Excursions in Cannes and St Tropez

[sjde]

We'll have 13-14 hours in each of these on our April cruise. Are the 3 hour walking tours worth it for $37 and $71, or is this something we can easily do on our own?

[Hlitner]

We'll have 13-14 hours in each of these on our April cruise. Are the 3 hour walking tours worth it for $37 and $71, or is this something we can easily do on our own?

 

I guess it depends on your personal preference. For us, any walking tour is an easy way to throw away some good money and become part of a herd. In Cannes, you would save some money by taking the Petite Train (this is about an hour tour in a little train-like vehicle) to get the lay of the land. You can then simply walk about on your own. As to St Tropez....we would recommend skipping a local walking tour and looking at some other excursion options that might be of interest. Taking a walking tour of an aging sea resort is not my idea of fun....but of course you will have a guide who might tell you tales of how Bridget Bardot used to visit the city.

 

Hank

[sjde]

Thank you--that's very helpful.

 

I just realized the tour does include a bit more-the port of Ponche, church of the 18th century, Hill of the Citadel, Place des Lices and a drink and appetizers. Would that change your mind?

 

Still, the other tours look interesting too. Do you have an opinion about any of these?

 

Grimaud--Little Venice

 

Ramatuelle & Wine Tasting at La Croix Valmer

 

Villages & Tea Time--Gassin & Ramatuelle

[calvin81]

What would you suggest we do away from St. Tropez? We spend a day in Monaco, Cannes and Marseille as well. From Monaco we are planning to go to Eze and Cap Ferrat, from Cannes either renting a car to go to St. Paul or taking the train to Antibes or Nice (opinion either way?), but St. Tropez doesn't offer any obvious options. We're in port until 10 p.m. and that's a long time to look at a cute village.

[llarsen]

calvin81- sounds like you might be on the same as our Oct 9 itinerary, are you by chance sailing on Oceania? We start in Barcelona, Marseille, St Tropez, Cannes, Monaco, also Italy- Livorno, La Spezia, Sorrento and Amalfi.

 

I'm also still searching for something for St Tropez...

[Cshgrand]

Thank you--that's very helpful.

 

I just realized the tour does include a bit more-the port of Ponche, church of the 18th century, Hill of the Citadel, Place des Lices and a drink and appetizers. Would that change your mind?

 

Still, the other tours look interesting too. Do you have an opinion about any of these?

 

Grimaud--Little Venice

 

Ramatuelle & Wine Tasting at La Croix Valmer

 

Villages & Tea Time--Gassin & Ramatuelle

 

Grimaud is a lovely place to pass time but to make a day of it, I would suggest visiting Port Grimaud and then taking the little land train up to Grimaud village where you get a better feel of more provincial France in terms of the architecture. You can take the train from Praries de la mer campsite just outside the walls of the port.

The Port has lots of nice cafes and the village many little art and craft shops. You can also see the original fortitude. I should remember market day in the port but struggling to. I think it's Wednesday and Sunday morning.

You can reach port Grimaud by ease using a water taxi from st Tropez (which given road traffic in the area is the safest bet for a self guided tour).

 

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[Cshgrand]

The other thing I would say is that if you are in port until 10pm, the early evening would be a lovely time to spend a couple of hours exploring st Tropez. It's great to get an ice cream or coffee in a seafront cafe and watch the comings and goings from the beautiful boats. Shops open late too.

 

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[calvin81]

llarsen: yes we are on the same Oceania cruise, only in June -- too bad not the same one as our Roll Call is dreadfully quiet! I made some notes yesterday and decided St. Tropez will most likely be a day to look around the port town a bit, and then relax on the ship. With such a busy itinerary we'll need a day to rest. I found a link to a Provence web site on this board: : http://www.provenceweb.fr/e/var/sttropez/sttropez.htm and wasn't too interested in what they showed. If the web site can't make Grimaud and other towns look interesting, I don't think it's worth an expensive cab ride in potentially bad traffic. A good day to have dinner reservations at one of the restaurants :).

[llarsen]

I will be interested in hearing about your cruise when you return.

I'm trying to plan this one port at a time, and still working on France. But do you know what you are doing in the Italy ports?

We have always cruised the Caribbean and South Pacific, so Europe is new to us and I'm so confused! lol

[calvin81]

I'm also chipping away at it port by port. We cruised twice in Europe with Oceania before and it is so important to plan ahead IMO. We met plenty of people who had no idea what to do or how to get to anything. I know many people cruise for the onboard experience and don't care if they get off the ship, but I choose the cruise based on the itinerary. We have been to Rome before so are only getting there one day early. We'll take the train ourselves to get to the ship -- we are very independent travelers. In Sorrento we plan to take the ferry to Capri, and don't plan to see the Blue Grotto -- daughter gets sick on small boats sometimes. I'm trying to drum up interest on the roll call to share a driver/private tour for Amalfi. It's a short day in port and traffic can be awful in the summer. Buses sometimes are full according to Rick Steves. We've also been to Florence, so will take the train to Lucca, stopping in Pisa on the way back to see the tower briefly. I copied numerous notes from the ports forum on Cinque Terre -- we plan to take the ferry to the furthest town and take trains and/or hike back. In Monaco we'll take a bus to Eze, then a different bus to Cap Ferrat after seeing Eze, then take the bus back to Monaco and tour that later in the day. That will be a long day, but it's the most convenient to those two places. Long day in port thankfully. And as I said in another post, we'll take the train to Nice from Cannes. Thank goodness for the port forums and Rick Steves' book! Your cruise is further out than ours, but what do you have planned in the various ports? I probably gave you more info than you were interested in :o.

