If you’ve decided to add the South of France, also known as the French Riviera, to your next trip itinerary you’re likely wondering how to start planning. I spent 3 days in Nice, France before heading off to other destinations in Europe and had the absolute best time! I’ve put together this ultimate guide of where to stay, what to see, and what to do in order to have the perfect trip.
There are many places to base yourself in when you visit the South of France. Obviously, in this post, I will be talking about an ideal trip itinerary if you are staying in Nice as your home base.
How To Get To Nice
When I visited Nice, I actually flew into Milan Malpensa airport (MXP) and took a train to Nice because we were planning to visit destinations in Italy after spending time in Nice. If you’re also visiting Nice from a different city you can book your trains HERE. Omio is the only website I use to book trains in Europe.
Booking my roundtrip flight out of Milan made my exit from Europe easier. You can also fly to the Nice airport, which is located very close to the city.
I do a lot of my travel on my own, but this was a special trip because my mom and I traveled together. You can watch the vlog from our trip below!
During my 3 days in Nice, I visited Éze, Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, and Antibes. Like most destinations, I wish we had a few more days here. There were countless other towns in the area that we were told to visit but we did not have the time. I will definitely be coming back to the South of France to explore more!
Where We Stayed in Nice
For our four nights and three full days in Nice, we stayed in this Airbnb. This is more than I would usually spend when traveling on my own, but since I was with my mom, we splurged a little more on accommodations.
This Airbnb was in an excellent location! Old Town Nice was about a 15-20 minute walk and the beach was closer to 10-15 minutes. We were also located next to a great metro and bus stop.
Nice had some of the nicest underground metros I’ve ever seen. Paris does too now that I think about it. Maybe it’s a French thing? Regardless, I love it.
I typically opt for hostels when I am on my own to save money and meet other travelers. When booking hostels, I use Hostelworld.com. I’ve booked hostels all over the world from this website and they’re very reliable. Be sure to read the reviews before booking and if you’re a female, I’d recommend booking a bed in a female-only dorm.
Day One: Nice & Éze
On your first of your 3 days in Nice, you should definitely spend some time walking around Old Town Nice! Old Town Nice was so unique and reminded me of some of the towns in Tuscany with their old architecture and pedestrian-only plazas. I could’ve spent weeks wandering these winding streets! Old Town Nice really comes alive at night.
After spending a few hours here getting lost and popping in and out of restaurants and stores, make your way south to the coast. Once you leave the walls of Old Town Nice, you just have to cross the main road to get to the beaches.
Honestly, you can spend a whole day just exploring Nice and it’s beach clubs! If we had more time, we would have carved out a whole day for this. We explored Nice more and more each day since it was our home base, and it did feel like enough time.
An Afternoon in Éze
After lunch, take an Uber or bus to the medieval hilltop town of Éze.
This town is an absolute must-see when you’re in the South of France! It’s very small and only requires a half day or so, but it’s completely worth the visit.
Your Uber or bus will only be able to drop you off at the bottom of the hill since no cars are allowed in the city. Expect a steep hill climb almost immediately!
We started the afternoon at Les Ramparts.
This restaurant was very expensive. We only stopped here because we wanted to experience the view and enjoy one drink. For context, we visited in early September after lunch on a weekday and we had no problem getting a spot for the two of us at the bar with this unobstructed view.
We spent close to an hour here and ordered one small appetizer. Les Ramparts was very pricey, but the view was worth it.
For lunch, we ate at Delí. This restaurant was one of my favorite meals in France. If you’re in Éze you absolutely have to stop here! Delí was much more affordable than the other options in Éze and the food was incredible, as you can see.
They base their menu on the local oils that they have in season. With each meal, they serve a side of their in-season oil to enjoy! You can see one oil next to the olives and one oil between the wine glasses. Seriously so good!
Exploring Éze feels like wandering through a made-up fairytale land. It’s easy to get lost in this village. My Google Maps barely knew which road I was on at all times, which made it hard for us to find our way out.
Getting lost in Éze was all part of the fun. We stumbled in and out of some of the most unique shops and into plazas with live music, all while overlooking the French coast.
This last image is of the most magical live music that we were fortunate enough to see on our way out of Éze. I captured a long video of this in my YouTube vlog if you’d like to see it!
