Duvies

Okay, so we have two and a half days in Nice, and we have a reasonably good idea what to do on the half day, which is right at the beginning of our stay. This will probably include going up Castle Hill, as we are staying in the Port area.

We now need to fill two full days. Just some background: we are three travelers ( Dear Wife, Dear Sister and Me) from South Africa. The reason for our trip to France, is that they will celebrate their 55th and 50th birthdays on this trip. DS and I are into history and DW into art, but we have already decided to not go chasing only these things and to rather enjoy the time we have.

We were thinking of a West and east of Nice trip each morning, with time in Nice in the afternoon and evening. So the idea is to do Eze and Villefranche sur Mer one morning and Antibes/Juan les Pins the next.

Would that be okay, or would you suggest a full day in Nice and then a trip to Eze and VsM? And if we do a full day in Nice, what would you suggest as the three or four things we should not miss?

kerouac

Have you checked what is on the Nice tourism website?

Nice Côte d'Azur Convention and Visitors Bureau

Duvies

Hi Kerouac, I did and that is where I picked up on the Greeters as per a previous post. I must admit, I have not spent enough time on it, but I'll correct that in due course.

Am I missing a hint here?

Pepper_von_snoot

I would not miss the Villa Euphrussi Rothschild in Beaulieu-sur-mer for anything. The gardens are absolutely amazing.

For Nice, I like to visit the Russian Orthodox Cathedral that is west of the train station. If you were walk from Nice Ville train station to the church, you would see many intereresting Belle Epoch buildings.

Thin

Michael

Nice has a nice Matisse museum set in a Mediterranean villa.

gooster

You do need to plan to hit the Cours Saleya market in the morning, so invert one of your mornings. Mondays are brocante/flea market/antiques and it runs longer, but the traditional market is best in the mornings. You can then head to Eze; a pricey lunch with the tremendous views (or have lunch at Le Galet or the Beau Rivage on the Nice beach). Transfer down to Villefranche-sur-Mer and Cap Ferrat (Villa Ephrussi). Return to Nice; the Riquer train stop may be closer to your stay in the Port, FYI. The new tram is not set to open at the Port until the Fall.

Consider reservations at Jan in the Port for a special one star Michelin meal prepared by a SA chef. I also like the diving platform restaurant at le Plongeoir at the Port, for drinks or lunch.

Unless you want to go for some beach time, I would not go to Juan les Pins. It's really a beach resort. You can go to Antibes or consider St. Paul de Vence and the Fondation Maeght. You can then head up to Cimiez to see one or both of the Museums (Matisse or Chagall) there, plus a walk in the ruins. Note the Matisse is a Municipal museum and the entrance there will also get you into the Archealogical park/ruins next door and to any Municipal museum for a 24 hour period.

greg

>>> So the idea is to do Eze and Villefranche sur Mer one morning
Eze (village = medieval walled city, not Eze Sur Mer = train stop) and Villefranche-sur-Mer do not connect well if taking a bus. The bus #82 and #112 take a route somewhat high above Villefranche-sur-Mer. It is very rushed to visit both in the morning. There are a few restaurants for lunch at Eze Village with stunning view of the ocean like Terrasse Les Remparts at the Château de La Chèvre d’Or if the weather is good, of course depending on your budget.
Look at the bus route map
https://www.lignesdazur.com/ftp/docu...toral-2018.pdf
It would be very rushed to visit Eze Village and Villefranche-sur-Mer in the morning.

Eze Village located at 430m above sea level connects well to Nice then so so to Monaco and Eze Sur Mer at the sea level.

Villefranche-sur-Mer and Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat where you find Villa Euphrussi connect well by bus #84.

Duvies

Lovely advice, thank you all.

Gooster, you have given a lot of information that is all really great, as did Pepper. Michael, I think Matisse will be on DW's list, as will Chagall, so that will take up some of her time. As for me, I still struggle to draw good stick figures (that the right word?), so I'll have to find something useful to do when we go there.

Would love to see the Villa, woudl Bealieu be a better choice than VsM then?

DS is coming to visit the weekend and we'll have a chat about what we feel is important. It may be that we'll give Antibes a skip and do a full day at our leisure in Nice, including the Cours. Maybe we can then do Eze and VsM/BsM or Cap Ferrat the next day.

