Aix to Nice Airport for AM flight-- public transport or car rental?
 

I'm travelling to Cote D'Azure the first week of December. I was planning to stay in Provence on the last two nights of my trip. Unfortunately, my flight home is out of Nice Airport instead of Marseilles. So the questions are these:

•The flight leaves at 11AM. How early do I need to be at the Nice Airport on a Monday morning?

•From what I can tell, bus and train travel from Aix to NCE will not be a practical option that early in the morning. Am I wrong?

•Are there private airport shuttles (like in the US) that would pick us up at our hotel at the crack of dawn and take us to the airport?

•One option is to just blow the euros and rent a car for those two days to get me to and from Provence and Nice. If you agree, any suggestions on which car rental company to use?

Thanks all.

If you Google Nice airport shuttle you'll find several companies...

Aix is 170 km from Nice... 2 hours or so.
I would think a car service or shuttle might be expensive.

Also, you are recommended to be 3 hours ahead of time these days for international flights meaning you need to be at the airport around 8 AM.

I would get to Nice by whatever means suits you the night before. Arrive late and stay at an airport hotel. Both Campanile and Novotel are a 5 minute walk from the terminal...

For me the bottom line is this... by staying as far away as Aix you increase the chances of missing your flight and a new ticket bought on the spot can be very very costly.

Rob

I've gotta agree with the above, you should get there the night before.

We stay in the St Tropez area,which has taken us at least two hours just to get to Aix . We often have an 1100 flight out of Nice and we leave our place by 6am, which is a hole lot closer than Aix. We do have to fill up a car and drop it off at the rental place in the airport, but that only adds about 20 mins.

I think Aix is a bit too far, and the traffic is just unpredictable, although I have to think it might be less during the winter.

Although I have NO experience to back up what I'm saying, I think in winter it would be easier to make the trip. I'd hire a car-either follow alihutch's suggestion or work with your hotel. I promise you are not the first person from Aix to have to get to Nice for a morning flight!

If you haven't been to Nice, the old area could be worth an evening walk about if you think spending the night there makes more sense for you.