Hi - Once we are in Nice we would like to take a day trip to the much-talked about village of Eze. How do you get there? Is there a bus, local train, etc?

Also, how far is Monaco from Nice and how would you get there?

What area would be best situated in Nice where you can easily access all 3 - Nice, Eze, and Monaco?

Eze has 2 parts, Eze sur Mer which is down by the water (there is a train station there) and Eze village which is the walled medieval village everyone talks about. If you take the train to Eze, it is quite a hike up to the village and would take about an hour. There may be taxis at the train station. I think there is bus service up to the village from Nice but not sure.

Monaco is an easy train trip from Nice. It's about 20-30 mins on the train.

Ofcourse renting a car is another option.

How hard is it to drive in Nice? Would you all recommend that in terms of parking and traffic?

Does anyone know the name of the local train or where the station is to get to Eze or Monaco? Also, what is the bus line to go up to the village? I wanted to see pricing and scheduling info.

I've driven to Nice (and parked) from elsewhere but have never driven in and around Nice. There's an underground car park near Cours Saleya (where the market is)in old town. Some hotels have parking (maybe extra charge). If you'll be there "in season" during the summer, traffic and parking will be more difficult.

Here is a train schedule. There are 2 train stations in Nice, the main one being Nice Ville.

http://www.ter-sncf.com/paca/fiches_...f_ete/fh04.pdf

If you're trying to see how expensive train fares are (I couldn't find them) it will surely be more expensive to rent a car. If you can drive a stick shift, that's usually much cheaper than automatic. It just becomes easier to come and go on your on schedule with your own car and not worry about cabs or buses.

Have a look at autoeaurope.com for rental pricing. If you're flying in and out of Nice, obviously you'd also save money on transport to/from the airport.

I've never seen a website posted for the bus that I can recall.

I have driven to In nice and to Eze and Monaco. I have also taken the train to Monaco.

I regards to Driving IN nice or Monaco - I did not think it was that bad (Monaco is very weird beacuse some of the streets go underground and have huge assents and decents) There is a very large parking garage near the monte carlo casino, and it was afforabable (I paid 8 euro for the day)
If you take the Train to monaco this works fine also, monaco is extremely compact and easy to get around without any car

You really don't need to drive anywhere in Nice. there are busses and cabs and it is pretty easy to walk around. Parking is very limited,and traffic was pretty bad - but not as bad as larger cities . we were fortunate to stay at a hotel with free parking. I also parked at the market mentioned above (really a mall) on our way out of town. I thought the train station in Nice was a bit out of the way

To go to Eze on the hill - I drove also. you can park right next to the town but spaces are limited, so go early. It is pretty high up so walking from the train station would be quite a hike.

HI thanks for all the responses - that website with the train schedule is EXACTLY what I was looking for. I don't think we will rent a car then - because it sounds like it is more of a hassle than anything. So, now that I know when the trains are departing, I can figure out my itinerary. The only question left is figuring out how frequently the bus/cabs run to take you up to the Eze village. Does anyone know? Do you have to get there early? We really don't want to hike up for 1 hour since we want to save time and go to Monaco afterwards. So what is the situation with getting a ride up to the village? Where do you hail the cab/bus?

If you don't mind spending the money, and love to drive, I'd suggest renting a car to drive between Nice and Eze Village/Monaco, because both the Middle and Upper Corniche roads are very picturesque and fun to drive. A car also gives you a lot more flexibility. You could, for instance, drive the Upper Corniche road to La Turbie, where you could visit the Roman Trophee des Alpes, and get a spectacular view from the Trophee grounds down into Monaco. Then, from La Turbie, you could drop down to Monaco. You also get a great view of Eze Village from the Upper Corniche road; you can see how it truly perches on its hilltop.

Parking for Eze Village could be a problem during the day (the pay parking lot right below the village, off the Middle Corniche road could be full) but I wouldn't recommend going there during the day anyway, since it will be jam-packed with tourists. Try to go early in the morning, or later in the day (unless, of course, you like being around a lot of fellow tourists) when Eze Village will not have many tourists and parking (if you drive) will not be a problem.

Also, if you decide to drive, parking in Monaco -- for "The Rock", where the palace is located -- is no problem since there's a huge parking garage under "The Rock." I've also never had a problem parking in the Monte Carlo part of Monaco but then, as with Eze Village, I've always gone there later in the day.

I driven in Nice twice and, once I got my bearings, found it to be not just easy, but quite a bit of fun.

If you don't want to spend the money, don't love driving all that much, and only want to visit Eze Village and Monaco, then public transport would probably be your better choice.

