It’s been two months and I still catch myself day dreaming about the French Riviera! I was lucky enough to make a 3 day trip there with my mom and grandmother during the month of June. This was the perfect time and location for a girl’s weekend away!
We flew into the Nice Côte d’Azur International Airport — and immediately grabbed a 10 minute Uber ride to our AirBnb, just a few blocks north of the promenade.
- The Nice airport is very small and conveniently located — we were already checked into our AirBnb just 30 minutes after landing!!
- Nice is the only city in the French Riviera where Uber is available.
Day 1:
Emilie and the Cool Kids was our first stop for a late brunch. Although they advertise as a “cookie and coffee shop” — they have delicious breakfast bagels and an assortment of other breakfast treats and drinks.
With full bellies, we strolled through the Cours Saleya Flea Market — *only on Monday*. But on every other day of the week, you will find an extensive food and flower market in the same location.
After admiring antiques that we had no room in our bags for — we couldn’t wait to take in a view of that blue, Mediterranean coast line!
We took the (free) elevator ride up to Colline du Chateau, also known as Castle Hill or Castle of Nice. This park sits just high enough for you to take in a beautiful view of the ocean as well as the port! (There are also stairs if you want to hike up.)
After what already seemed like a full day of exploring and finding our bearings, we settled into La Tapenade for an early dinner. This restaurant is located right off a busy street in Nice and was a great place to grab a first night’s dinner.
After dinner, gelato from Fenocchio is a must. They have 2 locations and more gelato flavors than you can even imagine. Eating it while you stroll back ‘home’ is even sweeter 🙂
Day 2:
On Day 2, we boarded the Trans Cote Azur to ‘cruise’ from Nice to St. Tropez. We boarded at the Quai Lunel Port at 9:00 AM and arrived at Quai Guepratte in St. Tropez by 11:30 AM.
Although this wasn’t exactly a short boat ride — it was certainly an easy and affordable way for us to travel along the French Riviera and take in the sights. You can also choose to go to other locations, such as Cannes. I would definitely recommend the trip all the way to St. Tropez, as long as you don’t mind spending 5 hours on a boat that day!
Once we were in St. Tropez we searched high and low for a taxi to take us out to Le Club 55. Although this iconic beach club wasn’t exactly convenient for us to get to… it was worth it!
Le Club 55 opened in 1955 and has been a popular place for regular beach bums and even famous movie stars ever since. Sadly, we didn’t get to meet anyone famous but we did enjoy the house white wine, sole fish, and legumes salad — and sticking our feet in the sand! (Reservation recommended — $$$$)
After taking a taxi back to the heart of town (we went ahead and reserved the same taxi that originally brought us) we spent an hour strolling around the open air market, Places des Lices.
After more shopping, exploring and watching the matches come in, we grabbed crepes from Creperie Grand Mariner, and then headed back to the Port.
Our boat was scheduled to leave St. Tropez at 4:30 PM — which got us back to Nice at 7:00 PM.
Although we only had 4 hours to spend in St. Tropez, I feel like we were able to see and do a lot. We would have liked to spend time at the beach — but we traded the extra time there for time sailing the ocean!
Once we safely made it back to Nice — we explored Vieille Ville (the old town) and Place Rosetti, before making it to our dinner reservation Comptoir du Marche.
This was my favorite meal of the trip. The restaurant itself is packed yet super charming, and the modern, French food is some of the best I’ve ever had — especially the tart for dessert! 😉
Day 3:
Our 3rd and final day in Nice was a beach day! Nice is stocked with private and public beach access — but we ended up at the private Blue Beach. In my opinion, it’s worth spending a little bit of money to have a comfortable chair, umbrella, and access to food and restrooms.
We also ate lunch during our time at Blue Beach and while it wasn’t anything to brag about, the service and food were both good.
If you didn’t already know, the beach in Nice doesn’t have sand, just rocks! Hence, the need for a comfortable chair.
By late afternoon, we got freshened up and decided to catch a train to Monaco for the evening.
The train ride from Nice to Monaco was really easy and enjoyable — but once we arrived we were informed that there were train strikes the rest of the night and it might be difficult for us to get back.
This was definitely stressful — as Uber isn’t available in Monaco and it would have been a pretty penny for us to take a cab back to Nice.
We ended up only having time to grab a quick dinner at Caffe Milano — which was offering happy hour prices on drinks and specialty pizzas. For a quick change in plans, this restaurant ended up being a great surprise!
Since there was only one train guaranteed to return to Nice that evening — we ending up catching it immediately after dinner. Ideally, we would have had a few more hours to explore Monaco and Monte Carlo after dinner — but sometimes plans change.
Apparently strikes are very common in this area — best to ask about them beforehand!
We initially thought our final night on the French Riviera was a huge fail — but we decided to make the most of it by grabbing another gelato and enjoying the sunset from the Nice promenade and beach. It ended up being one of the most spectacular sunsets I’ve ever seen… and I got to experience it with two of my favorite people!
Turns out it wasn’t a fail at all 🙂
life as Fine 