Day trips from Cannes

Grasse and Mougins are nice. Grasse has two perfume factories that you can tour and Mougins' old village is lovely, with a few good to world-class restaurants there.

You can go to Monaco, if do not drive on high way you will have a very beautiful view. The casino is nice even you do not gamble - like a small palace .

St. Paul de Vence - the medieval village is charming, very narrow streets, many galeries, restaurants.

I am regularly in the area. Here are my personal priorities:

1) Drive the N98 (Corniche d'Or) along the coast to St. Raphael. The most scenic drive at the Cote d'Azur. Bring your swimsuit and go swimming/snorkeling in one of the wonderful bays down under the highway. (There are large red pebbles at most of the beaches, but the water is cristal-clear with abundant fish.) Agay has a wide sandy beach, but it is not so scenic.

On the way back, you may take the fast route via Autoroute. Total trip takes two to three hours (without swimming).

The Esterel mountains are also great for hiking.

2) Nice, of course. Many things to see, depending on your taste. My favorite is the Musée Message Biblique with grandiose Chagall paintings. Also, stroll through old town.

3) The famous Corniches (coastal highways) from Nice to Monaco. For one way, take the Moyenne Corniche and stop in the village of Eze. On the way back, take the Grande Corniche and stop in La Turbie (or other way round).

Monaco is also an interesting destination. You can visit the Palace, the Cathedral, Old Town, the Casino, the Cactus Garden and the Oceanographic Institute (where Cousteau worked).

4) St. Paul and Vence. St. Paul is a picturesque, yet touristy village. Out of town is Fondation Maeght, a fantastic museum of modern art. They have spectacular annual exhibitions and a sculpture garden designed by Joan Miro. In Vence, there is a chapel whose interiors were designed by Matisse.

5) Antibes. Nice old town and Picasso museum.

6) Biot. Good museum totally dedicated to the colorful art of Fernand Leger.

7) Gourdon (between Vence and Grasse) and Tourette sur Loup. Two more very picturesque villages. Both villages can easily be combined.

Of course, you can combine many of these destinations on one daytrip.

My judgement for the other attractions:

- Iles de Lerins. Most of the fun is the boat trip. The islands are not so spectacular.

- Cagnes sur Mer. In the castle is a neat museum of the olive tree. I would not do it if I had only a week.

More questions?

Will you have a car????

Stu Dudley

Thanks for all the suggestions.

The problem is I wont have a car & will have to depend on public transport, viz., train & bus.

Hence, if I need to look at places that can be covered in a day & by train or bus.

Another vote for St. Paul de Vence, which is an easy bus ride from Cannes. You'll also be able to easily visit Antibes,Nice and Eze either by train or bus.

Driving to San Tropez in the summer can be grueling. But we did a day trip by boat there from Cannes. It was great. We've been to San Tropez before, but went on a day with the market (one of my favorite markets in all of France) and had a great meal along the harbor.

We also enjoyed going out to St. Marguerite, visiting the fort and museum (the man in the iron mask), and having a great lunch at a remote beach seafood place, as well as walking all over the island.

And Antibes is one of my favorite towns to visit along the coast.

You have a good list already. I would add Menton, St. Tropez (by boat from Cannes) and Ile Ste Marguerite (St Marguerite Island), where the Man in the Iron Mask was jailed. It is about a 15-minute boat ride from Cannes.

I would definitely skip Grasse, a sort of rundown town desesperately holding to perfune tours that are way overated. My opinion, thank you. If I were you, I would definitely rent a car if for a day and drive up the Upper Corniche road on to Eze, la Turbie, and come down towards Monaco, Villenueve Sur Mer (great restaurants!) and back. Long day, but one of the most beautiful car rides you would have ever done.

>> I would definitely skip Grasse, a sort of rundown town desesperately holding to perfune tours that are way overated. My opinion, thank you.<<

My opinion also.

Stu Dudley

We're going to be in Cannes on Thursday, July 3 (which is the day school lets out in France, we think) as a port of call on a cruise.

My husband's dream is to "capture the essence of Provence," by which he means see fields of lavender and go to a small village with a little shop where you can fill your jug with wine.

Has he had too many margaritas tonight and watched too many Hollywood versions of Provence, or does this exist anywhere near Cannes?

Thanks in advance, and please don't laugh me off the board if this sounds completely crazy...

Annette

Gee, I hesitated and then decided not to mention that I thought Grasse was a complete waste of time, since the last time I did that here I got chastised severely for not knowing what I was talking about. Glad to see I'm not the only one who felt that way.

Annette-- you have posed a very good question. Not sure about the Provencal lavender fields, but many of the places listed above (i.e. Antibes, St. Paul de Vence) have that small village feel. The closest I can think of is La Turbie, where you have to go up a short hike through a forested (albeit somehow landscaped) area to get to the (magnificent) Roman Monument.

Studder & Neo-- we are STILL going to get blasted for blaspheming Grasse, just wait...

I happily join the anti-Grassist rebellion.

I did not dare to say a negative word about Grasse - but I did not include it into my list of recommended places - for reason.

Sasha: It is a pity that you do not have a car. Rolls Royce named its convertible "Corniche" for good reason!

I think the closest lavender fields are in the Valensole Plateau or in the Luberon - both hours away by car.

There is a huge wine shop in old Nice where there are large vats of wine, & a spiggot to slip your jug under, & let it rip.

Outside of St Tropez, there is a co-op where you refill your jug using something that looks like a gasoline pump.

Stu Dudley

Hello, i live in Eze.
No way you join La Turbie by train from anywhere. No station. You can reach La Turbie by bus from Nice : line 116 (Nice-Laghet-La Turbie-Peille)
From La Turbie line 114 down to Monaco and 115 down to Menton. From Menton, line 100 to Nice and from Nice line 200 to Cannes.
From Nice you can reach Eze Village using line 112.
From Cannes to Tourettes sur Loup, it's seems rather complicated by bus (no train)first line 600 to Grasse, change to line 511 to Pont du Loup and change again line 510 direction Gattières stop in Tourettes.
Busses are now rather cheap.

http://www.cg06.fr/transport/transports-tam.html
this site will give you a clear view of the bus network provided you can read french.

I would also recomend you to take one day trip to Monaco by bus line 100 from Nice, stopping in Villefranche sur mer, Beaulieu, Eze bord de mer (where i live from where you can walk uphill to the village, following steep Nietsche path) and/or spend a few hours in the Principality.

Enjoy your trip and in case you need additional information, i ll do my best to help.

Wow...thanks a ton...now I ve too many options to be done in just one week.
But thanks really...will let u guys know how the week turned out once I am back.

ciao.

sasha, there's a simple solution to that problem -- just stay an extra week!!! LOL