On our way out of Éze, our Uber driver stopped along the way to show us a few sunset views. We had him drop us off at Le Plongeoir instead of our Airbnb in Nice. We wanted to see if we would be able to get lucky with a table (we didn’t) and then we walked back to our Airbnb as the sun went down which was an unexpected highlight of the trip.
Day Two: Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat
This day was the highlight of my time in The South of France. We probably never would have come here, but I saw it on TikTok from one of my favorite travel influencers. I’ll find the video and link it here because I found it so helpful! If you have 3 days in Nice, definitely add this unique adventure to your list!
We woke up in Nice, had a small breakfast, and took an Uber to Paloma Beach to kick off our day in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat. We wore our swimsuits under our clothes and packed beach bags. This day was perfect!
At Paloma Beach you can either pay for a bed at the beach club or lay out on the public portion of the beach (to the right) for free which is what we did.
Okay, so from Paloma Beach, you can follow a walking trail that takes you all the way to Plage Passable. This was our original plan, but it ended up being so hot and the walk was much further than we realized.
We followed the trail from Paloma Beach to Plage des Fossettes, which covered the smaller portion of the peninsula. From there, we cut through the peninsula to Plage Passable. We took the shortcut.
Once we arrived at Plage Passable, the day instantly became peaceful, relaxing, and blissful. We paid for two beach chairs. We paid 55 Euros per chair for the rest of the day. The chairs became more expensive as you got closer to the front row. 100+ Euros for a beach chair is definitely pricey, but this was something we wanted to experience, and we knew that this was our one day to do it!
There is a public beach section right next to the beach club that you can enjoy for free.
This experience was completely worth the money and we both would do it all over again. This beach club is super private due to its location. The water is some of the clearest and most calm water I’ve ever swam in. Looking back on this day, it was one of the highlights of our entire trip.
If you only have 3 days in Nice, it’s worth it to spend half of a day experiencing a beach club like this one.
From here, we called an Uber back to our Airbnb in Nice.
Day Three: Antibes
To perfectly wrap up your 3 days in Nice, spend your last day exploring the historic and picturesque town of Antibes.
The train rides to nearby towns like Antibes, Menton, Cannes, and Monaco are very easy, cheap, and fast rides. We were here in early September and the train stations were pretty chaotic, but not as bad as the peak summer months.
If you know what time you’re planning to hop down to Antibes, book your train online a few hours before. By the time we got to the station, the next few trains departing from the Nice train station were sold out. We only had to wait about 30 minutes for a train, but if we had booked the ticket online that morning, we could have walked right on.
Another thing to note is that the ticket kiosks at the train station were a nightmare. Many foreign travelers could not figure out how to work them or buy their tickets, causing the lines to be incredibly long. Some kiosks were not working at all.
I guess this is another reason to book your tickets in advance! When it’s a 10-15 minute train ride like this, I typically don’t plan ahead, but given the busy season that we were in, we should have.
Antibes is jaw-dropping. Walking around the yachts in the harbor and entering the walls of Old Town Antibes is a magical experience.
After wandering the streets of Antibes for a few hours, both inside and outside of the ancient city walls, we spent some time at the public beach. This beach was called Plage de la Gravette. We packed our swimsuits for this day trip knowing that we would likely try to find a beach to sit at.
The beach was slightly crowded, and some hecklers were trying to sell us umbrellas and towels, but overall it was very enjoyable. I would highly recommend checking this beach out if you’d like to see a public beach in Antibes.
After this, we caught the train back to Nice to end our stay in the beautiful French Riviera. The next morning, we left for Milan! More on that soon… 🙂
Is The French Riviera Worth It?
We all know that certain locations can be extremely overhyped. Through my years of spending extensive time in Europe, Nice and the French Riviera were never high on my list. If it wasn’t for this trip with my mom, I’m not sure I would’ve gone out of my way to see the South of France this early in my lifetime. So, did it live up to the hype?
Nice and The French Riviera are completely worth the trip. I wish made more of an effort to see this area of the world sooner! I also wish we had two or three more days here to explore the neighboring towns. The sunshine, the coastlines, the architecture, the history, the art, the food… everything! If you’re thinking about making the trip, do it.
With the ease of the train that runs from town to town here, there is so much to see and do. No matter which town you decide to choose as your home base, you will have the sunshine and salt water-drenched trip of a lifetime.
