Planning to visit Nice for 3 or 4 days in October. While there, I would like to go on DAY TOURS from my hotel to various points of interest including: Aix-en-Provence, St Tropez, Cannes, Monaco, Toulouse and so on. I realize that several touristy spots can easily be arranged via public rails and others by Motor Coach/Van. Are Day Trips easily arranged by hotel Concierge and private tour agencies? For example, while in Paris, either with our hotel Concierge or with Tour Agencies (all over the city), motor coach trips or public rail trips for the day were easily arranges to Versailles, Loire Valley, Breuges, etc etc.
We would like to see as much as we can (without driving a car rental) and, after 3 or 4 days (How long a stay is recommended?), we want to take a flight to Barcelona................Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated.
Many thanks.
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Well, for starters Toulouse is not in Provence; it%26#39;s over in the southwest. So you%26#39;ll need to drop that from your itinerary unless you have a spare couple of days.
From Nice you can go by rail to Aix-en-Provence, Cannes, and Monaco; there%26#39;s no rail service to St-Troperz, however.
With four days in Nice you can barely skim the surface of that wonderful city and the surrounding area. If you can stay for a week you can cover most of the principal sights, and October is a great time to be in that area.
We%26#39;ve never taken tours, preferring to drive, but I%26#39;m sure you hotel can get you in touch with a number of agencies to take you where you want to go.
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Most of the places worth visiting along and close to the coast are easily reached by train/bus from Nice - Menton, Monte Carlo. Èze, Villefranche-sur-Mer, Antibes, and Cannes. Grasse and St. Paul de Vence are also not difficult to get to. There is really no need to go to the expense of organized tours if you have a decent guide book.
Aix-en-Provence is about 2.5 hours from Nice by train. Toulouse, as Underhill says, is a long way from Nice and not a feasible day trip.
I suppose you *could* travel to Aix-en-Provence and spend a night there, then go to Toulouse (a long trip by train) and stay there, and then go to Barcelona (another long trip). If you want to research times for these journeys go to www.voyages-sncf.com
One way flights from Nice to Barcelona are expensive as there is no budget airline operating this route. You can however fly from Nice to Paris and Paris to Barcelona with one of the LCCs, EasyJet I believe and possibly others. This will probably be cheaper than a one-way ticket on Air France or Iberia. If you decide to use EasyJet, the sooner you book the less you will pay.The train takes a VERY long time.
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Not to be a spoil sport, although the weather in October is fairly mild, you may experience some major rain. I have been in Nice in October when the weather was quite nice, but then there were some Octobers when forget about it. Make sure you have that little umbrella. Regardless of the weather though, Nice is the greatest just strollingall over this magical city. Enjoy!
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Forget about Toulouse and Aix-en-Provence, too short a trip for that. Keep at least a day for Nice if not 2,not more than 1/2 day for Monaco, if possible Friday morning for the Vintimille market on the other side of the Italian border, 1/2 day for Eze-Village (bus no 82 from Nice Gare Routière). Also possible to take a one day excursion to St-Paul-de-Vence (you have to go by bus not by train though). All other sites are accessible by train. Villa Ephrussi Rotschild would take a good 3 hrs to visit (bus 81 from Nice Gare Routière). And of cours Nice%26#39;s Old Town, the Castle Hill, etc (look at a previous post of mine for a walking itinerary in Nice%26#39;s Old Town)
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Many , many thanks for the advice.....................Obviously, getting around to the various points of interest is easy either by train or by bus; seems that private tour agencies will not be necessary. Will jot-down all these %26quot;tips%26quot; and purchase a good guide book............any suggestions?
We might very well lengthen our trip to Nice and spend only 3 days to visit Barcelona. The air fares to Barcelona (o/w ticket) is out-of-sight and rail is like 9 hours long. Maybe there%26#39;s a ferry/cruise between the two areas......................lol............
Again. many thanks.
Clement
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The Michelin green guide for Côte d%26#39;Azur (probably called French Riviera in the English version). Lots of info. I also used and still use the Hachette guide A weekend in Nice. Smaller to carry around, has even a full map of the city. Don%26#39;t know though if it has an English version.
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Dear silverart,
You might consider contacting timeout.com for very user friendly guide books to both South of France, which includes Provence %26amp; the Cote d%26#39;Azur, as well as Time Out Barcelona which also is very informative on any kind of budget.
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The %26quot;Walking Tour%26quot; of Nice is just fantastic............(wish I could print-it-out instead, Im writing it all down in a frenzy; one would think I%26#39;m leaving tomorrow....lol).
Can Cannes (oops, sorry %26#39;bout the pun) be visited via public transport, too?
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You can go by train from Nice to Cannes.
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