Villefranche, Monaco, Eze, Villefranche - train/bus or drive in mid August?

We just came back from France and stayed in Villefranche. We took the bus from VF to Monaco (Octroi stop). IMHO, Monaco was a snore. At the most, I can now say I've been there. We drove to Eze le Village. It is touristy but pretty. I would recommend visiting the garden there as there are gorgeous views of the Med from that point and the garden is pretty. Get to Eze really early to park and beat the crowds/tour buses. Rather than Monaco, I would recommend going to Villa Ephrussi on St. Jean Cap Ferrat. You can get there by bus easily. Again we used the Octroi bus stop. As I don't know where you are staying that may not be the most convenient bus stop for you. You could also go to Nice easily from VF. If you are driving, get a gps as it is invaluable for driving in France.

Thank you for your quick response and great advice!
I also thought that there were locales other than Monaco to visit, but my husband would like to go back and I am trying to build a morning. Did you go to the Palace?
I was also thinking of driving to Eze early, walking around before lunch and driving through Monaco on the way back to VF, or skipping Monaco all together. I am trying to be more sensitive about not packing too much into our days (which I have been known to do), but it is so hard not too see all of these incredible places. Without the luxury of more days, I want to make sure the we are making the most of our time.
We are planning on a day in Cap Ferrat, and riding bikes over from VF.
Do you think NIce would be a better use of a day? Was wondering if it would be too crowded in mid August to be enjoyable? I would like to get to Vielle Ville.
Thanks again for all of your advice!

Also, did you the GPS on your phone? Or a different app?
Thanks!

We walked by the palace in Monaco. We have been to a lot of palaces in Europe so we gave this a pass. I would recommend taking public transport to Monaco as it will be so much easier than driving and parking. I would also suggest going to the old town in Nice. Use public transport. Bike ride to Cap Ferrat? I would seriously reconsider this. It is going to be HOT in August. We were there the beginning of July and the heat and humidity will do you in really fast. We took siestas in the afternoon and swam in the hotel pool. I hated to not be out there touring during the afternoon but it was simply not enjoyable at that time of day. We purchased a Garmin before our trip. We could have rented one with the car but by the time you pay the daily rental fee over 2+ weeks it was more practical to buy. And we will use it on future trips.

We used the Garmin Nuvi 2559 LMT which comes with American and European maps. Don't ever leave it in the car. Take it with you when you leave the car.

Awesome advice!
Rick Steves' recommended the electric bikes from VF to Cap Ferrat as an alternative to walking. I was hoping the route would be on the walking trail, but if it is on the road, or just too hot then, I see what you mean.
So, I am concluding that taking the train everywhere, except Eze (and St Paul de Vence, where we will be sure to use our GPS) is the way to go. If we run out of time or energy, we might have to visit Monaco next time.
You have been very generous with your time and advice!
Merci!

It is interesting how differently people see things.

I regularly visit Monaco in the winter, to get away from dark and dank English winter weather - no I don't gamble and bling means nothing to me - and I really really like Monaco. I love the whole Riviera, both Italian and French, all the way along towards the Camargue.

This year we stayed for the first time in Beaulieu sur Mer, next to Villefranche and loved that too. This year was much later, in late March on our way home from Rome.

I am sure that the crowds will be bigger in August - although winter is when all the snowbirds are there - and much much hotter.

Just a couple of points - parking is free in Monaco multi storey car parks for the first hour. It gets a bit more from the second hour onwards but is not ridiculous. We find particularly convenient car parks at the station, with entrances of Saint Devote (a very nice small chapel) and from the road from Eze, the Moyen Corniche; and near the Novotel, and down by the commercial centre in Fontvieille where the McDonalds with THE best view is (upstairs overlooking the small port and looking up at Le Rocher) and a large Carrefour.

Like underwater life? The aquarium up on the Rocher - park at Pecheur and take the series of elevators and escalators up to the Palace and aquarium but don't park on the floor with the tour buses - is one of the very best in the world. I have spent hours in front of the big tank just watching one sea turtle. Founded for Jacques Cousteau.

If you like the Jardin Exotique in Eze-le-Village (we do) the big daddy is northwest of the station in Monte Carlo. It is incredible.

Eze-le-Village has always had easy parking (free, I think) for us but maybe more difficult in August, and then it is the climb straight up to the village and hotel at the top with the other Jardin Exotique.

The ride down the mountain with the little bus to Eze-sur-Mer is quite a joyride, I'm glad I've never tried that road in my car.

If you do decide to drive to Monaco you won't see much of the sea on the way because the side of the road is all built up. If you take the short (and cheap) train ride and sit on the side with the sea (on the right towards Monaco from Nice) and sit upstairs - the trains are almost all double deckers except for a few ancient Marseilles refugees brought in to help with the crowds at rush hour - the views are priceless.

