Monte Carlo/Monaco/Nice - on your own

[Travl Nut]

Is this really feasible? Does anyone have any suggestions? As I was reading through the different posts I saw that we can get off the ship and take a train to Monaco. Does anyone know the name?

 

How would I get to Nice? By train? Does anyone have any suggestion as to books or websites.

 

Thanks! I was going to play it by ear, but my DB wants to have a "plan". I guess the "plan" is to have ME do the research :D

 

Any help is much appreciated!!!

[Chick's pal]

The train is very easy to get to in Villefranche. With your back to the water, you'll walk in the direction of "right" (versus left), which I assume is east. The train station will be very obvious after no more than a 10 minute walk. Buy your tickets from a machine there. Be sure to validate the tickets in another "punchcard" type machine. You can go to either Nice or Monaco/Monte Carlo, but they are in opposite directions, so just know you'll have to ride through Villefranche again (and buy tickets for each leg of the trip, a total of 3 legs.)

 

You can also take a bus to these places. We learned the hard way that the bus stops are a 15-minute uphill walk from the port, so stick with the train to avoid that.

 

We took a bus to Monaco, stayed as long as we wanted, visited the palace, the cathedral and shopped (send postcards here...Monaco has its own stamps). We next took the bus back to Eze Sur Mer, where we took a taxi to the medieval perched village of Eze, spent lots of time in Eze. Then took the train back to Villefranche. We could have gone on to Nice (there was plenty of time), but decided to relax awhile instead.

 

HAVE A GREAT TIME.

[TedC]

We tendered into Monaco from the Oosterdam last Oct. and took the train to Nice where we visted the Chagall and Matisse museums. Buses also run into Nice.

 

Rick Steves' travel guide for France gives some good tips. The train station in Monaco is about a 10 to 15 minute walk from the tender dock.

 

I don't remember the directions. We met a Canadian couple on our tender who were doing back to backs and had been there on the first cruise and knew the way, which helped us. But with a map it shouldn't be a problem.

 

In Nice we took a city bus to the Chagall Museum and then walked from there to Matisse. Steves tells how to do this.

 

You can also take a public bus from Nice to St. Paul de Vence, one of the prettiest villages you'll ever see. We went to Chagall's tomb in that village where he lived until his death in 1985 at age 97.

 

 

We'd been to Monaco a few other times so didn't spend much time there. But if you've never been there it's worth seeing. Princess Grace (Kelly) is entombed in the Cathedral. If you're over 21 you can go in the famed Casino and make a donation via the slot machines.

[Travl Nut]

We are tendering in Monte Carlo, so is it correct to assume that we can take some sort of transportation to Monaco? I'd like to go to Nice, so we would have to figure out how to catch the train and then go from there....

 

Has anyone done this before?

[outatsea]

There is a cheap train service available between Monte Carlo and Nice.

It's about 10.15 minutes walk from the pier to get to the Monte Carlo Central Train Station and there a frequent trains to Nice main station which takes about good 20 -25 minutes to get there.

 

It will take you another 25 minutes walk to get from there to the Nice town center. Suggest you take a cab and drive down to Vieille Ville (old town center), and take a walk through the narrow streets until you reach the waterfront and have lunch there in one of the outdoor cafes or beach restaurants.

 

If you look for something else beside nice, do the casino thing in Monte Carlosand then get out of town. Hire a car and drive on the three Corniches upper, middle and lower. See Eze, St Paul, Villefranche.

[Travl Nut]

Thanks so much. I had no idea what to see there. I was thinking of doing the ships excursions through Princess. Has anyone gone through the ships excursions? I would rather do this port on our own, but don't want to get stuck somewhere

[RHayes8793]

Train timetables at http://www.sncf.com. Have to type in specific cities to and from.

[Travl Nut]

I don't understand this website. Does anyone know of one that also has an English version?

[samscruiser]

Click on the British flag in the upper left hand corner

[Travl Nut]

Thanks much!

