Eze or St Paul de Vence or Both??

[Vacation Master]

We have 7 hours in port.....tendering to Villefranche. Is is possible to do both of these towns in this amount of time? Or should we focus on only one?? What about the town of Biot? We plan on using the train/bus to get to these destinations.

 

Any info would be greatly appreciated!

[dbh62ark]

You can definitely do both if you have a private driver. We used Dream Tours on a previous cruise and highly recommend (are using them again this year). On our last private tour in this area, we went to Cannes, Eze, St. Paul de Vence, a short stop at the perfume factory not to tour but to shop (fabulous soaps, perfumes, etc.), and several stops at scenic overlooks as well as a short stop at Monte Carlo at the end of the day. I also recommend the private tour to you because you will see some fabulous scenery as you drive around the area. If you do a search on the boards, you'll find instructions for going to both of the villages independently by train and bus; however, it would probably be difficult to do both in the same day due to timing. Eze is easier to do on your own. Bus timing is an issue in going to St. Paul de Vence; this is not insurmountable for those who want to do only St. Paul de Vence independently during a port stop but with your short port stop, I think you'll have to choose between the two villages unless you use a driver. This has been discussed at length on the boards in the past, and a large majority of passengers like us who have been to both villages prefer St. Paul de Vence if you do have to choose.

 

Have a great trip,

Donna

[talyanka]

We visited both St.Paul de Vence and Eze during our private tour with Revelation Tours. They both are pretty small towns but generally they are quite similar. When I printed all my pictures and started sorting them out it was had to distinguish in which of them pictures were taken. So if you have enough time with a private guide you can visit both of them. If your time is limited you can visit just one and go and see something different as Rothschild Villa – gorgeous place –for example.

[Jade13]

Talyanka,

 

Ideally we want to go to St Paul and the Villa for 5 hours and get left off in Monte Carlo since I understad it is walkable. I guess we will see if anyone will do a half day.

 

It sounds like you saw a lot, but how much time did actually spend in Monte Carlo? Did you have time to go into the Church where Princess Grace is buried. Do you know how far the gardens/Caves are from everything?

[talyanka]

Jade13,

 

We probably spent a couple of hours in Monte Carlo as it was our last stop. We had a full day trip. Started it and ended it up in Monte Carlo. There we had two stops: one -near Casino where we had enough time to walk around in the nice park and than another one on the Rock where the Cathedral and Royal Palace are located. Yes, we had enough time to go to the Cathedral and walk in the Gardens and see the Palace.

I am not sure where the Caves are we haven’t been there. Because it was our last stop we could stay longer in Monte Carlo and return on the ship any time we want after the end of the tour but we were quite tired by that time and opted to go back to the ship.

Rothschild Villa is not that far from Monaco but it’s definitely not in a walking distance. The Villa has a beautiful collection of antiques and a wonderful garden.

Ask Revelation Tours or check their web site. I think they offer half-day tours too.

http://www.revelation-tours.com/

The best thing we liked about this tour that we have seen so many picturesque places while driving on the mountain roads and you won’t be able to see these places if you use only public transportation in this area. Some roads are quite narrow and accessible only by car. There are three levels of roads along Cote Azure and we had an opportunity to see all of them and the views from them are very spectacular.

So I think we got very good impression about Monaco and Cote Azure – the maximum you can get in one day and in the group of 8 people price was very reasonable too.

Have a great trip.

[pcur]

I have been offering up my cool little maps I saved on my computer's hard drive for the Villefranche/Eze/Monaco area. I have no idea where I got them, so I cannot give the urls. However, if you email me at pcurri at that yahoo place, I'll be happy to send them to you.

 

I have been posting this on all the Villefranche related threads lately, and there's a LOT of people going this year, considering the number of requests I'm getting. I finally put them in a draft email so I just copy and paste the person's email addy, and off they go!

 

St. Paul de Vence, by the way, has no bus on Sundays (it's on the bus map I have).

[dbh62ark]

We visited both St.Paul de Vence and Eze during our private tour with Revelation Tours. They both are pretty small towns but generally they are quite similar. When I printed all my pictures and started sorting them out it was had to distinguish in which of them pictures were taken.

We had exactly the same experience. While I think they're both great, there are so many options in the area to add variety to a day itinerary. We didn't visit the villages back-to-back, so I was able to sort my photos, but I wouldn't be able to tell some of the postcards if they weren't labeled. Samantha Brown did a show on Eze recently that created some interest in Eze, but I thought St. Paul de Vence was better (both were great).

 

Happy travels to all,

Donna

[Vacation Master]

I have been offering up my cool little maps I saved on my computer's hard drive for the Villefranche/Eze/Monaco area. I have no idea where I got them, so I cannot give the urls. However, if you email me at pcurri at that yahoo place, I'll be happy to send them to you.

 

I have been posting this on all the Villefranche related threads lately, and there's a LOT of people going this year, considering the number of requests I'm getting. I finally put them in a draft email so I just copy and paste the person's email addy, and off they go!

 

St. Paul de Vence, by the way, has no bus on Sundays (it's on the bus map I have).

 

Thanks everyone for all of the information........but it appears that I may have to stick with Eze as we are in port on Sunday.

 

Pcurr - would you be so kind as to email this information you have to my email address that would be fabulous! TonyatChase@aol.com

 

Thanks again!

 

Tony

[Jade13]

Talyanka - Thanks!

[scrapycruiser]

We had exactly the same experience. While I think they're both great, there are so many options in the area to add variety to a day itinerary. We didn't visit the villages back-to-back, so I was able to sort my photos, but I wouldn't be able to tell some of the postcards if they weren't labeled. Samantha Brown did a show on Eze recently that created some interest in Eze, but I thought St. Paul de Vence was better (both were great).

 

Happy travels to all,

Donna

 

What was better about St Paul de Vence ?

[Host Kewlguy]

Definitely St. Paul de Vence.

[hcat]

Could you say why St paul de Vence is the better choice? We plan to do only one-- uphill walking is an issue of concern...Thanks

[randolph]

Could you say why St paul de Vence is the better choice? We plan to do only one-- uphill walking is an issue of concern...Thanks

 

Eze is steep and does require walking uphill. Busses will drop you off at the bottom of the hill, then you walk uphill to the little village. SPDV is much easier walking. Just depends on your physical condition.

[Cruise Junky]

Could you say why St paul de Vence is the better choice? We plan to do only one-- uphill walking is an issue of concern...Thanks

 

You have a pretty big hill go walk up to get into Eze. I love St. Paul, it was one of our favourite stops on our Med. Cruise. Loved it so much we've booked three days just outside the walls for our land trip this August.

[Hlitner]

We love both of these towns but would not recommend doing both in a single day if you want to use public transit. You will spend a significant amount of time just waiting for trains and buses, and keep in mind that Eze and St Paul de Vence are opposite directions from the port. If you do want to do both places, consider renting a car (we do this all the time in Europe) or hire a car and driver. One nice thing about Eze and St Paul de Vence is that both places have very convenient parking (Eze has a lot at the entrance and St Paul de Vence has a large indoor parking garage near their main entrance).

 

Hank

[travellgirl]

We were thinking of doing both Nice and St. Paul de Vence by bus. Is that doable in one day? It seems so, but wanted to check. We have been to Nice previously, but our friends have not.

Thanks..