French Riviera tours

Sorry, I do mean Eze. Thanks.

There are two Ezes in the general area of Nice: one on the coast and one on the Middle Corniche hanging a couple thousand feet above the coast. You want the latter. Unfortunately, given the lack of time you have, it's a bit of a challenge to get to--worth it if someone has enough time but my guess is you don't.

Nice could easily take up all day, you weren't precise about exactly how many hours you have in your one day, not including transportation to and from the ship--how many of the things on your list you can do/see depend on exactly how many hours you have.

Monaco and its Monte Carlo casino can be easily reached by train from Nice.

Marseilles is not in the Riviera, it's a port city in Provence, well west of Nice. Again, an important factor is exactly how many hours you have, not including transportation to and from the ship. For a short day, you will probably be limited to Marseille--unless you invest in the services of a tour that will efficiently get you to destinations such as Arles and guarantee that you get you back to the ship in time.

Thanks for your response, Kent. Each of the days our ship docks at 7:00 a.m. and leaves at 7:00 p.m. I understand there will be some time involved on getting off the ship in the morning and we've been advised to get back on at the end of each day between 5:30 and 6:00 p.m. Does that help to clarify?

It clarifies that you'll need to assign priorities and pay attention to the details of travel times, or pay one of the package onshore excursions to do this for you.

At the bottom of this post, I'll give you a link where you can go and use tools available on the web to do a better job of selecting destinations and determining travel times than we can do for you.

Re Nice, it can easily take up all your time. If you have a strong desire to go someplace other than Nice, Monaco can be reached quickly by train--the websites I link you to will tell you the station to station time but you'll have to add to that the time to get to the train station, buy a ticket, wait for the train, on both ends. This adds up. Nothing happens as fast as you want when it comes to this kind of travel.

Some travelers on cruises find it worth the investment to just bite the bullet and pay for a shore tour to get them around, a tradeoff of money for seeing more things.

Here's the link that gives you resources for planning your own shore excursion, if you decide not to go with one of the package short excursion tours.

http://www.ricksteves.com/graffiti/helpline/index.cfm/rurl/topic/28278/bhelp-with-itinerary-planning--travel-timesb.html

It will take time for you to do the planning.

For Marseilles, with about 8 or 9 hours of actual time "on the ground", I'd say you'll have to limit your activities to Marseilles--again, unless you decide to invest in a package shore tour/excursion that guarantees you can go farther and still get back to the ship in time.

I have printed off your e-mail and will do some serious investigation this weekend. Thanks so much for taking the time to help guide me.

Hi Karen: Glad to help someone like you who takes the time to say thanks!

It's a challenging planning situation: I know the package shore excursions/tours can be spendy. But with only 8 or 9 hours per location, there's an understandable temptation to do one of the packages, and an understandable reluctance to buy an entire book and try to do it yourself, when you'll only use a small portion of the book. Although Rick has written one: Provence & the French Riviera.

If you click on the Best Destinations link in the ribbon above, on this page, you'll find more info from Rick on both Nice and Marseilles.

Just took another look at the cruise ship offerings. Re Nice, there is a "Best of the French Reviera" which is $160 per person, another "Nice, Eze and Monaco" for $165 and a couple of other cheaper options (around $60 per person)that include: "Nice & Eze," "Monaco & Monte Carlo." Which of those would you do? Re Marseilles, there are about 5 tours that all cost about $60 each: "Luberon Villages," "Aix-En-Provence on your Own," Marseilles City Tour," "Cassis," and "St. Remy & Flovors of Provence." Recommendations?

Re your last post, Nice, Monaco and Eze would be my choice. Eze will be almost the opposite of Monaco and the 3 would be a good whirlwind introduction to the entire area.

Now, I'm assuming these tours all guarantee that you'll get back to the ship on time, right?

Kent...if the shore excursions are offered by the cruiseline, they'll definitely get back in time.

Karen, I'm going agree with Kent...do Nice, Eze and Monaco. On your own, you might have a hard time doing all three via public transportation. With the excursion, you'll be taken, by coach, to all of the places mentioned. And they are all worth seeing.

Well, I'm not so sure Monaco is worth seeing on such a brief stop.

We took a 7 day cruise r/t from Barcelona in July and used the services of [email protected] for our tour of Eze, Nice, and Antibes. She is incredibly knowledgeable about the area, speaks perfect english, and will take you wherever you want to go within the ship's timeframe. We had no trouble getting back on time since that is her #1 priority. It was truly a beautiful day.

Karen,

I have a few comments to add as well.

I have to agree with Kent and Frank II in that Nice, Eze & Monaco would be a good choice. Of course, visiting all three locations in such a limited time frame means you'll just be "skimming the surface" and won't have much time to spend in any of the locations.

The Nice portion will probably include at least one of the Museums and probably a quick pass along the Promenade des Anglais.

Hopefully the Eze portion will cover the "higher" version of Eze that Kent described.

I suspect the Monaco portion of the tour may be timed to get the group there by 11:55, which is when the Changing of the Guard occurs. The ceremony doesn't last long, perhaps 15 minutes or so. Try to get there early to get a good vantage point, as the crowds start to form early.

If the tour allows some free time, you might have a quick look at the Jaques Cousteau Oceangraphic Museum (there is an admission charge), as it has some interesting displays of "nautical history". You may also want to visit the Church where Princess Grace and Prince Rainier are interred (photos are allowed in the front portion of the Church, but NOT in the back where the crypts are located). Note that the lettering on these is in Latin.

Depending on how much time you have, Monte Carlo is on the opposite hill (other side of the bay) from Monaco. There's a dress code in the Casino, so you won't get too far inside if you're dressed in "casual" clothes.

If you go to Monaco / Monte Carlo, you might see if the Lady Moura is docked there - it's truly an impressive yacht!!! It was in the harbour at Monte Carlo when I was there in late June, so may still be there.

Happy travels!

It wouldn't be hard to get a taste of Nice, Eze, and Monaco on your own. Here's how I would do it.

Take a train (at least 3/hr) from Nice to Monaco.

Take bus #112 from Monaco to Eze-le-Village, departing at 11:25.

Take bus #112 from Eze-le-Village to Nice, departing at 13:35.

Spend your remaining time walking through Vieux Nice (the old town) and along the Promenade des Anglais on the beach.

If you are art lovers, then skip Monaco and do this. Take bus #112 from Nice to Eze-le-Village, departing at 09:00. Take bus #112 from Eze-le-Village to Nice, departing at 11:45. Visit either the Chagall Museum or the Matisse Museum. (Both are open until 18:00.) As time allows see a bit of Vieux Nice.

We used the services of tour guide Sylvie Di Cristo for two days to tour the area from Cannes to Monaco. I can't say enough about how wonderful the experience was for the four of us. Sylvie is worth every penny we spent for the two jam-packed days.