The 7 Best Day Trips from Nice
Perched villages, pink villas, Monaco and Menton, all by train or bus.
Nice is the Riviera's hub: the coastal train and buses reach most of the coast's best places in under an hour, so you can see a different town every day without a car.
Every trip here fits comfortably between breakfast and dinner back in Nice.
- 1
Villefranche-sur-Mer
☀️ Things To Do & Day Trips · Around Nice & Day Trips · Free · allow 4 hours
Ten minutes away: pastel harbour, Cocteau's chapel and a calm shingle beach.
A short hop from Nice, Villefranche has a harbour of pastel houses, a vaulted medieval street, a citadel and the little Chapelle Saint-Pierre painted by Jean Cocteau. Cruise ships often anchor in the bay.
🌊 Sea view🧒 Good with kids - 2
Èze Village
☀️ Things To Do & Day Trips · Around Nice & Day Trips · € · allow 4 hours
The perched village with the cactus garden and the huge sea view.
A stone village perched over the sea, with a cactus garden at the top and one of the great views on the coast. Walk down the Nietzsche path to the beach if your legs allow, and take the bus back.
🌊 Sea view🌅 Sunset spot - 3
Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat & Villa Ephrussi
☀️ Things To Do & Day Trips · Around Nice & Day Trips · €€ · allow 5 hours
Villa Ephrussi's nine gardens, then the coast path round the cape.
The Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild sits at the top of the peninsula with nine themed gardens and dancing fountains. Then walk part of the coastal path round the cape and swim at Paloma beach.
🌊 Sea view - 4
Monaco
☀️ Things To Do & Day Trips · Around Nice & Day Trips · €€ · allow 5 hours
The Rock, the palace and the Oceanographic Museum, 20 minutes by train.
Twenty minutes by train: walk up to the Prince's Palace on the Rock for the changing of the guard, see the Oceanographic Museum, then cross the harbour to Casino Square.
🌊 Sea view - 5
Menton
☀️ Things To Do & Day Trips · Around Nice & Day Trips · € · allow 5 hours
Lemon groves, Cocteau and a warm-coloured old town near Italy.
The last town before Italy: a steep old town in warm colours, sandy beaches, the Jean Cocteau museum and lemon groves. Its Lemon Festival fills February.
🌊 Sea view🧒 Good with kids - 6
Saint-Paul-de-Vence
☀️ Things To Do & Day Trips · Around Nice & Day Trips · € · allow 5 hours
The painters' walled village, with the Fondation Maeght nearby.
A walled hill village full of galleries, where Chagall is buried. A short walk away, the Fondation Maeght shows Miró, Giacometti and Braque in a garden of pines.
🌊 Sea view - 7
Antibes
☀️ Things To Do & Day Trips · Around Nice & Day Trips · € · allow 5 hours
Ramparts, a Provençal market and Picasso by the sea. See Antibes Daily.
Antibes has a covered Provençal market, a Picasso museum in a castle over the sea, sheltered beaches below the ramparts and Europe's largest yacht harbour. Our sister guide, Antibes Daily, covers it in detail.
🌊 Sea view
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