French Riviera Tours

[schoolman]

We will be in Cannes on a Tuesday in October and wondered if anyone had a tour company they would recommend to see the most of this beautiful area. I do not want to spend time in the Casino b ut want to see Monaco and Nice but have heard Eze and St.Paul are beautiful places to visit also. Is it possible to see all these places in a private tour? We arrive at 10 AM and leave at 8 PM. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[packed&ready!]

RevelationTours.com Michele Legrand We had wondwerful tour with him to Monaco, MonteCarlo, Eze. Just tell him where you want to see and he will work it out with you.

[Mike073]

Alain with Alain's Dream Tours did precisely that for us.

We were picked up in Monaco off a tender at 8:30. To Eze, Nice and the flower market, St. Paul for shopping and lunch, and back to Monaco by 4:00. Cannes will add some travel time and the traffic into and out of Monaco can be terrible certain times. Let you guide figure it out for you. The Casino should be driven by to see, but it is dead inside.

 

If you have to choose between Eze and St Paul, we thought Eze was more charming, though smaller. Have a cup of coffee at the Terrace restaurant in Eze. Shops are better in St. Paul.

[ffnole]

We also booked Alain with Dream Tours for our upcoming Jul 4 cruise on Brilliance of the Seas. He comes highly recommmended on these boards. I would not miss St Paul de Vence if you love quaint villages with spectacular views, interesting art galleries, small, narrow cobblestone streets and a unique taste of the Med. It is our favorite place to visit in the Riveria. Eze is worth seeing as well but unless you want to visit a perfume factory I wouldn't rank it anywhere near as high as St Paul de Vence. You can enjoy a cup of coffee on the ship before you depart:). In Monaco check out the Prince's Palace tour, Oceanographic Museum and Fort Antoine Theater if you have time. I agree to drive my the Monte Carlo casino, take some photos of the exotic cars, yacht basin below and the Med and then keep moving. I too would skip Canne due to the traffic. Nice has much more to see including the flower markets.

[schoolman]

Thanks so much for your replies. I have contacted revelationtours and will check out dreamtours also. Keep the ideas coming. It looks like what I have in mind will work in the time we're there.

[Cruise Junky]

You can easily do that area in a day for the highlights. We toured with Sylvie who is also recommended a lot here, but of the three top tours guides...the other two already mentioned, I think all three would be excellent. We were picked up at Villefranche, taken to Nice to explore the market, we then drove to St. Paul de Vence to lunch..loved it so much went back for 3 nights on a land trip) then to Eze, then into Monaco, toured around a bit at both the Palace area and the casino, drove back to Villefranche via Cap Ferrat, just a lovely, lovely day. One of my favourite spots. We just booked 5 nights in Monaco for the end of our Greek Island trip...can't wait.

[mad4mky]

We used Sylvie as well. :D

 

Loved her--and her tour.

 

We were able to see Villefranche, Nice, Eze and Monaco (and the casino).

 

Lovely woman--speaks perfect English--and so knowledgeable about the area and it's history. :D

 

Sylvie's email is: sylvie.di.cristo@wanadoo.fr

[Mike073]

But the ship does not have the view the Terrace restaurant has.

[maja]

Just returned last week. We hired 4 guides during our cruise and Michele Legrand of Revelation Tours was our favorite of all. Not only great service, he is very easy to get along with, charming, and provided us with a great day in France. After reading his suggestions before the trip, I decided to spend most of the day in Nice, with a stop in St.Paul De Vence. You will not be disappointed with Michel.

[trucruising]

Just returned last week. We hired 4 guides during our cruise and Michele Legrand of Revelation Tours was our favorite of all. Not only great service, he is very easy to get along with, charming, and provided us with a great day in France. After reading his suggestions before the trip, I decided to spend most of the day in Nice, with a stop in St.Paul De Vence. You will not be disappointed with Michel.

 

Can you share which port of calls you had and if you don't mind the cost for each tour?

 

We will going in October and I am trying make some decisions on private tour versus touring on our own using trains and taxi.

 

I really appreciate your input.

[trucruising]

Have you learn anything else about some of the other port of calls?

[maja]

Can you share which port of calls you had and if you don't mind the cost for each tour?

 

We will going in October and I am trying make some decisions on private tour versus touring on our own using trains and taxi.

 

I really appreciate your input.

 

I will post a review today. Carnival Freedom May 21, 2008

[HISTORY]

Does anyone have the web site for this company. When I try to go there it comes up for sale. Looking for tour out of nice

[Yvie]

We have a tour booked with Revelation Tours in 2 weeks. The website is:

 

www.revelation-tours.com

 

Michel is usually very prompt in replying to e-mails.

[winncruiser]

we are just back from the Med and had Sylvie as our tour guide through the ship's excursion (Emerald Princess). She was the best tour guide of our entire holiday! Sylvie is such a beautiful woman who seemed to love what she is doing! I would highly recommend her! By the way, does she have a web-site, or just an e-mail, in case I am fortunate enough to return to that area in the near future?

[Yvie]

The website for Sylvie Di Cristo is www.azur-guides.net

[cathydev]

We just got back from our med cruise and in Cannes used Dream Tours. I was really looking forward to this tour. All email communications pre-cruise were answered promptly and we picked our itinerary. Eze, Nice and St. Paul de Vence and the beach. I was assured we would have either Alain, Frederic or Jean Marc.

 

We were thoroughly disappointed with the services provided by Dream Tours. We were met by Lucien instead of one of the three promised. He was a very nice gentleman, but he was a driver and nothing more. And for 570 euros for the 6 of us (most expensive private excursion on the trip) it was not worth it.

 

Unfortunately we drove the slow way from Cannes to Eze which took up precious time (found this out on the return trip because the autostrada would have taken 1/2 the time). He pointed out a few glitzy hotels and a few casinos and the hospital where angela jolie is due to give birth to her twins (we didn't care). Other than that he just drove us in an older van without head rests and arm rests that were broken from too much use.

 

I had heard such good things about Dream Tours and I do think if you get one of the other drivers you will probably have a great time. Another cruise critic group traveled with (Frederic or Jean Marc don't remember which) and they had a great time.

 

With Lucien, I felt that half of what we said or asked was not understand because he often said 'exactly' no matter I asked.

 

Eze was lovely and so was St. Paul de Vence, however, I would pick one or the other but not both. They are similar (wall city with small shops and great views). Eze had a wonderful jardin (garden) (5 euros pp to enter) that was just lovely and scenic and very tranquil. Nice was a good stop, but we didn't have enough time. We had wanted to do some swimming in the Med but it wasn't until we were at St. Paul de Vence we realized we were supposed to have done it at Nice. Not very good communication.

 

I am not sure what happened, if Dream Tours was overbooked, but we booked our tour quite a long time ago and I was disappointed especially since I was promised either Jean Marc, Alain or Frederic and they've gotten great reviews on this site.

 

I hope for everyone else's sake we were an isolated case.

 

Sadly, Cannes was my least favorite port.