Again, thanks to all of you for taking the time to help me (or us, if you will) with great advice. It makes things so much easier.

Michael

[QUOTE=Duvies;16870245 Michael, I think Matisse will be on DW's list, as will Chagall, so that will take up some of her time. As for me, I still struggle to draw good stick figures (that the right word?), so I'll have to find something useful to do when we go there.

[/QUOTE]

For stick figures, this is the place to go:

Pepper_von_snoot

Note that Villa Ephrussi is actually in St-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, but you would take the the train from Nice Ville and get off in Beaulieu-sur-mer. Villa Kerylos is in Beaulieu-sur-mer.

Thin

whitehall

We like to walk. We have walked many times from Nice (the perfect base to also see Monaco and mention to the east and Antibes and Cannes to the west) to Villefranche and on to Beaulieu and Cap Ferrat. We know that is ambitious for most and are not recommending that, but it will give you an idea of the proximity of things in that area. Once we came into Villefranche on a cruise ship, easily walked to Beaulieu, Villa Kerylos and then the breathtaking walk to Cap Ferrat and onto Villa Ephrussi. There are three trails on Cap Ferrat, the one from Kerylos to Cap Ferrat, a relatively short walk, along the shore, past the front door of the former home of David Niven. The other two trails can be found online but take an hour or two respectively, but they are some of the best shoreside trails anywhere. The entire area there is full of villa-style mansions and is the occasional home to many billionaires. From Cap Ferrat, which is a small but cute village, worthy of a lunch or a snack from the nice bakery there, the views from the harbor back to the mountains along the coast are sensational. Villefranche is wonderful, but when cruise ships are in the tiny port, the village itself can be over-run until late afternoon.

Michael

I would not consider 2 miles from villa Kerylos to villa Ephrussi de Rothschild a short walk.

whitehall

Have you been there? “The relatively short walk” I referred to was the path between Beaulieu-sur-Mer (Promenade Maurice Rouvier), only 0.8 miles, about 20 minutes. And this is from downtown; Villa Kerylos is closer and along the way.

Link provided: https://www.saintjeancapferrat-touri...rails/?lang=en

If you are able to take this walk on one of the many good weather days there (and I am thankful that I have been able to do so several times), you will not forget it.

Fodorite018

A Taste of Nice is a really good food tour there. We did it one day and then went back to several the locations later in the week. I highly recommend it!

I took the bus to Eze one day to just wander as well as take a tour at the perfume factory. That was very good, and short, lol. Another day I took the train to Antibes and went to the markets and again just wandered, Both of these days were perfect for me while DH was working, but I felt bad as he would have enjoyed them as well, FWIW.

thursdaysd

Michael

Yes.

Duvies

thursdaysd , I actually have your trip report bookmarked already! I would still like to do Eze, as it seems to be a nice village with beautiful views, but maybe because the SJCF and BsM is a bit off the track, it has some attraction (thanks to whitehall as well). Decisions, decisions!

mms, I had a look at A Taste of Nice's website and reviews: it seems like everybody doing it really likes it. It seems a bit pricey though: does it include a sit-down lunch/dinner as well?

Christina

I don't think there is inherently anything wrong with visiting some other place in the morning and doing Nice in the afternoon and evening. Just as good as splitting complete days.

Having said that, your schedule is a bit frenetic for my taste if you plan to do both Antibes and Juan-les-Pins in one morning. I spent an entire day in Antibes -- as a day trip from Nice, anyway, so probably mid-morning to late afternoon. I don't really know what you want to see in Juan-les-Pins, I didn't know there was anything there of particular interest. I thought it was just a resort for rich people with casinos and clubs, etc. I know they have a famous jazz festival in summer.

Duvies

Thank you Christina. To be honest, and don't tell anybody else, Juan-les-Pins' only attraction comes from the Peter Sarstedt song ....

But point taken, we'd probably only do Antibes as a half day trip, probably in the morning. Will do some research on what to do there. Might spend a bit of time on the beach, but not long; I get bored easily.

cilburke

We took a very nice boat tour - here's the link:

Coastal Tour , departure from Nice - from the Cape of Nice to Villefranche Bay- Trans Côte d'Azur - Maritime Company