Eze and Cap Ferrat in 4 Hours With Private Driver?

[MalibuCA]

We will be in Monte Carlo on the Crystal Serenity next April, arriving at noon and departing the next day at 6 pm. On our first day, we have scheduled an afternoon private driver for 4 hours. We would like to go to Cap Ferrat to see the magnificent villas and to visit the Ephrussi de Rothschild Villa and Gardens. The Ephrussi website suggests that we can tour the Villa in 1 hour 15 minutes with audio guide and explore the gardens in 1 hour. When we finish at Cap Ferrat (2.25 to 2.5 hours later?), we would like to go to Eze and walk around (or rather climb up) that town. Can we do both Cap Ferrat and Eze in 4 hours? How much time would you recommend for Eze? Note: We will be returning to this area for almost a week pre-river cruise through the south of France in September 2014, and we have booked our hotel in Eze. We don't intend to see everything within these 4 hours, but I'd like to know whether 4 hours is REASONABLY sufficient to visit both Cap Ferrat and Eze. Crystal offers a 4-hour shore excursion to both Cap Ferrat and Eze, and I would think that we would be able to be much more time efficient with a private driver. I just want to be sure that we will have time enough to enjoy both. Before you suggest that we visit one on the first day and the other on our second day, let me stop you there. On the second day, I've planned a 4-hour morning excursion with the private driver to take us to St. Paul de Vence. We will then return to Monte Carlo and spend the afternoon exploring Monaco until we need to reboard the ship for sail away. Your thoughts? Is 4 hours enough for Cap Ferrat and Eze?

 

Thanks,

Shelley

[marazul]

Four hours are fine. You will not spend a full hour at the Rothschild gardens. You will be able to glimpse at some of the villas, but most are well hidden in their gardens. You have plenty of time to walk around Eze and even stop at La Chevre d'Or for a glass of wine. Eze is a very short distance from Monaco.

[Hlitner]

Agree with Marazul. It is quite doable in 4 hours with the private car/driver. Just make it clear to your driver that you want to go to both places and he/she should be able to give you very good advice in how to allocate your time. If you are not planning to eat lunch in Eze, you can walk through this village in about an hour if you do not spend a lot of time in the shops/galleries.

 

Hank

[calvin81]

Recently back from our June cruise -- rented a car with another couple out of Monaco and drove first to Eze Village, then to Cap Ferrat. Probably spend an hour and 15 minutes in Eze. We did see the cactus garden at the top -- great views. Not big shoppers, but did look in a couple stores. We had a GPS in the rental car, but didn't have the address of the Rothschild (sp?) estate. Found it using some signs posted, but took a bit more time I suppose. We had lunch at the estate because we weren't hungry yet when we left Eze, but the restaurant was a bit pricey and only served salads. Good food though. We got to Eze fairly early, which was good because tours come later and it gets very crowded on the narrow streets. We spend maybe a half hour inside the estate, then 45 minutes in the gardens -- just beautiful. The other couple wanted to drive around to look at the other estates, which was a waste of time IMHO as you can't see anything beyond the gates and walls. We then drove back to Monaco, probably about 4 hours later, and dropped off the car. Took the bus to see the sights there as we didn't want to mess with traffic and parking. It was a great day!