The French Riviera

It's been about 10 years but my week in Villefranche-sur-Mer was one of my favorite trips. It was late summer. At that time I used the RS book to plan day trips using either the local bus or train. I walked along the water to Monaco, and combined it with Cap Ferrat and the Rothschild gardens/interior.
I remember Eze as a day trip via bus.
It's all very close. I flew back to the US from Nice.

I suspect that's too much for Day 3. Monaco is small but hilly, so I don't think you can cover ground rapidly there.

What plans do you have for Cap Ferrat? The Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild takes a good bit of time and has a good-size garden. The Villa Kerylos is also interesting. The walk around the peninsula gives good sea views, but you won't see much of the fancy real estate. The locals like their privacy and have high fences. Best views are downhill from higher elevations. All the Cap Ferrat places I've mentioned are walkable from the nearest train station (Beaulieu-sur-Mer, just a bit closer than Villefranche-sur-Mer), but it requires a lot of walking. I believe there is some bus service that would help, but this still seems like a major chunk of the day, and that's not counting lunch.

I think the bus from Monaco back to Nice takes the Middle Corniche, but I'm not certain.

well eliminating Cap Ferrat . . .
Does it make sense to take the Bus 112 passing over the middle Cornice, maybe stopping Eze-le-Village and then on to Monaco for the day/evening and returning by train to Villefranche- sur-mer?

We spent two nights in Monaco with a hotel room above the yacht harbor, taking the TGV from Paris. It was hilly but we visited the Jacques Cousteau Oceanographic Museum, the grave of Princess Grace, watched the changing of the guard, and squandered a small fortune at the famous casino, nearly 25 Euros..... :-(. The shaken but not stirred martini was another small fortune, over 25 Euros...... Entry to the casino in casual attire was allowed during the day and cost 20 Euros, if I remember correctly. That evening we got an outside table at an adjacent cafe/wine bar and watched the elites in formal wear have attendants in tuxedos park their Maseratis, Ferraris, and Lamborginis in front of the entryway. Our best photos are of those fancy automobiles. One night was plenty in Monaco.

From the logistics standpoint, I think the bus + train loop makes sense. I know others have recommended that combination of transportation methods because you get different views. I cannot address whether Monaco itself is worth your time because I haven't been there--despite having spent over 2 weeks in Nice in 2017. It wasn't a priority to me though the gardens sound nice. There are lots of different types of sights along the Riviera--historic towns, art museums, coastal views, hillside views, gardens, villas. You don't have much time, so go with what you think will most appeal to you. You can see other things the next time you visit. I like that the Villefranche-Eze-Monaco-Villefranche loop wouldn't subject you to a lot of time sitting on trains and buses.

George’s description of his visit to Monaco perfectly details why, with more than a dozen visits to France, I have never spent any of my limited travel time in Monaco. We’ve always had more than 3 days in the Riviera, but with that severely short amount of time, I would certainly not advise wasting it on looking at rich people drinking and gambling.

What Rosalyn said:
"I would certainly not advise wasting it on looking at rich people drinking and gambling."
A-freakin-men!
Brad

Research for local tours. Use TripAdvisor for things to do and tours. Also, Viator may have some.
You may have to rent a car.

Don't miss going to Monaco and Cannes. Also, the quaint village of St. Paul de Vence is amazing.

Don't miss Eze. Have champagne (won't be cheap) on the Chateau's patio over looking Villefranche and the Med.

Two years ago, i was taking a two-month French course in Villefranche, while staying in Nice. There were 3 different buses I could take for my daily commute. I think the one that came by most often was the #100, but I don’t recall for sure. Buses only made about 3 or 4 stops, and took about 15 minutes, either coming or going.

On an earlier trip, also staying in Nice, one of my favorite places on earth, it included a visit to Monaco, by bus. The day started off overcast, and when departing the Cousteau aquarium (worthwhile), it had absolutely started pouring rain. This was in the fall. Being inside was a good way to spend the soggy day..

I’ve stayed in Nice many times, and have gone to the Chagal museum each time - it’s great that it’s on your agenda!

There is a bus stop at the car park (and perfumerie) at the bottom of Eze-le-Village but you need to allow enough time for the quite steep "road" (more a donkey trail, not as wide as a road, more like a path) up the hill to the top. There is a very good Jardin Exotique cactus garden up at the top and a hotel; there are shops on the way up.

Monaco doesn't get a lot of love here, but I love the place and have stayed in or nearby several times, usually in late winter. I always find plenty to do and I don't spend much money there. I don't go into the Casino, but I do like the garden in front. I don't hunt celebrities (but sometimes they are just there - in a small cafe we had lunch one table away from a former Formula 1 driver but that's cool, nobody bothered them) or the millionaire lifestyle and I have a great time. But I also always have more time than you are planning. You have a lot you are cramming in. I hope the weather plays ball.

There are so many lovely towns on the train line that it's hard to choose. Do allow a couple hours in Villefranche for the RS walking tour and visit to the Citadel/museum.