Times for busses to Eze from Nice and Eze Sur Mer can be found at http://www.eze-riviera.com/emotions/...nt/ang/bus.htm on the Eze tourism site, no mention of prices though. THere's more detailed info on local buses at http://www.rca.tm.fr/horaires/index....amp;thm_id=259

From your earlier post re doing Cannes and Nice in one day, and now this one of doing Nice, Eze and Monaco in one day - Question? Do you only have one day?

If so, go with the train. You can get a day-pass (don't know the cost), but this allows you to get on/off any number of times during the day.

Since you don't mention when you will be traveling, if during the hi-season of July and especially August, everything will be very crowded with tourists - September and October would ideal - so it's a good idea to get started early in the day. I like to go to the furthest place out, in this case Monaco and then work my way back.

Monaco is small and compact and we actually walked the "entire country" in a few hours including (taking the bus) up to the Rock. If you get to Monaco early, do the Rock first which isn't far from where the train station is. Spend the morning doing a Palace tour, visit the Cousteau Musee (aquarium), and be back at the Palace at 11:55am when they have the Changing of the Guard. Take a bus down from the Rock and walk thru Monte Carlo to where the Casino is located. There are plenty of restaurants where you can have lunch and then just people watch. You can even walk down to the beach and spend some time.

Then in late afternoon (about 3pm or whatever the train schedule is), take off to Eze. Even though it is a trek from the train, you can probably find a taxi, and if not, walk slowly and don't think about how much further you have to go. Later in the day when most tourist are gone Eze is lovely and you can always go into Chevra D'or or Chateau Eza for cocktails overlooking everything within miles, especially Cap Ferrat.

You can then leisurely return to the train and return to Nice or check how much a taxi would cost and return to Nice.

Do remember when boarding trains in France, it is your responsibility to punch (validate) your ticket at a machine located right before entering the platform. If you don't and there happens to be a conductor on the train (I've never seen one, but friends have) and you haven't punched your ticket, they hand out stiff fines.

You also don't mention where your hotel in Nice is located. If on the beach, it is a bit of a walk to the train station (think taxi). But if you are two or three blocks in from the beach, the walk isn't all that difficult.

If you have more time in Nice, do be sure to get to the Chagal Museum in the Ciminez district, just north and east of the train station. Also the Cours Selaya in the old town for the market in the morning. There are lots of restaurants in this area.

It's all doable by train and if you have to supplement some with a taxi, it won't be all that expensive.

Enjoy your holiday.

Just outside the train station at Eze sur Mer is a shuttle bus service that takes you up to the perched village of Eze. There is a path if you want to make the climb (as I did) but be warned that it is over 1400' above the water level and of course much farther when climbing as the path winds up the mountain. My biggest fear half-way up was that I would have a heart attack and roll all the way down to the train station or worse yet lay there in the weeds and rot for months until found. I made the hike this past December when very few people make the climb.

Larry J

Sandi - I have 2 days in the French Riviera and will be staying in Nice. Hence - 1 day will be Nice to Cannes. And the second day will be Nice to Eze to Monaco. So the train pass probably won't be necessary.

This will be in mid-September, so hopefully shouldn't be too crowded.

We haven't finalized our hotel yet. We were looking into both sea front and by the station places. If we did get a sea front hotel - how far is the train station from sea front location? How much would a taxi be. If it is a ridiculous amount, we might as well situate our selves closer to the train station?

September is good, less crowds. As to the train pass - I would still check the price for each day versus the single fare (to/fr) - you might want to get off somewhere between Cannes and Nice, and even make another stop between Nice and Monaco besides Eze - you never know.

As to the distance from the beach to the train - we did it by car, so can't say, but a cousin stayed at a lovely hotel about two or three blocks in from the beach and said the walk to the train station wasn't too great a distance.

Stop into a bookstore and see if you can find a street map of Nice. Many of the guidebooks show portions of city maps - I know one of my books on France had a pretty detailed map of Nice and even of Monaco - but I have no idea which book it was - Frommers, Fodors, Baedecker (sp).

I haven't a clue how much a taxi would cost, but can't be but a few Euro (less than 5) - it's really a short distance.

Sandi,

Can you give the web site for the train/train pass in this area? Thank you.

We bought an excellent city map of Nice at a local gas station; it's put out by the Plan Guide Blay-Foldex.

to hawaiihoneymoon: Are you back from your trip? I am about to head to Nice at the end of the month and I would love to hear a report on your trip! We, too, are planning 2 days in Nice; what did you end up doing/would you have changed anything/how did you get to/from Eze/where did you stay in Nice?

hope you had a great time!

To trvlcrzy: Yes, we just returned last night. Although I am too exhausted and overloaded with info to write a trip report - I would love to give you more info about Nice based on our trip.

