Cimbrone

I'm planning a trip to the south of France for Easter week. We are not planning to rent any cars unless we have to. We arrive Nice on a Sunday at 6 p.m. and have to get to Beaulieu sur Mer. How best to do this? Bus? Train? Taxi? Would prefer to save money by avoiding taxis, if possible.

On Thursday morning we head to Aix en Provence. What's the quickest way to get there without a car?

Finally, on Easter Sunday morning, we have to get from Aix back to the Nice airport for an 11:00 a.m. flight. I'm thinking we may have to rent a car for this. Any problem doing so on Easter Sunday? Thanks for any help you can give!

PalenQ

You can take a train from Nice-Ville station to Beaulieu/s/Mer - the commuter train line that runs right along the coast - there is even a station right opposite the airport though it may be more convenient to take a regular airport bus to Nice-Ville, the main train station.

Trains go between Nice and Aix frequently - TGV trains that serve the Aix TGV station a few miles out of town with shuttle buses to town.

Ditto back to Nice then bus to airport.

TGV trains demand advance seat reservations and you can often score good discounts for Nice to Aix and back on www.voyages-sncf.com if you can lock yourself into a non-changeable train weeks in advance. Otherwise just buy tickets once in Nice as the normal fare for a relatively short distance will not break the bank - you can see ordinary fares also at www.voyages-sncf.com

The commuter train along the coast you just buy a ticket, cancel itself in the validation machines trackside before boarding and hop on. From Beaulieu you can commute via these trains all along the coast. No need for a car and buses will take you to places like Eze, St Paul-de-Vence, etc

Christina

I don't know the best way to Beaulieu sur Mer, but for a simple trip between Aix and Nice, I'd just take the train (your Thursday morning). It takes about 3 hours from Nice Ville station to Aix TGV station, then you can take a taxi or a quick bus (15 min) to city center. You could do the same thing to get to the airport, Nice Ville station is on the port, not the airport, so then a taxi from there. Train schedules are different on holidays, of course (as well as Sundays, etc.). But I'm sure there will be trains.

However, I don't think there is time to do that for an 11 am flight, even if it is within France (I"m guessing) and you may not need to be there before 9 am. I don't think there is any possible train combination you can do and get at the airport by that time, even if you leave 5:30 am.

I really would not have scheduled such a thing, I'd stay in Nice the night before leaving when you have a morning flight. I'd never stay so far away. If you rent a car for one day it will cost a fortune. A lot of car rental places are closed on Sundays anyway, let alone Easter, I suppose, although they sometimes have ways to leave a car when it is closed. I wouldn't ever do that myself, but I tend to be cautious and want receipts and to know they got it. But I suspect there may be some open at the Nice airport that day. It will still cost a bundle, but might be your only option and not too bad compared to multiple train fares. I'm not sure what you gain by doing that (staying in Aix that last night).

Kemwell actually shows one option at $160 USD for the cheapest manual car for that one day rental (PU Aix TGV rail station Sat, drop off Nice Airport Sun morning, it appears to be open that day). Some other agencies may have the same ability that they don't handle.

selkieNice

An express coach is also available from Nice to aix- it is generally faster than the train and goes to the centre of Aix , whereas the tgv station is half an hour away - it is also often cheaper if taking a round trip - however there are fewer coach options per day and a large choice of train options

timetable
http://www.info-ler.fr/Fichiers/Fich...ires/FH_20.pdf
ticket prices
http://www.info-ler.fr/Fichiers/Tarifs/TF_20.pdf

To Beaulieu you can also take either bus 81 or bus 100 from Nice costing one euro - bus 81 would be the best option since there is generally more room for luggage

http://www.lignesdazur.com/ftp/ligne...10%2010%29.pdf

Cimbrone

Thanks so much, everyone. Christina, you beat me to it...after looking at the train options that PalenQ linked me to, I realized we need to stay in Nice the night before our flight out. So I booked an airport hotel and we'll get there Saturday evening. I'll also enjoy checking out the bus options. Thanks!