Nice, Antibes and Cannes, instead of Eze and St. Paul de Vence??

[Olwyn]

Hi Everyone!

We are doing a tour off of the Ruby Princess (in Monaco) on September 2nd, and are in port from 11am to 7pm.

I am wondering if anyone has done the coast as far as Cannes in one day, instead of the usual St. Paul de Vence and Eze.

I have been reading some nasty posts lately about Eze being crowded, and involving lots of climbing up stairs and hills...big bus parking lots etc...

Any input would be great.

My mom would love to get to Cannes...but can we do it...and NOT miss the ship? We do want a brief tour of Monaco as well of course.

Thanks so much!

Olwyn:D

[Seatravelers]

You most certainly can, we have done it 3 times. You just have to have a private guide and you can arrange to see everything you wish within the time allotted. We use Dream Tours and think Fred is one of the best! http://www.dream-tours.com jmho

[Olwyn]

Hello Seatravellers!

Nice to meet you, and thanks for the post.

 

We have a tentative reservation with Revelation Tours...but I have also enquired with Dream Tours..and Fred sounds great.

 

Can you tell me your exact Itinerary. Where you stopped, had lunch etc?? We are only in port from 11am to 7pm...so we don't want things to be too rushed, or worse...too tight timewise.

 

Thanks so much!

Olwyn

[Seatravelers]

Nice to meet you too, Olwyn. The first time we used Fred we were anchored in Villefrance. That day we went to Nice, Cannes, Eze, St. Paul Vence, MonteCarlo/Monaco. It was fairly quicked paced but we wanted to see it all. Had lunch in St Paul Vence both times we have been there at restaurant Fred suggested and they were great. This May we divided the area into 2 days since we were anchored in Cannes one time and Nice the next. First day we went to Cannes, Antibes, Nice and St. Paul. Next time we went to went along the shore line from Nice to Eze, MonteCarlo/Monaco and beyond to last beach area before Italy. Had lunch there which was good but took too long. Fred stops at points of interest along the way and is very aware of the time issues associated with cruise passengers. Hope this helps, the area is spectacular and not to be missed, imho. Happy sailing.

Marcia

[dbh62ark]

I've been to all these areas (just returned from a day in Antibes and Monte Carlo where the state rooms in the palace are now open for tours), and I don't think that Antibes and Cannes have the same charm that Eze and St. Paul de Vence have. If you have a private driver for the day, you can get to St. Paul de Vence before the tours do. My favorite day trip in this area (we have also stayed here on ground trips) was Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild, St. Paul de Vence, and St. Agnes. St. Agnes is a little gem that is rarely visited by any tourists and is just idyllic. St. Paul de Vence is my favorite in the area. Eze is small and can get very crowded. St. Paul is larger and nicer IMHO.

 

Have a great trip,

Donna

[Cruise Junky]

Cannes is boring, Antibes is nice but doesn't hold a candle to Eze and St. Paul. It's a bit of a hill to climb up Eze, but it's sooooo worth it.

[Olwyn]

Thank you all! Very informative!

 

Now the dilemma...what would be your 'perfect' tour out of Monaco...given the time restraint of 6 hours!

We dock at 11am and depart at 7pm. I am assuming that they will want us all back onboard by 6pm.

 

We were hoping to get to Cannes, just to say we did...but is it 'boring'??

Merci Mon Ami!

Olwyn

[CintiPam]

Thank you all! Very informative!

 

Now the dilemma...what would be your 'perfect' tour out of Monaco...given the time restraint of 6 hours!

We dock at 11am and depart at 7pm. I am assuming that they will want us all back onboard by 6pm.

 

We were hoping to get to Cannes, just to say we did...but is it 'boring'??

Merci Mon Ami!

Olwyn

 

We took an all-day tour with Sylvie di Cristo from Monaco a couple of weeks ago. We chose to make a quick van tour around Monaco itself first, then drove along the Lower Corniche to visit Nice, in particular to visit the lovely Chagall Museum. We would have stopped at the flower market in Old Nice as well, but on Mondays it is an antiques market and we simply were not interested. We then drove to St. Paul de Vence, lunching at the old restaurant outside the city walls, then strolling through the walled city. We then visited Haut Cagnes for a non-touristy historic small town flavor, then back to Monaco to stop at the cathedral (at the request of one of our cruisecritic tour mates) and palace before being delivered back to the dock. A wonderful day.

[Cruise Junky]

We took an all-day tour with Sylvie di Cristo from Monaco a couple of weeks ago. We chose to make a quick van tour around Monaco itself first, then drove along the Lower Corniche to visit Nice, in particular to visit the lovely Chagall Museum. We would have stopped at the flower market in Old Nice as well, but on Mondays it is an antiques market and we simply were not interested. We then drove to St. Paul de Vence, lunching at the old restaurant outside the city walls, then strolling through the walled city. We then visited Haut Cagnes for a non-touristy historic small town flavor, then back to Monaco to stop at the cathedral (at the request of one of our cruisecritic tour mates) and palace before being delivered back to the dock. A wonderful day.

 

Isn't the Chagall Museum fabulous? I absolutely loved that!

[CintiPam]

Isn't the Chagall Museum fabulous? I absolutely loved that!

 

Yes, it is. I am an art museum docent, and was the one of the eight of us that wanted to be sure to visit there on our day in Monaco. I was greatly relieved when the other seven absolutely adored it as well, and we ended up spending more time there than originally planned.

[Cruise Junky]

Yes, it is. I am an art museum docent, and was the one of the eight of us that wanted to be sure to visit there on our day in Monaco. I was greatly relieved when the other seven absolutely adored it as well, and we ended up spending more time there than originally planned.

 

We went on a land trip which was great to not have any time restrictions. I have my little Chagal art cards all over my office. When we stayed in St. Paul de Vence for 3 days we visited his grave....not something I normally do, but it seemed appropriate.

[CintiPam]

We went on a land trip which was great to not have any time restrictions. I have my little Chagal art cards all over my office. When we stayed in St. Paul de Vence for 3 days we visited his grave....not something I normally do, but it seemed appropriate.

 

That was a very nice thing to you to do. (We saw the cemetery from above at the end of town, but did not enter.)