mvs

We will be in Monaco late July for 6 nights on a business/pleasure trip and are looking for other towns to visit along the coast. I've heard that Villefranche is a cute town with a nice square w/restaurants/cafe's etc. (We are looking for towns that aren't necessarily as glitzy or pricey as Monaco). What is the easiest and most affordable way to get from Monaco to Villefranche and can someone recommend some other towns we should visit? Thnak you so much for your help!!!

laclaire

Villefranche is indeed beautiful and I highly recommend visiting it. I do recognize, though, that I was visiting and staying at one of the homes there, so everything I did involved the estate and I saw little of the town. In short, I have a skewed view.

We drove and I think that is the best way to get around, especially if you want to see other places along the coast. You can stop for pictures, exploring and such, and driving on those curves is really exhilerating.

I would avoid Nice and focus on the villages between there and Monte Carlo.

PalQ

The 'Cote d'Azur metro' commuter train runs twice hurly between Monaco and Villefranche as well as to many other stations along the coast.
Near Villefranche is the Cap d'Ail station - get off here and you can walk two miles on paved flat footpaths along a gorgeous and isolated stretch of coast back to Monaco - an outstanding walk that lets you see the signature beauty of the Riviera sketched in your mind's eye - just a rocky coast dotted by cypress trees and with the clear deep-azure-hued water that gives the Cote d'Azur its name. Few stretches of the coast are in pristine undeveloped conditions as is this two-mile stretch -the rest seems to have been given over to high-rise blah seaside flats and hotels.
So for one of the most fantastic strolls in Europe, take this easy one from the Cap d'Ail station to Monte Carlo! Visit serene Villefranche for the day and then get off the train at Cap d'Ail and amble back to Monte Carlo/Monaco.

luv2cthings

Villefranche-sur-mer is nice little village on the see. You can also get there very conveniently by bus, route #100 (Nice-Menton route). See www.rca.tm.fr for information (in French only, unfortunately), www.rca.tm.fr/ftp/lignes/NICEMENTON.pdf for schedules.

If you are in Monaco for 6 nights, I think it would be ridiculous to avoid Nice. It is very easy to get to Nice from Monaco by train.

PalQ

You may want to take the bus one way and train the other - the train is mainly along the coast (and in tunnels) whilst the bus goes higher up, offering different and more sweeping coastal views.