Cannes? Nice? St.Paul de Vence?

[Eastplain]

Sailing July 18 Grand Princess and tendering to Cannes for full day. Do not like ship excursions. Any private tour operators or suggestions? Not that excited about Monaco/Monte Carlo. Would like to see St Paul de Vence and Nice and something charming

[cberge]

Sailing July 18 Grand Princess and tendering to Cannes for full day. Do not like ship excursions. Any private tour operators or suggestions? Not that excited about Monaco/Monte Carlo. Would like to see St Paul de Vence and Nice and something charming

Please do some reading and a search on this board as this question has been asked at least 2x a week for the past couple of months and there is a load of info here that will answer your questions from how to on your own re bus and train to private.

[awatt]

Last week we used Catherine De Vemy to tour the area. She was WONDERFUL- very informative, great stories, very personable. Reasonable rates.Would use her again next time. She was teh family's favorite tour guide for the week.

 

traveltourprestige.com

[Auntiejo]

In May we had a lovely day with Michele at:

 

www.revelationtours.com

 

We went to SP de Vence, Eze & Monaco - but you can customize the tour to your liking. I highly recommend Michele!

[KansCocoa]

We also used Michel with Revelation Tours, as AuntieJo did above.

 

However, the correct website is http://www.revelation-tours.com. The dash is important. Michel took us to many different places that day and never stopped talking - but it was all good. He was humorous, insightful and had lots of stories and history that was helpful.

 

Sherri

[Auntiejo]

Thanks Sherri - this is what happens when I rely on my memory rather than looking things up!

[KansCocoa]

No problem!

 

Didn't you just love Michel? Not only was he charming, but he was easy on the eyes, too! <Don't tell my husband I said that!>

 

Sherri

[Hlitner]

You can find tour companies that will cheerfully provde you with car/driver and it will cost you many hundreds of dollars. Personally, we just rent a car for the day which costs about $100 (we have done a lot of driving in Europe). It takes about 45 min to get from Cannes to St Paul de Vence and you can go to Nice, Antibes, Eze, Grasse, etc. when you have your own car (just like at home). There are several major rental car offices in Cannes (most are about a 20 min walk from the tender pier or a 5 min taxi ride) including Europcar, Hertz, Budget, etc.

 

Hank

[bluebellA4]

You can find tour companies that will cheerfully provde you with car/driver and it will cost you many hundreds of dollars. Personally, we just rent a car for the day which costs about $100 (we have done a lot of driving in Europe). It takes about 45 min to get from Cannes to St Paul de Vence and you can go to Nice, Antibes, Eze, Grasse, etc. when you have your own car (just like at home). There are several major rental car offices in Cannes (most are about a 20 min walk from the tender pier or a 5 min taxi ride) including Europcar, Hertz, Budget, etc.

 

Hank

Hi Hank. I am in process of booking car rental in Monaco . . . who do you use? do you travel to them or will they come to the pier?

thanks, Kathy

[joiedevivre]

Cannes is a nice town to spend the day. Depending on your day of arrival. There are 2 markets on different ends of the town. You could laze on a private beach and have lunch.Walk the croisette. There is a famous pizza restaurant next to the police station on the port (serving for over 50 years, a real institution) If you are adventurous, the train station or la gare is located 2 blocks from the beach. You can ask for a carte Isabelle which allows you to get on an off the train all the way to Ventimiglia Italy for one price all day.

St. paul de Vence has no train stop. Nice is not worth it. Eze is a small hill town between Nice and Monaco is nice. get off train and take cab to top.

Antibes has a good market , a nice port. Juan les pins is a little like Cannes. There are 2 islands across from Cannes. You can take a ferry in the port next to the Film festival hall. One island with a nice monestary and a restaurant. If you were there a long time you could take a boat to St. Tropez. Voila!! so much to do and so little time. Please ask any questions.

[Hlitner]

You can find tour companies that will cheerfully provde you with car/driver and it will cost you many hundreds of dollars. Personally, we just rent a car for the day which costs about $100 (we have done a lot of driving in Europe). It takes about 45 min to get from Cannes to St Paul de Vence and you can go to Nice, Antibes, Eze, Grasse, etc. when you have your own car (just like at home). There are several major rental car offices in Cannes (most are about a 20 min walk from the tender pier or a 5 min taxi ride) including Europcar, Hertz, Budget, etc.

 

Hank

 

All the major rental car companies have offices in Monte Carlo. We have used both Hertz and Europcar here, but in both those cases we were tendered into Monte Carlo and it was an easy walk to the offices. However, these days many ships (not all) dock at the pier which is a slightly different location. But, even the pier is within walking distance to most of the center city locations. As a rule, we will check prices for all the majors (just use Expedia or Orbitz) and than look at the various locations (and opening hours). Things are always changing so we go through the "homework" on every trip. Be especially careful about office operating hours as sometimes you will find that offices are closes on Sundays (a major problem) or they might not be open at the time you need to pick-up your car. Dropping is usually not an issue since most of the rental car dealers will even let you drop after hours.

 

Hank

[wactedout]

Hello, Do you think it would be safe for two woman to drive from the port on a Sunday to St Paul de Vence? Is it confusing as far as the drive. We are from Los ANgeles, and will be on the Century,Celebrity. Our stop is Sept 27th?

Is there someone who might want to join us???Thank you, hoping there is????

Madelon

[Hlitner]

Hello, Do you think it would be safe for two woman to drive from the port on a Sunday to St Paul de Vence? Is it confusing as far as the drive. We are from Los ANgeles, and will be on the Century,Celebrity. Our stop is Sept 27th?

Is there someone who might want to join us???Thank you, hoping there is????

Madelon

 

I do not think safety is an issue. But, trying to rent a car on Sunday can be a big problem. For those who are tendered into Cannes on Sundays, it is possible to rent a car from the city office of Europcar. However, for those in Monte Carlo and Villefranche gettting cars on Sunday are quite difficult and sometimes means taking the train to the Nice Cote d'Azur airport where there are rental offices open on Sundays. From Monte Carlo and Villefranche to St Paul de Vence on Sundays, it's probably better to take the train or bus into Nice, go to the Gare Routiere (bus station) and grab the local bus to St Paul de Vence (the bus originates from this bus station so you can always get a seat).

 

Hank