Day Trips from Cannes
 

I am spending 2 full days in Cannes in April of 2008 and wanted to know what day trips you would recommend. We will have a car.

Go to Nice ( with stop in Antibes ) then to Eze, on to Monaco and further east - is one option.

Drive the N98 (corniche d'or) along the coast to St. Raphael - the Cote d'Azur's most scenic drive! Take the autoroute for the way back. This loop will take 2 hours.

Drive to St. Paul de Vence (10 min from Cannes, visit Fondation Maeght and the village of St. Paul. Another 2 hour trip.

In Nice, you could easily spend a week.. Depends on your interests what to see. The Musee Message Biblique (Chagall) is gorgeous. The Museum of Modern Art is excellent. Walk through old town and along the harbour...

Drive the famous corniches via Eze to Monaco. On the grand corniche, visit La Turbie. Take one of the small roads with hairpin curves which connect the grande and the moyenne corniche.

In Monaco, see the Casino, visit the Palace and Jacques Cousteau's Aquarium.

There are hundred more things to do in the area. (I guess I have been there a dozen times and spent 20+ weeks there and I still haven't explored everything.)

Grasse is very close to Cannes - just up in the hills

one of the few authentically old Riviera towns (not villages) but with wondrous old-world flare is the several perfume factories as Grasse is the Perfume Capital of the Riviera i believe.

Eze has a boutique strictly tourist oriented version of Grasse' famous perfumeries

You can also take the train to Grasse from Cannes on a newly reopened rail line.

Monaco- the Palace is wonderful. Eze is a must-perfect hill town. St. Paul de Vence--only if you want to buy very expensive art.

Not mentioned by anyone is Villefranche-sur-mer--just lovely and close to Cap Ferrat and the Rothschild museum and beautiful gardens. Also the greek house there is facinating, it's in Beaulieu-sur-mer,very close.

Nice(old town) is great for shopping. Grasse was fun, but to me only if you have more time(seen one perfume factory sales pitch too many).

Another spot could be Roquebrun, it is interesting and has wonderful views.

St. Tropez too.

antibes just down the road or train line from Cannes to me is one of the nicer older looking cities on a coast that is too developed for my tastes with blah highrises - Cannes itself being in that mold if a bit moree upscale

Antibes has a neat old town centre and the Picasso Museum in what looks like an old fort overlooking the sea.

Dave,

During our 5 days in Cannes, we visited Vence & St. Paul du Vence, toured the Fraggonard perfume factory in Grasse (very interesting), spent a couple hours on the Isle St. Margherite, and day tripped to St. Tropez. Another day to Arles and Aix (too much, too far). Would have loved more time for the area as Van Gogh is my favorite artist.

Didn't care at all for Cannes itself, except for the ancient part of town. Very much enjoyed everywhere else!