To get to the Chagall Museum - and if you are a fan of Chagall, you may not want to leave - there's a bus from the train station, but to save time, take taxis. I also enjoyed the RS walking tour in Nice.

Our visit to this area was a pleasant surprise. We typed in Nice but your home base is supposed to be wonderful. If time gets tight or you just want to enjoy the local culture, I would skip Monaco. We don’t gamble and the changing of the guard is just one more changing of the guard. It is one small tourist trap. The aquarium is the only saving grace. Nice was much nicer than we expected and worth extra time. Bus travel is scenic. I’ve heard the train has a lot of tunnels. You could walk to The museum from the train station then take a bus or taxi back down to the waterfront. Take the bus back to your home base.

Your mention of the Chagall Museum suggests a taste for modern art. If so, you should be aware that there is a Matisse Museum in Nice and a Renoir museum in Cagnes sur Mer. St. Paul de Vence is home to Fondation Maeght, which, in addition to its indoor collections, has a sculpture garden. Much of the was created by the artists, e.g. Picasso and Miro, working on site. SPdV is easy to reach from Nice.

Thank you to everyone for all the good information!

For what it's worth, I was never a Chagall fan until we went to the museum. It was extraordinary seeing the color and play of light on the paintings. The museum is light and airy, the exhibitions are well displayed and i thought the movie about his life was well done. Very much worth the time. Also. there's an impressive Russian Orthodox Cathedral near the Chagall museum, but make sure you're appropriately dressed or willing to wear one of their extraordinarily ugly cover-ups.

Day 2: You can go to Nice by train and then take Tram 1 to Place Massena and change to Bus 5 (stop is behind Galeries Lafayette on Guitry, at the edge of the pedestrian zone) to the Chagall museum (you could also walk 15 minutes or so, it is an incline). You might also consider going to the Matisse Museum, although it is more of a retrospective of his life. Reverse it on the return (note there is another route to get there via the Tram and Liberation but it involves walking up). I always recommend walking over through the Old Town and taking the free elevator (near Hotel Suisse) or climbing to the top of Castle Hill (le Chateau). The market is quite nice but you'll need to hit it in the morning (Mondays is the antique market). While it used to be terrible, the Lignes D'Azur app is handy and position location friendly to find your routes.

Day 3: You can take bus 15 (the new number) from Villefranche-sur-Mer to the Passable-Rothschild stop. It does a complete loop around Beaulieu-sur-mer so don't be alarmed. It can get full because it starts in Nice. You can take it back and stop off at the Beaulieu-sur-Mer train station and take the train into Monaco. Or you can take the 100 bus (Kerylos stop on 15, walk down), a slightly more scenic route, but one that gets packed in peak season. Take the train on the return.

You can also take bus 82 to Eze le village. From there you can take bus 83 to the base and transfer to bus 100 to Monaco. I recommend the train for the fastest return at night, depending on where you are staying in VSM (assuming you have the full day, if not, you will have to cut something). There is also line 112, but I am not certain if it is still running or will be restarted after a halt during the current times.

I have no interest in gambling or celebrity spotting, but I enjoyed my visit to Monaco. Some of the things I liked:

The Prince's car collection (they are emphatic that it's not a "museum").
The Princess Grace Rose Garden.
The Jardin Exotique, which has not only interesting flora, but also great views.
The aquarium.

Monaco is famously small, but it's also oddly shaped with lots of water, so getting from one section to another can involve long convoluted walks. I got a lot of use out of my Monaco day pass for their local bus system. The section with the casino is actually not near any of the attractions I listed, and going there felt like a "different part of town," which is odd for a country smaller than Central Park in New York.

Do get Rick's book Provence and the French Riviera. It has lots of information on the place you want to see, as well as transit links. His general France book has MUCH less information on the area.

I agree that Cap Ferrat is interesting for the Villa Kerylos and Villa Ephrussi (two very different experiences), so if either or both of these interest you, don't take it off your list.

As for transit, my information is from a trip in 2008, so before COVID-19. But at that time, the buses and trains in this area were very frequent, so little advance planning was necessary. The exception was transit to Eze, and even more so the transit to La Turbie. Rick's statement "the higher the corniche, the fewer the buses" was very true. Along the coast, you had trains twice an hour (ending about 11:30 PM) and buses four times an hour (ending about 8:30 PM). The trains were cheap and the buses even cheaper; and there are bus passes that are even cheaper than the single tickets.

Hi, Holly! How is Covid allowed in the place you are going?

We home based in Villefranche for three days. We had a car so we drove to Eze and the corniche. Otherwise we took the bus to Villa Ephrussi and Monaco. Our favorites were Villa Ephrussi and Eze. Monaco was meh but I can say I’ve been. The corniche was ok but I could have skipped it.

I know it has been 4 months since you posted, Holly, are you still on-board?

If so I can give some info on the 3 corniches, and Monaco and Cap Ferrat etc.