If you like changing of the guard, the ceremony isn't a patch on London but is good and for a change it is all in white. Love the helmets.

Go into the church up on the Rocher and see Princess Grace's memorial. The church is nice, and I'm sure that the cool air would be welcome on a hot day.

There are two small sandy public beaches on Cap Ferrat which are kinder on the feet than the rocks and sharp gravel on most of the beaches on the Cote d'Azur. That lovely - from a distance - beach in Villefranche sur Mer is such a beach - sharp gravel. Don't go barefoot, nor on all the public beaches in Nice. Antibes has a sand beach - I know because most of it had washed across the road during a storm when I was there in March.

Go with an open mind and enjoy yourself. Just because Rick only gives a few pages to Monaco, other guides give much more. See for yourself which of us here in this thread is right - - for you. (For us, we are both right, yet poles apart)

I ran out of characters.

Just to also say, it is fun to try to work out the three dimensional maze that Monaco is. I only listed 2 of the 3 or 4 entrances to the station multi storey car park because they are the easiest to find and most commonly used but car park is spread over something like 13 storeys with entrances at various points on the stack.

Everything is at various levels in the country and multiple levels. It is so easy to walk around though because there are free public lifts (elevators), escalators (indoors and outdoors), and moving sidewalks. There's even an electric boat crossing the port over to the restaurants which have the Formula 1 racing simulators and the short walk over to the Pecheur car park and its 11 storey lift to the Aquarium and the Palace.

My wife and I have been going for years and there's still probably half of the puzzle we haven't decoded yet.

Did I say we love the place?

Thanks so much! Terrific advice all around!

We love to hear all opinions!

And because you all have such great advice, I am going to throw out our specific scheduling dilemma and if you feel like taking a crack at how you would schedule it, I would love to hear your thoughts.

We are staying in VF and have a car. We have 3 full days and 1 half day (half day is arrival, and we plan to explore VF in the afternoon)
1st full day - St Paul de Vence

Days 2 and 3 - (we have 4 days of things to see), schedule choices are….
1 - Monaco/Eze: questions - too much for one day? Morning in Monaco, lunch at Chateau in Eze (great or too expensive/touristy?). If we do this should we drive from VF, to Monaco, to Eze and back to VF (the train and bus combos seem like too much). Will driving during August congestion waste too much time and we should make our decisions to maximize public transportation and minimize travel time?
Or…
2. Drive early to Monaco, stay for lunch, visit the palace/garden, then drive to Eze in the afternoon to explore on way home?
3. Split Monaco and Eze into separate days?
4. St Jean Cap Ferrat - Villa Ephrussi - whole day?
5. Nice - especially Old Town (will it be too crowded/hot, or totally worth it?)
Or take one of these off the list (always the heartbreak!).

Merci Beaucoup!

Thanks for your perspective, Nigel. I was hoping to hear from someone who liked Monaco. If you don't gamble and don't like bling, then I'm not sure what else there is to do in Monaco. Different strokes for different folks I guess. I live in the western US in almost constant sunshine and bright blue skies. I supose if I were sun deprived then I might have a different spin on things. Plus (sorry to sound like a bragging American) we have several world class aquariums here in the US so that was a miss. I guess I want to see something I can't see at home which is why I go to Europe in the first place. The parking at Eze is not free. You have to pay if you park in the lot. I would love to hear others perspectives on Monaco and the OP when she gets back from her trip.

There will always be something that you will not get to do. We loved Villa Ephrussi. The gardens are gorgeous as well as the house. We spent a good part of a morning there until the heat got to us and we left. I would have liked to have more time there. I think you could do both Monaco and Eze in a day. But do Eze in the early am because of the parking situation. You will probably find Eze to be a bit of a reprise of St. Paul which we liked better than Eze except for the marvelous views from Eze. I agree with Nigel about the beaches. We only drove our car to Eze and used public transport which was less stressful. We saw St. Paul on our way out to the Luberon.

I will be driving to Monaco and we will have our luggage in the back of a rental car. My friend was told by a native French person we cannot leave our car in Monaco or anywhere in France with anything in the car. So....we will have to carry our suitcases with us as we tour Monaco or, one of us will sit in the car while the other tours and then vice-versa. Is theft this prevalent in Monaco? in France?

Beth, that is good advice. Boots/trunks can vulnerable, and opportunist thieves may like to have a rummage if they have clues that something is there.

Can you check in to your hotel and then go walkabout?

You may have an advantage parking the loaded car in Monaco because the vast bulk of parking there is in indoor multi story car parks, with spaces that you can back into so that the back of the car is against a wall.

Of course you won't open the back of the car in the car park so that any watching eyes won't be tempted.

Best though, is check in, leave the car behind and visit Monaco by train.