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Some updates to Rick's Provence and the French Riviera and Paris

We just returned from a trip to Nice, Marseille, Avignon and Paris, and I have a few updates to the guidebooks.

In Nice, Rick's online updates say that the Nice museums may start to charge admission fees in 2015, and I can confirm that that is true. It was 10 euro for both the Contemporary Art Museum and the Matisse Museum. However, if you plan to visit more than 2 museums (not counting Chagall), you can purchase a 7-day pass for 20 euro.

Also in Nice, the updates mention that the Russian Orthodox Cathedral is closed for renovation this year--it doesn't mention that this renovation includes the exterior as well. All of those beautiful onion domes were covered in scaffolding--couldn't see a thing. They did have an icon on display, but that may have been in anticipation of Easter week.

In Marseilles, we were having a hard time finding a place to stay, and finally decided to look at the Ibis hotel at the train station, which Rick mentions is about 100 euro, but can often have deals on line. Booking about 8 weeks in advance, we paid only about 52 euro! We usually stay in small local hotels or apartments, but I have to say, getting off the train and being able to drop our bags right at the hotel was really convenient.

In Paris, Rick warns you that the line for the catacombs can be about an hour and a half, and that you can minimize that by getting there by 9:30 (opens at 10). We arrived about 9:40, and didn't enter the catacombs til about 12:15. If I had known that it would take that long, I would not have spent my time that way.

Finally, Versailles. I know there is a long thread about Versailles, but I wanted to share my experience. We visited on Easter Sunday--it was the only day we could go. Even the website said don't come this weekend. We arrived and saw, I'm guessing, about 3-4,000 people in line. We followed Rick's alternative plan, visiting the gardens first. It was a Spectacle Day (when the fountains run some of the time) and there was a separate admission, not covered by the Museum Pass. We stood in a short line about 11:15. We loved it. There were people, but most were in the line for the Chateau. We also walked right into the Grand Trianon. By the time we reached the Petit Trianon, Chateau crowds had moved in, and we chose not to see it. After a lunch in the gardens, and another view of the fountains when they turned back on, we left about 4:30 PM. By then, only about 100-200 people were in line at the Chateau, so we were able to see that, too. Seeing the gardens first worked great for us!

Posted by
10344 posts

Re the Paris catacombs, do you happen to remember what day of the week you went there? (when you had the 2 and 1/2 hour wait)

Posted by
795 posts

Versailles on a Sunday and an Easter Sunday at that? Wow, you are brave!!!!

Posted by
4 posts

Kent--We visited the catacombs on a Tuesday--and there some major sites closed that day, so it may be longer than typical in mid-week. My apologies for thinking it was Wednesday in my original reply.

Terri--You are kind, brave is probably not the first word that comes to mind! But we had visited Versailles several years ago, before it was refurbished about 10 years ago, and we wanted to see it again.

Posted by
10344 posts

Yes, I agree about Wednesday.
It may be that the Rick Steves book editor for their Paris guidebook would be interested in considering whether to update the guidebook in the future. They don't monitor the forum on the weekends, so they may miss this thread.
There's a place on the website specifically for notifying the RS book editors about these things--it might be that you want to let them know.

Posted by
4 posts

Kent, I hope you've seen the my updated reply. Thanks for the suggestion about the RS updates link.

Posted by
567 posts

Appreciate the updates. Also, I've wanted to try an Ibis and the more I see people being pleased with them I'm ready to give it a go.
I enjoyed Nice more than I thought possible and have plans to return. Sorry you didn't get to see the onion domes.
How was the promenade in April?

Posted by
4 posts

Diane--It was our first trip to Nice, and we just loved it, wish we had stayed longer. Since we hadn't been before, I don't know how the promenade was compared to busier times of year. It was a beautiful, of course, but windy and cool.

We only stayed two nights, and then went up the coast to Menton, thinking that getting acclimated in a smaller town might be easier. However, our hotel was in Vieux Nice, and it had a small town feel. If we visit again, we'll stay in Nice, and day-trip from there. In Nice, we stayed at the Hotel Rosetti, which was wonderful. I don't know why it's not in the RS guidebook, but if it was, you'd probably never be able to book a room. We really liked being in the Ibis in Marseilles. In addition to the convenience of being right at the train station, I will admit that Marseilles is a little on the gritty side, and it was nice to return to return to a spic and span hotel.