[Hlitner]

Travl Nut, I absolutely love your "spirit of adventure" and willingness to do some independent exploration. We have been doing it this way for about 25 years..and have never been disappointed with our trips. Western Europe is very visitor friendly and lots of fun. I agree with the others regarding traveling from Monte Carlo. You can either use a taxi, local bus, or walk (its a bit of a hike) to get from the tender pier to the train station...and from there its pretty easy to go to Nice, Cannes, or many other towns along the coast. My strong suggestion would be that you find a nice comfy seat in a large bookstore (such as Borders) and use their travel section as a research library. You will quickly get a feel for your ports and the areas that might be of personal interest. Make sure to leave yourself some time to enjoy the well-placed outdoor cafes that are found throughout Europe. Much of the local atmosphere can be found by sitting back, enjoying local cuisine, and sipping a drink while people watching (this is a passion with many locals).

 

Hank

[Siegmund]

We too, are planning to tour on our own after docking in Monte Carlo. Does anyone have experience with renting a car in MC? Is the driving difficult? Also, how much of a problem with parking at the various sites in Nice, Eze, LaTurbie and Monaco?

 

Thanks,

Jane

[jane2go]

:) We're on the Oct. 24th Noordam cruise, and we're having a tough time choosing what to do in Monaco/Monte Carlo. For first timers in Provence, is St. Paul de Vence a prettier village than Eze? If we take an afternoon ship's tour to St. Paul de Vence, will we have enough time to see Monaco, Monte Carlo ourselves in the a.m. when we arrive? Is Nice a must-see? It seems that most people do their own thing when they get there, trains, buses, cars, etc. but my husband needs this vacation to de-stress, and I think we'd better do the ship tours. However, I'm desperate to see Provence and it's very frustrating to try to do as much as possible in a day. Help!

[ClaudiaF]

:) We're on the Oct. 24th Noordam cruise, and we're having a tough time choosing what to do in Monaco/Monte Carlo. For first timers in Provence, is St. Paul de Vence a prettier village than Eze? If we take an afternoon ship's tour to St. Paul de Vence, will we have enough time to see Monaco, Monte Carlo ourselves in the a.m. when we arrive? Is Nice a must-see? It seems that most people do their own thing when they get there, trains, buses, cars, etc. but my husband needs this vacation to de-stress, and I think we'd better do the ship tours. However, I'm desperate to see Provence and it's very frustrating to try to do as much as possible in a day. Help!

 

If you can get a group of new friends from your ship together you could hire a private car/driver from two great companies.. monaco monte carlo prices change for 2 to 6 in van so check their tours.. they are wonderful

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

or Provence St. Paul de Vence etc. for 2 the price is better than the ships tour and up to 6 they use Mercedes vans and you can split the cost.. something like 350 to 400 EU for a whole day for all.. so it is great and you can go everywhere

http://www.taxidurand.com

[Travl Nut]

Thank you so much for your post. We are leaving in 5 days and now you have inspired me to take some time and visit my local Borders to do some more extensive research. And to think.... I thought I was done :eek:

 

I want to have the liberty to take our time to enjoy the scenery. Being in a group can sometimes hold you back. I am doing the "group thing" in certain ports, but this port seems to be a little easier to manage on our own.

 

Thanks for the insight and your time!

[ekerr19]

If you can get a group of new friends from your ship together you could hire a private car/driver from two great companies.. monaco monte carlo prices change for 2 to 6 in van so check their tours.. they are wonderful

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

or Provence St. Paul de Vence etc. for 2 the price is better than the ships tour and up to 6 they use Mercedes vans and you can split the cost.. something like 350 to 400 EU for a whole day for all.. so it is great and you can go everywhere

http://www.taxidurand.com

Thanks for these wonderful links - we are on the Noordam 11/3/04 and have just begun planning our excursions. We don't really like to do the ship's tours - but want to see as much as we possibly can. This is great. :)

[bosvn]

Which bus should we take to go from Nice to St. Paul De Vence? How far is the bus station away from the train station? can we walk there? And how long is the ride? We will be boarding the Star Princess in sept and will be docking at Cannes from 8:00 - 5:30pm. We are planning on taking the train from Cannes to Monaco in the morning then head back to Nice and take the bus to St. Paul De Vence in the afternoon.

 

Thanks!!!