Train tickets for day trips from Nice

The rail line along the coast is a regional one. There are no seat reservations on the trains (which means no tracking of how many tickets are being sold) and no fare reductions for buying early, so there's no need to rush. The only thing I'd warn you about is that if there's a really high-traffic special event taking place along the Riviera, you might arrive at the Nice Ville railway station and find lines at all the ticket machines. If you're worried about that, you can either allow extra time in the morning or buy your ticket the night before.

I don't know whether it's even possible to buy bus tickets in advance. I may have paid the driver, but I recall going by the bus-company office (not far from Nice-Ville as of 2017) to look for schedule leaflets, so I suppose it's possible I bought a ticket there. I'm obviously vague on this point. I'd suggest stopping in at the tourist office on the plaza in front of the train station to ask whether there's a way--or a need--to buy bus tickets in advance. Those folks were really helpful; I told them all the places I planned to go, and they gave me a brochure for each one. Also verify that all the buses you might potentially take will depart from about the same place. I think Nice now has a bus station; when I was there, there was none, and buses departed from scattered locations around the city.

Acraven - thanks so much for your very helpful reply!

I am in the Nice area right now. You hop on the bus and pay for your ticket to the driver. There is no date on bus tickets so you can buy more than one which will save time. Bus tickets are 1.50 euro. It is busy on the Riviera right now.
Masks must be worn on buses and on the trains.

Hope that helps

Thanks Gina! Hope you are having fun.

The only thing I'd warn you about is that if there's a really
high-traffic special event taking place along the Riviera, you might
arrive at the Nice Ville railway station and find lines at all the
ticket machines. If you're worried about that, you can either allow
extra time in the morning or buy your ticket the night before.

If you're so inclined, you can also purchase TER (regional train) tickets via the SNCF Connect app (and specifically "SNCF Connect," not just "SNCF" app -- I might have chosen a different branding strategy myself but it's not up to me!) The app is available in the US iOS app store and I would assume Android as well.

Regional train tickets can be as cheap as €1.90, e.g. for a ticket between Nice-Ville and Nice-St Augustin, so if you want to try out the process ahead of time and don't mind spending $2 to do so you can do that as well.

Just wanted to add, for buses and trams in Nice, you can buy a Multi Voyage/carnet of 10 trips for 10E. You can buy these at the tram stops and other outlets as well, and there is an e-ticket app. There are also day and week passes available.

Just make sure you validate every ticket each time you board (even the e-ticket -- you must wave your phone by the NFC reader). There are inspectors.

For schedules, use the Lignes d'Azur app. It is handy for finding when the next bus is due or where the nearest stop is.

For the Regional train, the only issue I've faced is due to mechanical problems that cause delays or strikes. However, longer distance TGV are a separate ticket and are best bought a little in advance (esp for best prices, although they). E-tickets are available, as noted.

The TER trains that take you between Caai, Antibes, Monaco, Menton, etc. are easy and pleasant and run quite frequently. Buy ticket day of. We were there last week, and the only issue we had was that there was track work going on between Nice and Caan, so that ruled the train out for a couple of days. That should be resolved by now.