We had taken the overnight train from Venice into Nice (I think about 10-11 hours). As we woke up from our very uncomfortable beds, we were greeted with EXCELLENT views of the coast as we reached Nice. The train station was about a 10 minute walk from our hotel - Comfort Hotel Roosevelt. I would highly recommend it. The rooms were large, very clean, very helpful (English speaking) staff. The reception helped us plan out transportation details, bus number, activites, etc. It was 5 minutes from the beach. Haven't stayed anywhere else in Nice, so I can't compare, but we were very happy with the hotel.

So the first day we just spend in Nice. The best way to see it is grab a map and walk the city. You really don't need public transportation to get around Nice. We walked down to the Promenade. The water is very blue and very clear! It is beautiful. The beach has large pebbles rather than soft sand. But that doesn't stop people from laying out (FYI - topless). It was packed - people were hang gliding, swimming, laying out, roller blading, walking, jogging, doing yoga, you name it! It is a fun place to spend the afternoon.

We walked thorugh historical Nice - Vieux Nice. They usually have a flower market. The day we were there, there happened to be an antique market display - which we walked through.

We walked to the top of the Chateau which is a short walk from the beach(later were told there was an elevator to the top). It isn't that bad of a walk to the top. There are amazing views of the coast line and the Nice Harbor from the top. It is simply gorgeous.

We walked to the Russian Orthodox Cathedral which is located about 10 minutes from the train station. It is realy beautiful esp since I have never seen anything like it. Left before the 2 huge tour buses arrived!

We had dinner on a very busy streer, close to the beach. Between the beach and our hotel. I don't rememeber the name of it, but it is lined with many many restuarants. You really can't go wrong - they all looked amazing. we would always walk around, check out the menu and other peoples plates to see if it looked appetizing to us! It was very hard to choose because they all looked very good.

The next day, we walked over to the Bus Station. Took bus 112 (I believe) which cost 2.50 Euros per person to Eze Village. The advantage of taking the bus to Eze, is that it drops you directly at Eze Village. Whereas, the train drops you at the train station at Eze Sur Mer which is a long walk up to the top (supposedly). As soon as you get off the bus, you walk up a hill and on the right is an information office where you can pick up some maps. From there it is about a 5-10 minute walk to the actual walled Eze Village. It started to rain while we were there which caused the steps (made of very smooth stone) to become very slippery. Make sure you have good sneakers since you will be climbing steps as you explore your way around Eze Village. It was truely amazing. Each bend around the corner was picture perfect. We took tons of pictures, despite the fact that it was raining. Due to the rain, we left soon after we reached the top. We walked back down and waited for the same bus as it continued onto Monaco - Monte Carlo. Check the schecule (Which is posted on the bus stop) before you go up Eze Village so you can manage your time accordingly. The buses don't run very frequently. Ever hour I believe.

The ticket was about 2.20 euros per person. About 10 minutes later we reached Monte Carlo. Had about 1/2 a day there. Since it was raining we spend some time in the Casino as my husband gambled his money away! By the time we left, the rain had stopped and it was very sunny and beautiful. There is a gorgeous park right out side the casino you can walk around. The nummerous casinos and the Princes Chateau. We basically just walked around on foot for the rest of the day and explored. We then took the train back straight into Nice, since it is faster (and turned out to be a bit cheaper than the bus). Have a nice dinner, sit by the beach, have an after dinner drink.

That was about all we had time for on this trip to Nice. It was quick but we felt that any more time would've bored us. We felt that 2 days was adequate for what we covered. If you want to add Cannes to the itienerary, that might take more time since it about a 20-30 minute train ride in the other direction from Nice.

Well, I hope this information has been helpful to you. If you have any other questions, I can try to answer then for you! Have fun!

to hawaiihoneymoon: thank you SO much for the great information! it sounds like you had a wonderful trip! I have just found out a BIG problem!! There is an Iron Man Triathlon in Nice on Sunday....that must be why I am having so much trouble finding a room!! aagghh!
Now, what to do??? really don't want to be stuck without a room OR stuck w/ only 4 or 5 star hotels being our only option! Help!

Try this hotel, I plunked in Sept 25 for 7 nights and it seemed to have availability...

http://www.comfort-hotel-roosevelt-n...page_en_1.html

Thank you for the help, but when I input just the 2 nights I will be there, it shows nothing available at the Comfort Hotel Roosevelt on those nights. I am really scrambling now...I leave in 36 hours and won't have easy computer access when I arrive in Europe!!

Comfort Hotel Roosevelt is listed on Eurocheapo.com and most listings on that site can be booked through venere.com but I have been looking for January dates so maybe they are booked for your dates.