Help with France/Greece Pre Cruise Itinerary

[Roxxy]

Hello 🙂

 

Firstly, our cruise leaves from Athens and ends in Malaga Spain.

 

We have a week prior to the cruise that we would like to visit some places, including the French Riviera.

Coming from Edmonton, what airport and what location would you recommend flying into?

Also what area (Cannes, Monte Carlo, Marseille ... etc) would be a good base for a hotel to visit beaches, shopping, markets?

After our week in the area our plan is to fly to Athens 2 days pre cruise.

Suggestions? edits?

 

Thanks all!

 

[marazul]

1 hour ago, Roxxy said:

Hello 🙂

 

Firstly, our cruise leaves from Athens and ends in Malaga Spain.

 

We have a week prior to the cruise that we would like to visit some places, including the French Riviera.

Coming from Edmonton, what airport and what location would you recommend flying into?

Also what area (Cannes, Monte Carlo, Marseille ... etc) would be a good base for a hotel to visit beaches, shopping, markets?

After our week in the area our plan is to fly to Athens 2 days pre cruise.

Suggestions? edits?

 

Thanks all!

 

Fly to Nice to explore, Nice, Cannes, St Paul, Monaco, Menton, beaches, markets.

Fly to Marseille if you would rather go to Avignon, Aix, Arles. Given the interests you have mentioned, I would pick Nice. Rent a car at the airport to get around the area.

 

From either place use Aegean Air to fly to Athens.

aegeanair.com 

[John Bull]

If you're up for a road-trip, with the journey being as important as the destinations, I suggest you fly into Marseilles then hug the spectacular coast road to Genoa.

With a week you can overnight  at places like Cannes, Antibes,/Juan les Pins,  Old Nice, San Remo.

But from Nice or Monaco (or between them) add a day-trip into the foothills of the Alps on the high & twisty D-roads for the peaceful and attractive countryside & views.

Total about 10 - 12 hrs driving, plus that day on the D-roads.

Might involve a change of vehicle around Monaco depending on one-way add-ons / limitations of collect in France & drop in Italy

 

JB 🙂

[edinburgher]

15 hours ago, marazul said:

Fly to Nice to explore, Nice, Cannes, St Paul, Monaco, Menton, beaches, markets.

Fly to Marseille if you would rather go to Avignon, Aix, Arles. Given the interests you have mentioned, I would pick Nice. Rent a car at the airport to get around the area.

 We have a week prior to the cruise that we would like to visit some places, including the French Riviera.

 

I would also vote for Nice as it has excellent transport links to Menton,   Monaco Cannes etc as described above, and you can choose whether to go with car rental or decide that public transport is more appealing as parking can be an issue and quite costly when you do find it. Just as important, Nice also has a very good selection of  accommodation and restaurants in all price brackets.

 

If flights to Marseille are less expensive or have a more covenient routing or timing, it is easy enough to transfer to Nice using the frequent train service. The airport shuttle bus runs from very early until late at night from outside the airport  terminal  and runs between the airport and the main train station in Marseille(Gare St Charles)

Edited October 23, 2023 by edinburgher

[marazul]

Using Nice as a base you can also do a day trip to the Italian Riviera stretch between Ventimiglia and San Remo.  A wonderful side road just past Ventimiglia takes you to Dolceacqua and Apricale, two of the most beautiful villages on the Italian Riviera.  There are no extra charges or restrictions for taking the car into Italy.  You just have to return it in France at the end.

[Roxxy]

Thank You !

[Hlitner]

I wonder if the OP has considered just flying direct to Athens and spending a pre-cruise week (or more) exploring one or more of the Greek Islands.  Having been to both the French Riviera and many Greek Islands, we have found actually preferred Greece  Yes, Nice is nice, but we would rather be on islands like Naxos, Paxos, etc.

 

Hank

[edinburgher]

28 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

Nice is nice, but we would rather be on islands like Naxos, Paxos, etc.

We once  took an overnight ferry from Piraeus to Crete, a large island with much history and lots of sightseeing opportunities. Crete requires several days to explore in-depth, but we prefer the food in Italy and France, also the wines.

[Roxxy]

Our cruise actually encompasses 4 Greek Islands already (Crete being one of them) and we have yet to explore the South of France and also Spain.  Our cruise ends up in Malaga Spain.

 

Something about watching all those James Bond movies really intrigued us to want to explore the French Riviera 🙂

 

Are there any castles to visit in the area?

[Hlitner]

5 hours ago, edinburgher said:

We once  took an overnight ferry from Piraeus to Crete, a large island with much history and lots of sightseeing opportunities. Crete requires several days to explore in-depth, but we prefer the food in Italy and France, also the wines.

We agree regarding the food and wine.

 

Hank

[marazul]

3 hours ago, Roxxy said:

Our cruise actually encompasses 4 Greek Islands already (Crete being one of them) and we have yet to explore the South of France and also Spain.  Our cruise ends up in Malaga Spain.

 

Something about watching all those James Bond movies really intrigued us to want to explore the French Riviera 🙂

 

Are there any castles to visit in the area?

There are mostly fortified medieval villages. There is a 12th century (or thereabouts) castle in Villeneuve Loubet, a little inland and behind Cagnes sur Mer. There is another castle in old Cagnes. You would also like Vence (above St Paul de Vence).

Edited October 25, 2023 by marazul

[edinburgher]

9 hours ago, marazul said:

Are there any castles to visit in the area?

If you have an interest  in castles, Scotland should be on your future vacation list as there are dozens of them scattered throughout the country and no two are the same.😀

Edited October 26, 2023 by edinburgher

[bennybear]

Coming from Canada,  West jet has direct flights from Calgary to Paris and Barcelona.  So you could fly into Paris and take the train or a low cost flight to Nice.  We really like the area around Aix en Provence.  And as we also love Italy, we throughly enjoyed Imperia.  We actually find the food and wine even better in Italy. 
 

We love Greece and the islands and have spent several months there,  a cruise only gives you a tiny glimpse.  We tend to plan trips that involve less moving locations, so would also recommend a week perhaps in Crete.  You can get low cost flights from many places in Europe,  recommend Chania or Aghios Nikolas. 

Edited October 26, 2023 by bennybear