Monte Carlo

[mlovestennis]

Good Morning! We are going on the Quest cruise to the Rivera May 15th....we wanted to sign up for a tour of Monte Carlo but those have been taken away from your website.....we know it's a few days before the grand prix.....how can we STILL see Monte Carlo??????? Would you recommend another land tour company to provide us a 1/2 day tour of MC? That was one of the main reasons we chose this cruise.....very unhappy.:(

[dln929]

Of course you can still see Monte Carlo. There are plenty of people who visit and don't come by way of ship. Have you asked about excursions on your Roll Call? That's an excellent resource for booking private tours. There's also a Ports forum here on CC and that's another good place to ask for recommendations. TripAdvisor is also your friend. Not having a ship excursion is not the end of the world!

[BillC]

I have used Tours By Locals successfully in many overseas locations. Check their website to see what they offer in the Monte Carlo area. I specifically recommend the wonderful aquarium that is located in the Palace complex.

[Lottie A]

You really don't need a private tour to see Monte Carlo. It is perfectly doable independently and is a really small area.

 

Have a look at the excellent Tomsportguides below....an excellent resource for the independent traveller.

 

http://www.tomsportguides.com/Monaco-06-20-2012.pdf

[tgg]

You really don't need a private tour to see Monte Carlo. It is perfectly doable independently and is a really small area.

 

Have a look at the excellent Tomsportguides below....an excellent resource for the independent traveller.

 

http://www.tomsportguides.com/Monaco-06-20-2012.pdf

 

Thanks, Lottie, for posting the link. Looks like a great resource for the DIYers among us.

[Wacktle]

You really don't need a private tour to see Monte Carlo. It is perfectly doable independently and is a really small area.

 

Have a look at the excellent Tomsportguides below....an excellent resource for the independent traveller.

 

http://www.tomsportguides.com/Monaco-06-20-2012.pdf

 

 

Hi - Thanks Lottie. We're also on the May 15 cruise. Somebody else suggested Tom's guide to Monte Carlo - not sure who or where! I've downloaded it. There's very detailed information, with maps, about how to access the city when the GP's barriers are up. I'm hoping we will be able to see all we want to see, and on foot.

[squidf]

You really don't need a private tour to see Monte Carlo. It is perfectly doable independently and is a really small area.

 

Have a look at the excellent Tomsportguides below....an excellent resource for the independent traveller.

 

http://www.tomsportguides.com/Monaco-06-20-2012.pdf

 

How have I never heard of this guy before? Thank you for a great link.

Frank

[Lottie A]

You are all very welcome! Glad you find them useful.

 

Tom spends many hours updating and maintaining his free guides and you can rely on his information to be accurate and up to date. He will often update a guide if he knows there are new roadworks or a bus stop location changes, for example. This is particularly important when it comes to Bus and Train timetables.

 

I refer to his guides often and I think they are invaluable to the more independent traveller.

[koalapanda]

Monte Carlo is best seen via the local buses. We have departed and returned from Monte Carlo quite a few times in the past years on Azamara & other Cruises. It will cost you a couple of Euro for the whole day. You can hop on and off and the buses and never have to wait long for you next leg of your own private tour. Lovely buses comfy and air conditioned. With a good map in hand and some background history you can see half inthe morning return to the ship for lunch and a small siesta and see the other half in the afternoon.

[Wacktle]

Monte Carlo is best seen via the local buses. We have departed and returned from Monte Carlo quite a few times in the past years on Azamara & other Cruises. It will cost you a couple of Euro for the whole day. You can hop on and off and the buses and never have to wait long for you next leg of your own private tour. Lovely buses comfy and air conditioned. With a good map in hand and some background history you can see half inthe morning return to the ship for lunch and a small siesta and see the other half in the afternoon.

 

Hi. Any hints about which local buses, i.e. numbers, destinations? My French is worse than rusty, so I'd struggle to ask.

[cruzers j&n]

We visited Monte Carlo while on Oceania's Marina in May 2012 and used Dream Tours for a half day tour covering mainly Eze, St. Paul de Vence, and Nice (Revelation Tours was also popular on the Oceania CC forum but were more expensive). I thought Dream Tours did a decent job (and so did others in my group), however, you should be aware that I had to book over a year in advance as they were one of the most popular tour providers at the time. If you contact them and they do not have availability, do not get discouraged. Their guide, while very good at providing info about the locales, just dropped us off to wander around once we arrived at the villages as they are an attraction in themselves. So in other words, as long as you can get transportation to these charming villages, I don't think you'll miss alot if you can't get a private guide.

 

 

Also worth noting...when we went, many of the main roads were blocked as a result of the upcoming Grand Prix. This made what could have been a fairly straightforward walking path into a complex maze of various paths, plus parts of Monte Carlo were quite hilly. We were 40's/30's so could easily navigate these streets, however, we noticed many of the older guests struggling to get around, so much so that they had to return to the ship or rely on tours to bus them around as it was too difficult for them to navigate independently.

 

Hope this info helps!:)

[Spursgirl]

Hi. Any hints about which local buses, i.e. numbers, destinations? My French is worse than rusty, so I'd struggle to ask.

 

The 100 bus takes you to Menton one way and to the beautiful city of Nice the other way.

 

It takes 55 minutes to Nice and costs 1 euro each way. We think it's the best bargain on the Riviera.

[Wacktle]

The 100 bus takes you to Menton one way and to the beautiful city of Nice the other way.

 

It takes 55 minutes to Nice and costs 1 euro each way. We think it's the best bargain on the Riviera.

 

Thanks SpursGirl and also cruzers j&n for the info.

 

Nice is our final port-of-call and, as our flight home isn't until nearly 7pm, we will have a day to kill there after disembarking. (We are hoping to take the included transfer to the airport and use their left luggage, and then get a bus back into Nice. If anyone has any advice on this, I'd be grateful?)

 

Also, we've never been to Monte Carlo, so want to see what we can there rather than get a bus out. I'd misunderstood about the buses and thought that the info was about local Monte Carlo buses. So, we'll use Tom's guide and walk as much as we can.