Why go
A trip focused on Nice, Cannes and other rail-served towns can be planned differently from one that reaches scattered hill villages or the Esterel. The coast is linear, but inland roads are hilly and indirect, so a map’s short distance can conceal a slower journey.
The full story
Nice Airport and the coastal railway are important gateways to the French Riviera. The rail corridor links major towns, while the A8 motorway runs between the Aix-en-Provence area and the Italian border. West of Cannes it turns inland, so an A8 journey and a coastal visit may require separate local legs. Public transport is most straightforward for a sequence of larger coastal towns. A vehicle becomes more useful when the plan includes places spread across the back country, where roads are narrow, winding and hilly. Driving along the built-up coast can also be slow. The useful choice is therefore geographic: group nearby rail stops together, and reserve a car for a day whose places are poorly connected by the coastal corridor.
Useful to know
- Use rail for linked coastal town visits and check current service before travel.
- Allow extra time for inland roads; their bends and hills make straight-line distances misleading.
- Use the A8 for longer road legs when an inland scenic road is not itself part of the day.