Monaco is located right within the French Riviera and from there you have easy access to Nice, Cannes, Antibes and the wonderful small towns in the area. You won't have trouble to fill 5 days with activities there.

For an extension, you have many options:

- You may head westwards and explore the Provence: landscape, nature, Roman ruins, medieval towns...

- You may drive northwards to explore the magnificent Alps.

- You may drive into northeastern direction to see Torino and Piemonte. You may drive somewhat farther and see Milano, Lago Maggiore and Lago di Como.

- You may even drive to Tuscany.

- Corsica is also possible.

So many options, hard to decide.

You sure you want to spend 5 days in Monaco?

Personally, I've never been able to take more than half a day there, but maybe you have your reasons.

At any rate, you can easily move on to the Côte d'Azur, Provence, the Italian Riviera, or further inland in either country.

Five (5) vacation days in Monaco is probably one of the worst ideas for travel itineraries I have come across in a while.....unless you have free lodging. It would be sooooo much better to base in Nice or nearby towns in the French Riviera and daytrip to Monaco from there. Also, how long you have for this extension? 4 days? 7? 10? Critical piece of info. You can take a boat for a day trip to Corsica from Nice.

Also, how many people? ages? interests? preferred mode of transportation? have you been there before? how long you have? any budget constraints?

We have just returned from Monaco and French Riviera, and it was a very memorable segment of our family trip. I would agree that 5 days in Monaco is too long. We stayed in Monaco for 2 nights and then arranged to have a private tour operator, Riviera Premium Tour www.rivierapremiumtour.com, to take our entire family of 8 on a customized 8 hour tour of Ventemiglia, Italy( quick trip to step into Italy) , Antibe, Eze, St Paul, Cannes and transportation to our Nice Hotel. We stayed @ the Sheraton four Points, slightly off the Promenade D'Anglais and spent two nights there. I could have taken another day in Nice and was so pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed the town, but we met some family from Nice and one new friend there so it was a very special city for us for that reason. If you need more info, I would be happy to answer them.

annusa-- an 8-hour tour that extended from Monaco to Ventimiglia to Eze, to Cannes back to Nice??? WOW! That must have been some windshield tour!!! Hope you guys had fun! I could see how you definitely need to go back. I've been to Nice three times and I can't wait to go back again! It is, by far, my favorite region in France.

RE: Monaco
Monaco is frequently cited as the most dissapointing spot in the French Riviera. I personally think it is a great daytrip from Nice (that's about it). You have to go in to the Monte Carlo Casino. The Gardens overlooking the Mediterranean by the Oceanographic Insitute on the way to the Royal Palace are breathtaking. We took a tour of the Royal Palace and while very nice, they evidently have a sanitary sewage problem....yep, something we noticed right away. Go figure.

If you take the Upper Corniche road on to La Turbie, right on the parking lot of La Turbie Monument there is the most amazing top view of Monaco. I would strongly suggest you take in Monaco from that spot and not to bother with staying in Monaco.

Monaco was fun, and seeing how the most wealthy play was exciting, (I know there are ones on this board who would think that is boring) with that said I would not think about being there longer than two days max....as for your other possibilities. I have been so many places that I love but Bellagio, Italy is the one place I long to return to. It was the most wonderful romantic place. It may have been the view from the hotel, the nights on the balcony drinking Italian wine. I know it is not the most convenient of places from Monaco, but if you could swing it, you will not be disappointed.