time to hit the highlights... old town for lunch - walk the promenade. AHH.