[llarsen]

Oh no, I'm very interested in what you have planned.

This is what we have so far, but nothing seems concrete yet.

 

Marseille- Taking train to Aix-en-Provence

 

St Tropez- Can't seem to find much on this port.

 

Cannes- We were looking into renting a car, but they seem to all be manual transmission. If we don't rent a car, we will take train to Antibes, and Nice.

 

Monaco- We are there on a Sunday, so the bus doesn't run to Eze from Monaco that day. Was going to try and see it from Cannes, but thinking maybe we should grab a cab from Monaco to Eze, then take the bus from Eze to Villafranche/Cap Ferrat.

 

Livorno- our friends traveling with us (we met on our first cruise 22 years ago!) have already been to Florence and Pisa, we would like to see Lucca, little of Florence and hopefully make it to San Gimignano. Not sure how we're getting there.

 

Sorrento- going to Capri, but I would also like to see Postano and Ravello.

 

Amalfi- Will hire a private driver

 

La Spezia- Doing Cinque Terra just as you are.

 

I might need some help with the bus train stops....

[calvin81]

llarsen: We just booked a tour for the day with 4 others we met on our roll call for Amalfi. Tour of Italy -- 300 Euros for 6 or 8 (still looking for another couple) to drive to Praiano, Positano and Ravello for 5 hours. I was afraid of doing it on our own since it's a relatively short day in port. Heard of buses being full and bad traffic. We'll go to Ravello last since it's the closest to Amalfi. We hope that being off by 9 isn't a problem with the larger ship. We've only been on the R class with O before, so not sure how tendering will go with double the passengers.

[Hlitner]

Oh no, I'm very interested in what you have planned.

This is what we have so far, but nothing seems concrete yet.

 

Marseille- Taking train to Aix-en-Provence

 

.....Good Option. You can also consider the bus to Aix which leaves from just next to the train station.

 

St Tropez- Can't seem to find much on this port.

 

.....That sums it up :). But this can also be used as a "gateway" port to other places in Provence if one has a rental car or excursion.

 

Cannes- We were looking into renting a car, but they seem to all be manual transmission. If we don't rent a car, we will take train to Antibes, and Nice.

 

......True! A majority of rental cars in Europe are manual transmissions and you will pay a premium for an automatic. You probably can get an auto from Hertz or Avis...but they are a long walk from the port.

 

Monaco- We are there on a Sunday, so the bus doesn't run to Eze from Monaco that day. Was going to try and see it from Cannes, but thinking maybe we should grab a cab from Monaco to Eze, then take the bus from Eze to Villafranche/Cap Ferrat.

 

........ Our favorite Sunday place in this part of France is St Paul de Vence (even the French go there on Sundays). But getting there on a Sunday is generally best done by excursion although its possible to take the train to either Nice or Cagnes sur Mer and then take the #400 bus.

 

Livorno- our friends traveling with us (we met on our first cruise 22 years ago!) have already been to Florence and Pisa, we would like to see Lucca, little of Florence and hopefully make it to San Gimignano. Not sure how we're getting there.

 

......Not a reasonable itinerary because of the geography. Florence and Pisa are an option as is Lucca and Pisa...which can all be done via trains. But San Gimignano is best accessed by car (or a tour). We have sometimes suggested combining San Gimignano with either Volterra or Colle val d'Elsa ( a place usually missed by cruisers).

 

Sorrento- going to Capri, but I would also like to see Postano and Ravello.

 

....... Capri is best done as a full day trip but its possible to combine with Pompeii or Sorrento (but you would be rushed). Positano and Ravello are best done as a full day excursion (or rental car) to the Amalfi Coast.

 

Amalfi- Will hire a private driver

.......... If you do this your driver can take you to both Ravello and Positano

 

La Spezia- Doing Cinque Terra just as you are.

 

I might need some help with the bus train stops....

 

.....Sounds like a great trip :)

 

Hank

[nannylynn]

I guess it depends on your personal preference. For us, any walking tour is an easy way to throw away some good money and become part of a herd. In Cannes, you would save some money by taking the Petite Train (this is about an hour tour in a little train-like vehicle) to get the lay of the land. You can then simply walk about on your own. As to St Tropez....we would recommend skipping a local walking tour and looking at some other excursion options that might be of interest. Taking a walking tour of an aging sea resort is not my idea of fun....but of course you will have a guide who might tell you tales of how Bridget Bardot used to visit the city.

 

Hank

I am trying to find out if you can get on and off the train. I would be interested in that. can you please e mail me at eberger525 @ aol.com

[Hlitner]

I am trying to find out if you can get on and off the train. I would be interested in that. can you please e mail me at eberger525 @ aol.com

 

In the spirit of CC we prefer to answer questions on the boards. But in this case I can only give you info that might be out of date and hope that somebody else jumps in on the subject. When you use the regional trains (TER) along the coast you must validate your ticket before you get on the train (if the vending machine doesn't work and the ticket window is closed then you can buy it from a conductor). My understanding is that in these non-reservation trains the ticket is valid until midnight of the day after you validate the ticket which means you could get on and off at intermediate stops as long as you continue in the same direction.

 

So theoretically, you could buy a ticket from Cannes to Monte Carlo and hop off in Antibes and Nice while on your way to Monte Carlo.

 

Hank

[urlaub]

at cote d'azur there are busses everywhere. frequently and cheap. they connect all places.