I will be arriving at Villefranche on Sunday, June 29th. My group would like to go to St. Paul de Vence from the port and from there to Cannes to spend some time at the beach. Is this doable in 8 hours and what kind of transportation is there. How long does it get to St Paul by taxi and also are there taxis available at St. Paul to Cannes and from Cannes to Villefranche. Also, does anyone know the cost?
|||
If you%26#39;ve only got 8 hours, I%26#39;d advise against doing both places. Taxi from Villefranche to St Paul will take you at least an hour, if there%26#39;s no traffic. On Sundays tho%26#39;, just like everywhere else in the world, people take to the road to have a day out.
Once you%26#39;ve rushed round St Paul, the journey to Cannes will probably take another 30 to 45 minutes, again, if no traffic. The main problem will be the journey back from Cannes to Villefranche. I%26#39;d reckon on at least 2 hours on a Sunday afternoon. The road through Villefranche itself is single file only both ways, and there are regularly traffic jams trying to get into town. I%26#39;d say about half of your 8 hours will be taken up with travelling, which gives you only a cursory glance at the places you visit. The cost is likely to be around 80 euros from Villefranche to St Paul, 40 to 50 euros from St Paul to Cannes, and around 100 from Cannes to Villefranche.
If you want to spend some time on the beach, then the beach in Villefranche is good. It%26#39;s where many of the locals from Nice do their sunbathing as it%26#39;s not pebbles there. It%26#39;s also good for swimming because the sea floor is a gently slope, compared to Nice, which is a sudden drop. You may prefer to do your tourist trip to St Paul, then get back to Villefranche and relax, rather than worry about missing the ship. If you don%26#39;t want to lie on the beach, then the old town is lovely, and the fort has art exhibitions. Why not get to know the town you dock in?
|||
Would you suggest that we visit Eze instead of St. Paul De Vance and how they compare?
|||
I don%26#39;t know Villefranche, but I help you with public transportation between St. Paul and Cannes. Sometimes, public transportation is faster than taxi or car.
Trains run along the coast, and I would assume that there is a station in Villefranche. Train schedules are frequent, but depending upon how your train arrival links with the bus schedule, you may have to wait as long as an hour (usually less) for a bus. I personally prefer St. Paul de Vence over Eze, but both are well worth a visit. For both villages, you will take a train to a near by station, and a bus to the village itself. If you want more info, please let me know.
A visit to St. Paul or Eze is certainly doable in the time you have, but both might be too much. A stop in Cannes is also possible, depending on how much time you spend in either village. I would take a train from Villefrance to the nearest train station and either bus or taxi to the village. You may need to call ahead for a taxi to meet you at the station. I travel in October and have not noticed taxis at the train station for either village. You are traveling during the season, however, when taxis may be more plentiful. Perhaps some other travelers can give you more info.
|||
Go to raileurope.com for train schedules. There are several stations in Villefranche; perhaps another traveler can let you know which one is closest to the port.
For Eze, you will travel to Eze Bord de Mer, for St. Paul, Cagnes sur Mer.
|||
Since you are arriving on Sunday, your best bet may be a taxi. Public transportation does not run as frequently on Sunday.
For the bus, you can walk up to the main road (basse corniche) where you can catch a bus into Nice and transfer to another bus for St. Paul de Vence. You can also take it going the opposite direction to Monaco and Menton. This is bus 100 and runs pretty often.
For the train, there is one station which is located near the beach area across the harbor. The trains run about once an hour and not all trains stop at VSM. You can not take it to St Paul de Vence but you can go to Cagnes sur Mer and then bus or taxi from there. Or you can take it to Cannes.
Eze is closer but harder to get to by public transportation on Sunday. Eze sur Bord is *not* the village and Eze sur Bord is actually located along the sea. Eze Village is perched high up and the train does not go to Eze Village. It is a steep and long trail (2km) between the two. There is a infrequent bus (once every hour or two) that runs between the two Ezes. Typically you get to Eze by going into Nice and transferring to another bus to EZE but it does not run on Sunday so a taxi from VSM will probably be your best option. I don%26#39;t know the cost.
Personally, with only 8 hours, I would explore Villefrance and go to Nice. There is lots to see in Vieux Nice. You can also visit the museums. It is not difficult to get into Nice by bus although the buses are very crowded and it can be a bit difficult getting on. I%26#39;ve missed the bus once or twice in Nice on Sundays because I wasn%26#39;t aggressive enough boarding.
|||
I would strongly advise you to go to Eze rather than St Paul as it is much closer to Villefranche. I prefer Eze, others prefer St Paul but they are quite similar. Eze has much the better views.
You can get bus 100 or 81 to Nice and then bus 82 to Eze. On a Sunday morning the 82 leaves Nice at 8.30, 10.00 and 11.30 and takes about 20 minutes to the village. You can see the timetable for buses to Eze at eze-riviera.com
A taxi from Villefranche to Eze will only take about 15 minutes. Most people consider Nice to be a great deal more interesting than Cannes.
|||
Forget Cannes, Nice is far more interesting and reachable by bus or train in no time at all. As mentioned Eze is closer although why not go to Cap Ferrat and Beaulieu Sur Mer? There is plenty to see and do locally and also some good beaches where you can chill out.
|||
-:- Message from TripAdvisor staff -:-
This topic was inactive for 6 months and has been closed to new posts. We hope you'll join the conversation by posting to an open topic or starting a new one.
To review the TripAdvisor Forums Posting Guidelines, please follow this link: http://www.tripadvisor.com/pages/forums_posting_guidelines.html
We remove posts that do not follow our posting guidelines, and we reserve the right to remove any post for any reason.
Removed on: 7:19 am, September 30, 2009
No comments:
Post a Comment