Nice on Monday?

[scrapycruiser]

Next May our ship will be in Villefranche for 11 hours. We have been there before and went to Monaco, Monte Carlo, St Paul de Vence and Nice.

 

This time with our guide from Revelation Tours , we plan to go back to St Paul de Vence, Antibes and ???

 

Would you just stick with those 2 towns or should we add a 3rd ? Thought about Nice, but we're there on a Mon and wasn't sure about the antique market. Also, just went to the Baltic this summer, so wasn't planning to see museums or churches on this trip.

 

OR, instead of Nice, what about Eze. Or is it too much like St Paul de Vence ? Had thought about Cannes, but I don't read any favorable reports on Cannes.

 

Thanks for any suggestions !:)

[BiggiB]

Some more ideas:

If you have already a guide/transportation, why not visiting Cannes (driving along the famous Croisette), the gourmet village of Mougins and the parfum capital Grasse for a change? My favorite parfum factory is Molinard, for it is situated in an old Provencale villa, exhibiting not only the parfum fabrication but also traditional costumes and furniture.

Or do a more "landscape" orientated excursion: Cannes, the coastal drive along the Esterel mountains, St. Raphael and St. Tropez. May is not yet high season and the driving should be easy around the Bay of St. Tropez. Stop at a local wine producer outside St. Tropez for a tasting, there is a large choice of places.

Ask your guide to drop you off on the way to St Tropez at the ferry in St. Maxime and take the ferry across the bay to St Trop - a beautiful scenic boat ride. Your guide can meet you easily later in St. Trop for the return trip (via autoroute, to make it faster).

The difference in landscapes, between the mountains, the sea and the rolling hills of the wine country is surprising.

[scrapycruiser]

Thank you for your suggestions ! It made me go get a glass of wine so I could enjoy the ambience ! What is there to see in Cannes ? What about Antibes ? I appreciate your experience.

[bobalink]

We recently were in Cannes and used Revelation Tours. They were great! You can decide what you want and then email them and they can tell you if it will fit in the amount of time you have.

We really enjoyed our tour with them. Did Nice, Eze, St. Paul de Vence. We had a nice lunch in St. Paul.

Enjoy!

[BiggiB]

Bonjour, scrapycruiser! Just found your questions following my reply.

Which places to visit, does really depend on your personal preferences. However, in my opinion CANNES is a nice city for a drive along the famous Croisette promenade, but if shopping or celeb-watching is high on your list of activities, you may take a stroll along Rue de France and have a coffee in one of the fabulous hotel lobbies. During the Film Festival (begins in the 2nd week of May) Cannes should be be avoided. Too many onlookers, prohibitive traffic jams and nothing much to see, since all the stars stay in hinding.

ANTIBES is cute for a stroll over the local market, along the Billionaire's Quai yacht port and a visit to the newly refurbished Picasso museum.

However, driving along the coast, your guide/driver will point out which villages and towns would be feasible timewise and interesting enough for sightseeing.

There's SOOO much to see, you need to come back for a longer vacation if you like our area :-) !

Have fun along the Côte d'Azur.

[SharonK]

We will be on the Celebrity Solstice leaving Barcelona May 14 arriving in Cannes May 15 for the day. I believe this falls at the same time as the film festival? My sister is star struck and is so excited about being in Cannes but it's sounding like we should avoid it. How far is Antibes, Nice, St. Tropez, etc? Are these short drives or hours away? Any info would be very helpful.

[woofer]

walk around cannes, which is so easy from the ship -if the stars are out it will be great fun. shopping is wonderful and lots of good energy.