Offbeat Riviera from Nice: 4 Days
Four Days, Four Towns You Didn’t Have to Drive To
By day four you’ve stopped thinking of Nice as a single destination and started treating it the way it actually works: a hub with a rail line fanning out in both directions. This version keeps the city day, adds the Èze-plus-Villefranche combo and a full Monaco day from the shorter itineraries, then hands the last day to the west, Antibes and Cannes, back to back on the same coastal train.
Book These Before You Go
- Book a room near Nice-Ville station ahead of summer; four nights this transit-heavy fill up fast.
- Book a Monaco day tour for day 3 if you’d rather have the palace and harbour history narrated.
- Check Picasso Museum Antibes tickets ahead for day 4; the Château Grimaldi’s galleries are small and queue in season.
| Day | Focus | Est. cost per person (no lodging) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nice: Promenade, old town, Castle Hill | ~€25-35 |
| 2 | Èze village, Villefranche swim | ~€25-35 plus bus/train fare |
| 3 | Monaco: palace, Oceanographic Museum | ~€20-30 plus train fare |
| 4 | Antibes: Picasso Museum, Cannes: La Croisette | ~€25-35 plus train fare |
Day 1: Nice, From the Ground Up
Land via Tram Line 2 (20 to 30 minutes from either terminal, €1.70 a single, though the airport machines only sell a €10 round-trip, so get the Lignes d’Azur app sorted before you need the cheap fare home). Spend the day on the essentials: the Promenade des Anglais at golden hour, Vieux Nice’s pastel lanes, and Cours Saleya, market by day (except Monday, when it’s antiques) and a genuinely good place for socca or a pan bagnat if you want lunch on the move. Close the day at Castle Hill, no actual castle since 1706, but the free public lift and the best panoramic view on the coast make it worth the detour regardless.
Day 2: Èze Up, Villefranche Down
Bus 82 from Vauban gets you up to Èze in about 30 minutes for €1.70; there’s no direct train, the village sits well above the coastal line at 427m. Get there early, before the tour buses, and budget €8 to €10 for the Jardin Exotique if the view over the Riviera hills is worth it to you, it usually is. Eat before you climb; the food up top is priced for a captive audience.
Come back down via bus 83 or the steep Nietzsche path (2.5 miles, genuinely strenuous, skip it in July/August heat) to Èze-sur-Mer, then a short train hop to Villefranche-sur-Mer for a swim in some of the calmest water on this stretch of coast. Water shoes; the pebbles here are no gentler than Nice’s.
Day 3: Monaco, Unrushed
Trains run 7 to 25 minutes from Nice (roughly 55 a day), about €6.50 to €7 one-way, into a country you could walk end to end in under an hour. Spend the day properly rather than treating it as a stopover: the Prince’s Palace, the Oceanographic Museum, and the sheer, almost comedic density of superyachts in the harbour. If you want inside the Casino de Monte-Carlo rather than just its façade, bring an actual passport (no photocopies, no digital ID), expect an 18+ minimum, and note the dress code tightens noticeably after 7 to 8pm. Skipping it costs you nothing essential; the palace grounds alone justify the day.
Day 4: Antibes, Then Cannes, Same Line
Antibes is 16 to 23 minutes from Nice, roughly €7 to €8, and holds the Picasso Museum inside the actual Château Grimaldi where he worked in 1946, €12 adult admission, closed Mondays, with shorter midday-break hours outside the June 15 to September 15 stretch. Pair it with the Marché Provençal and a walk along the old ramparts before continuing on.
Cannes is a further 7-minute hop down the same line, or 35 minutes and about €10 direct from Nice. Worth knowing for 2026 specifically: as of January 1st, Cannes now caps cruise arrivals to ships under 1,000 passengers and 6,000 total daily cruise visitors, a real and current response to overtourism, so La Croisette and the old port feel noticeably less swamped on cruise days than they did a couple of years ago. Walk La Croisette itself, then climb into Le Suquet, the old town, for the view back over the bay before the train home.
Transportation
Lignes d’Azur runs Nice’s trams and buses (single ticket €1.70, day pass €7); the coastal TER line connecting Villefranche, Monaco, Antibes, and Cannes runs on its own flat regional fares, checkable live on SNCF Connect . If you’re doing this much train-hopping, look at the Pass Sud Azur Explore, an unlimited multi-day pass covering trains, trams, and buses across the Alpes-Maritimes and Monaco (verify the current 3/7/14-day price at a Lignes d’Azur machine; it’s worth pricing against your specific route count).
Tips and Essentials
- Watch bags closely on the trains themselves, not just in crowded old-town lanes; a distraction scam involving a claimed “reserved seat” is a documented pattern on this specific line.
- Beach-club restaurants along the Promenade often skip posted menus; confirm drink prices before ordering.
- A car adds nothing to this itinerary and a real headache in Monaco’s parking; every stop above sits on the rail line.
Where to Stay
Vieux Nice suits Day 1 best but runs small and loud. Near the station trims real time off three of the four remaining train mornings, worth the small trade in old-town charm for a trip this transit-dependent. The 5-day itinerary adds Menton, further east again, if you’ve got one more day to give the coast.