Villefranche-sur-Mer

[DevonianCruiser]

We’ve done the SoF a few times, Nice and Monaco especially, but never done Villefranche. Quite happy to have a casual day. Any suggestions, restaurants or walks, nice places to see? TIA.

[Hlitner]

5 hours ago, DevonianCruiser said:

We’ve done the SoF a few times, Nice and Monaco especially, but never done Villefranche. Quite happy to have a casual day. Any suggestions, restaurants or walks, nice places to see? TIA.

Villefranche is a very walkable town with most of the tourist oriented places within a couple of blocks of the water.  One can spend a day just browsing some of the shops and enjoying a long lunch.  If you want to actually do something else, then consider going to the Villa Ephrussi di Rothschild.  If you are real walking/hikers, it is possible to walk from the tender pier all the way to the Villa.  Otherwise using a local bus or taxi does make it easier for folks that do not like hikes.  There is a lot of info, online, about the Villa and purchasing tickets.

 

Hank

[mskaufman]

 

Villefranche

 

 

[DevonianCruiser]

16 hours ago, Hlitner said:

Villefranche is a very walkable town with most of the tourist oriented places within a couple of blocks of the water.  One can spend a day just browsing some of the shops and enjoying a long lunch.  If you want to actually do something else, then consider going to the Villa Ephrussi di Rothschild.  If you are real walking/hikers, it is possible to walk from the tender pier all the way to the Villa.  Otherwise using a local bus or taxi does make it easier for folks that do not like hikes.  There is a lot of info, online, about the Villa and purchasing tickets.

 

Hank

Thanks Hank, I’ll look into that.

 

Do you happen to know if it’s easy to get to Eze from the port?

[Hlitner]

21 minutes ago, DevonianCruiser said:

Thanks Hank, I’ll look into that.

 

Do you happen to know if it’s easy to get to Eze from the port?

Getting to Eze Village is never "easy."  There are regional buses (from either Nice or Monte Carlo with some going past Villefranche) but the frequency of the bus service is not good.  Once can take the train to the Eze sur mer train stop, but then still must wait for a bus (which does not run often enough) or hope to find a taxi.  We tend to stop at Eze Village, when we have our own rental car, but renting a car in Villefranche is difficult to impossible which usually means going into Nice to just pick-up a rental car.

 

So what to do?  A private tour (i.e. car driver) is a great option if one has a big budget.  The next best option is to join with a few others on a small group tour (you can try to arrange this on your CC Roll Call board) and include Eze Village on the tour.  Otherwise, this might be one of those cases where we will admit that a cruise line excursion might be a good option.

 

I must add my own feelings about Eze Village.  The hilltop town has an interesting vibe, some wonderful views, and a few places where one can get a decent lunch.  When we first went to Eze, back in the 80s, we thought it a quaint "arty" community.  It was fun to walk through the narrow streets and browse some of the decent art galleries and shops.  Today, many of the galleries are gone (rents are too high) having been replaced with touristy shops that are mostly "only open for the season."  While DW and I used to spend hours in Eze, we now see it as more of a "whistle stop" if we happen to be driving between Monte Carlo and Nice.  For my money, I still prefer St Paul de Vence, which is somewhat larger and still has its share of decent galleries/shops.  Just one person's point of view and I am sure plenty will disagree.

 

Hank

[DevonianCruiser]

20 hours ago, Hlitner said:

Villefranche is a very walkable town with most of the tourist oriented places within a couple of blocks of the water.  One can spend a day just browsing some of the shops and enjoying a long lunch.  If you want to actually do something else, then consider going to the Villa Ephrussi di Rothschild.  If you are real walking/hikers, it is possible to walk from the tender pier all the way to the Villa.  Otherwise using a local bus or taxi does make it easier for folks that do not like hikes.  There is a lot of info, online, about the Villa and purchasing tickets.

 

Hank

Thanks Hank, I’ll look into that.

 

Do you happen to know if it’s easy to get to Eze from the port?

 

Thanks Hank, that’s really helpful information. I’ll take a look at options. We’ve been to quite a few places in the SoF but never there, so was interested.