Nice + Riviera in 4 Days on a Budget
Four Days in Nice: Stacking Two Coastal Stops Instead of One
At three days you get one trip out on the train (see the 3-day version for the fork between Villefranche, Eze, and Monaco). At four, you get two, and the smarter move isn’t repeating the same short hop twice, it’s combining two towns on the same line into a single day, then giving the third, more involved stop its own full day.
Book these before you go
- An apartment rental in Vieux Nice for four nights, worth pricing against a hotel: check options on Booking.com .
- Skip-the-queue Matisse or Chagall tickets for Day 2: search GetYourGuide .
- A Monaco day tour for Day 4: browse Viator .
| Day | Stop(s) | One-way fare | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | Villefranche + Eze-sur-Mer | under EUR 10 round trip combined | Two towns, one line |
| 4 | Monaco | roughly EUR 7 | Full day, sovereign country |
Is 4 days enough to fit two Nice day trips?
Yes. Two full days cover Nice itself, a third day combines Villefranche and Eze on the same rail line, and a fourth gives Monaco the full day it deserves rather than a rushed half-visit. For a third day trip added onto this same four days in the city, see the 5-day version .
Quick arrival note
Tram Line 2, EUR 1.70 a single fare (not the EUR 10 the machines at the terminal default to), 20 to 30 minutes to the center; full walkthrough in the 2-day version . Four nights is enough to justify pricing an apartment rental in Vieux Nice against a hotel, a kitchen for breakfast starts paying for itself by night three or four.
Days 1 to 2: Nice itself
Day 1: Vieux Nice, Cours Saleya market, socca at Chez Pipo, the Promenade, Castle Hill at sunset via the free lift.
Day 2: Cimiez in the morning, the Matisse Museum (EUR 12) paired with the adjoining monastery gardens and Roman arena, all a five to ten minute walk apart; add Chagall (EUR 8 to 10) in the same trip if you want both major collections rather than Matisse alone. Skip MAMAC, still closed for renovation until 2028. Afternoon at Place Massena or the beach.
Day 3: Villefranche, then up to Eze
Take the train to Villefranche-sur-Mer first, under 10 minutes, a couple of euros, and spend the morning in its Old Town and around the deep natural harbor. From Villefranche’s own station, the next eastbound train on the same line continues to Eze-sur-Mer, a few minutes further (service on this stretch runs roughly every 15 to 30 minutes through the day, check before you plan a tight connection). From Eze-sur-Mer it’s a steep climb up the Chemin de Nietzsche path or bus 83 to the actual perched village 427m above the coast; no train reaches the hilltop village itself, a detail that catches out a lot of first-time visitors expecting the train to drop them at the top. Do the climb outside midday heat if you’re there in summer. Total rail cost for the day stays under EUR 10 round trip for both legs, cheap for two towns in one outing.
Day 4: Monaco, on its own
Monaco gets its own day rather than a stacked half-visit, it’s a sovereign country, not a Nice neighborhood, and it rewards a full walk of the Rock, the harbor, and the palace grounds rather than a rushed look from the train platform. 20 to 25 minutes each way, roughly EUR 7 one-way if booked ahead on SNCF Connect . Casino de Monte-Carlo entry needs a passport, a dress code, and 18-plus; skip the interior and just walk the plaza out front if none of that appeals to you. Back in Nice for a final dinner somewhere you haven’t tried yet.
Before you go
Both day-trip days involve more than one train leg; keep your ticket or app confirmation handy for each segment rather than assuming one fare covers the whole day, it doesn’t. Five days adds a third trip on top of these two: see the 5-day version for how Antibes and Cannes fit in.