Monaco and Ajaccio, Corsica

Hi everyone!

We are soon heading to Europe for a lovely vacay, including a two-week Med cruise. We prefer to organize our own land excursions and would much appreciate any advice / recommendations for some of the stops - since this is the France port forum, namely for Monaco and Ajaccio.

I should add that I have been to Monaco before and do not feel the least desire to spend a lot of time there this time (to be honest, I don't really understand why anyone would want to go there!); when I was much younger, we went to the South of France a few times and I remember the whole "hinterland" to be stunningly beautiful, so I"d much rather delve into that for the day. However, I am not sure how to go about this - our ship doesn't really offer any trips that excite me (plus, they're outrageously expensive!!), so I was wondering whether anyone here has had any experience with planning their own trips into Provence from Monaco? Did anyone use a local company for this - I'm sure there will be offers at the cruise port, but are they reliable and worth it?? I know there are trains and busses into Nice, from where one can take a public bus to e.g. Saint Paul, but that seems rather lengthy and complicated....I just don't know whether I'd be ok relying on public transportation to make it back to the ship on time!!

As for Ajaccio - we would certainly like to spend some time in the town as it seems very nice, and I guess there is a city beach that's easily accessible from the cruise port, but again, we would like to explore the hinterland a bit, too. Ship offers a number of interesting sounding excursions and we might just go with one of those, but are those on offer at the port also (probably much cheaper?)?

Thanks for your thoughts / ideas!!

If she is available, Sylvie diCristo is an excellent guide for any port stops you have on the French Riviera. Her email address is dicristosylvie@gmail.com. She books up fast so she may not be available.

On our first visit to this area, she took eight of us along the road course for the Monaco Grand Prix, then over the middle corniche with photo stops to Nice, where we stopped at the excellent Chagall museum. Thereafter we spent several hours, including lunch, in St. Paul de Vence and also visited Haut du Cagnes, as well as the cathedral in Monaco where Princess Grace is buried.

Knowledgable and gracious (and an excellent driver), she provides a wonderful tour experience.

We really enjoyed the OPs post since we agree about Monte Carlo (our least favorite place in that region). If you want to go to places like St Paul de Vence (we love this town) or Eze Village, there is a lot to say for just renting a car. The cost of a rental is generally about $100 for a day and it gives you total flexibility to go where you please without wasting time waiting for public transportation.

However, if you really want to go to St Paul de Vence on public buses we can give you detailed info. But as you suspect, a lot of time is wasted using the bus system.

Hank

Thanks for the replies! I don't think I'd like to spend the whole day with a tour guide (I'm sure she's wonderful and thanks for the suggestion, but I think I'd rather just be with the hubby :) - we're a bit private that way!).

Hank - I had started looking into the rental car thing a while ago and might still pursue this, it seems like a good option - the only thing is that I'm a little hesitant about the stress factor (I stress rather easily and am just worried that it might spoil the day a bit for me....). But will def. look into it some more....I really would love to show my husband a bit more of Provence, but maybe we'll just do Nice and Eze - both of which I think can rather easily be done by public bus.

Also, it looks like we will be tendering, so that'll take away quite a bit of time....

If you have already seen Nice, Eze and St Paul, you might want to take the train to Menton. Just a short distance East of Monaco and the last town before Italy.

We were considering Menton, but I'd really like to go up into the Provence hinterland - I can't remember if I've been to Eze and/or Saint Paul, I think I've been to at least one of them but it was ages ago so really wouldn't mind going again - and hubby has never been :)

I have a childhood memory of going to one of those places and buying a little terracotta hedgehog, you'd sprinkle grass seed on it and then it would grow grass (in lieu of the spikes!!). I loved that thing!! Would be awesome to grow cat grass :D. I also remember sitting on a wall, eating fresh baguette - SO, SOOO good!!!

Thanks for the replies! I don't think I'd like to spend the whole day with a tour guide (I'm sure she's wonderful and thanks for the suggestion, but I think I'd rather just be with the hubby :) - we're a bit private that way!).

Guess I misunderstood your original post which asked if anyone had used a local company, which I interpreted to mean you were interested in a local tour company.

Regarding the stress of a rental car we have been able to really lighten the stress by having our own GPS :). Years ago we realized that most of our driving stress was the result of DWs lack of map reading skills. Typical drive would be me asking, "Honey, where are we?" and DW answering "If we do not know where we are how can I find it on a map?" After a few long European driving trips when we had a fear of mutual homicide...I bought a GPS with European maps. Now, the few times we have stress it is usually related to finding a parking space.

Hank

LOL Hank

We were considering taking our own GPS, but that would really only make sense to me if we rented a car in a number of places - which we might end up doing....For us, the stress is partly due to the fact that my American husband is unable to drive a stick shift, which pretty much means I have to do all the driving in Europe as automatics are hard to find and/or exorbitantly expensive! I just found a really good offer for a car in Monaco - a little over EUR 40 all inc with NO EXCESS; unfortunately, the rental car office closes at 18:30 (and our ship isn't sailing out until 23h!!)....Also, on one of the recent itineraries, people weren't able to go on land because of the waves being too high for the tender boats....We are also supposed to tender in Monaco during our trip, and I'd HATE to book a car and then not be able to actually get it!!!

I wish someone would make all these decisions for me...unfortunately, hubby is used to me organizing everything. BTW, what does "DW" stand for? I do realize you're referring to "She who must be obeyed", but what do the actual letters stand for??

Guess I misunderstood your original post which asked if anyone had used a local company, which I interpreted to mean you were interested in a local tour company.

Yes, sorry, you are right - we would consider booking a local excursion, we just wouldn't want a one-on-one situation...It sounded like this lady is a private guide??

DW= dear wife

DH= dear husband

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Gotcha!!

Yes, sorry, you are right - we would consider booking a local excursion, we just wouldn't want a one-on-one situation...It sounded like this lady is a private guide??

She is a private guide, but she is really wonderful. You do get a lot of time on your own with her. She isn't with you the entire time.