I am trying to decide whether to stay in Nice or outside the city. We would be arriving on a Monday evening, plan to visit the Fondation Maeght and the Matisse Chapel on Tuesday, and visit a museum in Nice on Wednesday morning before going to Apt. Is there public transportation readily available to get to the Fondation Maeght or should I reserve my car rental for Monday evening? If I have a car, I probably would choose to stay outside Nice, if I do not have a car, I probably would not pick up the car until Wednesday, and stay in Nice proper.

In summer of 2005 I stayed on Rue Massena in Nice which was a great location (Hotel Regence). About 20m away was a bus stop that took us directly to St. Paul de Vence in about 30 mins, and I forget what it cost, but it was cheap. By now Nice should have it's new tramway completed, and the public transport in general was great.

Jeff,

Do you happen to remember the bus number?

I did it last year in October.

The number was 400. I think. Go to the following bus line site (TAM - Transports Alpes Maritime)
http://www.cg06.fr/transport/transports-tam.html

It is incredibly cheap €1.30 one way. If you will stay in Nice, it would be a good idea to pass by the gare routiere beforehand, the bus terminal that is the departure point, to check the stop for 400. It was close to the information counter. Perhaps 30 min.to St.Paul and 15 min more on to St.Paul de Vence.

And there's a terrific downhill walk from Vence, a neat old town as well you shouldn't overlook to St Paul-de-Vence that comes out by the Maeght place, on the edge of SPdV.

I've taken the bus and it's a snap.

And that was my Nice stay for the straight 3rd year last year, always around that time. Staying in Nice and took bus to Eze-Village, St.Paul, Villefranche S.M., etc all worked fine to me. A day ticket for coast lines (good for eze, villefranche, menton ..) was €4. For St.Paul, I had to buy a separate ticket but that's cheap.

OK. You have convinced me. I'll stay in Nice proper and we'll visit the Chapelle du Rosaire and the Fondation Maeght via bus. More specific suggestions are appreciated.

Be sure to call and verify that the Matisse chapel will be open on the day that you want to visit--published schedules can be changed at the last minute because of religious holidays.

I'm staying in Menton this summer. Was told it was a great place to stay, because the bus line was easily available and its not far from everything. The bus line will take me to Nice, Cannes, Monte Carlo, etc. Looking forward to it.