Transportation for Cannes Nice & Eze

I would skip Eze and concentrate on wonderfulNice, bus to Cap Ferrat.

I have not been to Eze so make no comment about its desirability. I've also not been to Cannes. However, I think this is the basic process you will follow:

• Get from the port to the Cannes train station. Google Maps says that's just over 1/2 mile, but I don't know exactly where your ship will dock.

• Buy a ticket to Eze-sur-Mer. The only reason to consider doing this ahead of time is the possibility that many of your fellow cruisers may have the same idea, and there may be a delay to use the ticket-vending machine (and a longer delay for the staffed counter). You can check the schedule and fare on the SNCF website. The standard fare is 9 euros one-way. If you're over 60 and take a train leaving Cannes after 8 AM, the fare is only 6.70 euros. The same fare is available to your grandson after 8 AM. You'll run into the same timing variance on your way back, with discounts available to children and over-60s if they travel outside rush hour.

• The train to Eze-sur-Mer runs twice an hour, at xx:19 and xx:54. It takes about an hour; running times vary slightly.

• The train station is in Eze-sur-Mer. I think most tourists want to see the hill town. I presume there are taxis hanging out around the Eze-sur-Mer station. I have no idea what the fare would be. It's a short trip, but captive audience...

Alternatively, you could get off the (same) train in Nice and get a bus from Nice to Eze Village. But you could lose a lot of time on that connection, the buses are not all that frequent, and the bus may not stop particularly near the Nice Ville train station. I think you'd want Bus 82. There are also buses to Eze-sur-Mer; you wouldn't want one of those. Lignes d'Azur is the company providing most of the bus service on the Riviera.

When you're ready to double-back to Nice you could walk down to the Eze-sur-Mer train station (I don't know how far that is, or how interesting the walk would be), take a taxi down, or--if your timing is fortunate--take Bus 82 back to Nice and get the train to Cannes from there. As noted above, you might find the bus stop in Nice to be some distance from the Nice Ville train station. When I was in Nice in 2017 the bus stops were sort of unpredictable because of construction work. I imagine that situation has improved, and I assume the stops listed on the bus schedule I've linked to are accurate. You can use Google Maps to check on which one would be closest to the train station.

Rick Steves Crew,
That's a wonderful idea! Just to clarify; I can take a train from Cannes train station directly to Eze? That will save me so much time. THANKS FOR THE GREAT TIP!
Chrisr

I would take the cruise ship's excursion. There is a lot of traffic in the area; our ship's excursion got back 45 minutes late. Cannes, Eze, and Nice are kind of far apart, driving-wise, esp. if there's traffic, which our guide told us there usually was. I'll be honest, Eze was just OK for me, not sure a 12-year old would find it appealing. All my kids did there the whole time was complain that it was hot, although you probably won't have that problem in October, ha!

Yes, the train goes to Eze-sur-Mer. I repeat: I don't think that's the place you really want to go. I think you want Eze Ville, the hill town just above Eze-sur-Mer. On a short day like this I doubt that you'd want to walk up.

But the train part of the journey should be fine; just stay attuned to any last-minute reports of transportation strikes.

And obviously you'll want to start back from Nice in plenty of time to reach the ship. Although the train is not very fast (it's a local making lots of stops), I wouldn't think a taxi would be faster because of traffic on the coast road. You'll be totally dependent on the train to get back to Cannes in time.

You can NOT take a train to Eze le village. There is no train station there.
You would need to take a bus from
Nice along the corniche road.

I would add that if the schedule days 8 hours in Cannes, that probably doesn't include the time it takes to get from the ship to shore and back. If it's a large ship (2000 passengers or more), there could be lines to get on the tenders in both directions and lines to board the trains and buses too. And you'll want to be sure to be back in Cannes well before the departure time. While the ship must wait for its own excursions to return, it isn't likely to wait for other stragglers. I'm with Kelly - choose one of the ship's excursions and pay the price for the peace of mind - also, cruisers taking the ship's excursions usually get priorty getting on the tenders.

You could also spend the day in Cannes with essentially no risk of being late back to the ship.

This isn't what you asked, but with that short amount of time, waiting for tenders, local traffic, Eze-Village far from any train station, why don't you take a look at a jaunt to Antibes for your time It's a super charming town with a Picasso museum and it's right next door to Cannes.