The south of France (aka the French Riviera) and Monte Carlo, Monaco are even more beautiful than the pictures portray. Having the chance to see the smallest country, the Vatican and the second smallest country, Monaco, on the same vacation was incredible. The people in Monte Carlo were super friendly and the views from the Prince’s Palace of the coast and all of the incredible yachts were surreal. The train system between the port city of Villefranche-sur-Mer, Monte Carlo and Nice was extremely easy to navigate, inexpensive and the train stations were walkable into the heart of each city. Our second port city, Sète, was another easy “do-it-yourself” stop. Did I mention we did all of this with our 6 month old baby?! These stops were part of our week long Mediterranean cruise on Pullmantur. Check out this trip report as well as our time in Barcelona, Italy and London!
Overview
- Villefranche-sur-Mer (Saturday, April 13, 2019) – Monte Carlo (Monaco) and Nice
- Sète (Sunday, April 14, 2019) – Some use this as the gateway to Carcassonne (the walled castle), but we used the day to explore this seaside fishing town.
Our boat arrived to Villefranche-sur-Mer and we learned that we needed to tender into port. This means you go from the cruise ship onto a smaller boat that serves like a ferry to get you to the walkable town. Luckily, it also meant we had a gorgeous view of the coast from our cruise ship and also one from the smaller vessel. The only downside was it meant we had to queue when the cruise ship gave the “all clear” before we could start our day of exploring. But as they say in France, c’est la vie!
Monte Carlo, Monaco
Getting to Monte Carlo from the port city of Villefranche was super easy because it is extremely well marked on the way to the little train terminal. Because a cruise ship was in port, there were many people ready to help us purchase our tickets who spoke a variety of languages. It was less than $4 to get our ticket to Monaco and less than a 20 minute ride (which ran about every half hour) with only three stops (Beaulieu-sur-Mer, Eze, Cap-d’Ail) before we would exit at Monte Carlo. I used this site to look up times before our trip: https://www.thetrainline.com/ . It’s hard to believe we planned trips before the internet!
Monte Carlo is also well signed and super clean. We followed the signs to the famous Casino first, knowing that many pre-booked excursions head here. On the walk, there are tons of high end jewelry stores (Carré d’Or). We enjoyed the picture opportunities in Casino Square then went in to the Casino lobby. It’s free to enter the lobby and they had a separate line for men and women. There are some amazing red dice in the lobby which make for a great photo op. After a few pictures (you have to pay to enter more than the lobby), we headed to the back side of the casino where we enjoyed a walk overlooking the water on our way to the Formula 1 race track that hosts the Monaco Grand Prix every May.
The weather was warm with a Mediterranean breeze. On our self-made walking tour, we got directions from the race track to Place d’Armes. This lovely square had an indoor and outdoor food market called Marché de La Condamine. While we didn’t have a chance to try it, I read somewhere that “Barbagiuan”, which is a deep fried pastry stuffed with Swiss chard and ricotta is popular in Monaco. We crossed the street and followed the signs to Port de Fontvielle. We cut through the humungous Fontvielle Shopping Center on the way there. We lollygagged along the boardwalk where we could see a ridiculous number of yachts and dream about our retirement to a place like this! In order to get what we believed would be the best view of the city, we followed the signs that took us up to the Prince’s Palace (be prepared for a steep, but not too lengthy walk). We made it just in time to see the changing of the guards (occurred at 11:55 am), which drew quite the crowd. We wandered the narrow streets lined with food and gift shops and mostly, stopped to enjoy the unparalleled view of the coast, yachts and heavenly place we were in!
We made our way back to the train station, bought our tickets from a machine and took the train about 25 minutes to Nice, France (we passed by Villefranche-sur Mer, where we started).
Nice, France
The Nice train station was pretty large and the tourist site has good maps. We exited the train station, hung a left, passed the Basilique Notre-Dame de l’Assomption and then turned right onto the Avenue Jean Médecin. This is the main street and you’ll notice the black and white tiled walkways. This street is lined with shopping options and is a straight shot into old town (Vielle Ville) Nice.
We didn’t have much of a plan for this city other than to wander and see what we could. Along the main street, we watched the water display before we found Cours Saleya, a lovely market in old town where I bought a small bag of lavender for ½ a euro. We walked to the beach, which was rocky, instead of sandy. There were many people sunbathing and relaxing. While we didn’t walk the entire 7 km (less than 4.5 miles), we really loved the Promenade des Anglais. After seeing tons of gelato places, I finally found one with lavender (yum!) and indulged.
On our walk, we found an adorable independent bookstore called Librairie Masséna and I was able to find a book for Addy with vibrant pictures. It made for a great souvenir and it will be a good test of my French as I try to read it to Addy. From here we grabbed a cappuccino and sat at an outdoor café before making our return journey to Villefranche and our cruise ship. Fortunately the train ride was less than 10 minutes and under $3.
If you stay in Villefranche or have additional time, here are a few places I had on my list that you may want to check out: Saint Elme Citadel, St Michel Church, St Pierre Chapel, Rothschild Estate and Gardens and Rue Obscure (Dark Street).
Sète, France
This city is a working fishing port city known for its series of canals (like a mini Venice) where you can find water jousting in the summer. We found the local tourist site to be extremely helpful for getting an overview of the city and what there was to see: https://en.tourisme-sete.com/sete-cruise-passengers-information.html. After taking the free bus to the port entrance, we walked to the central market called Les Halles on Boulevard Gambetta (opens at 6 am). Inside a really nice vendor gave me a free “nazette”, which is like a little oblong table biscuit. I really wanted to try a “zezette” or a “nazette” at Crèmerie Lou Pastrou, a shop next to Les Halles, but they had extremely limited hours on Sunday (9 am – 12:15 pm).
We made our ascent up Mont St. Clair (about 600 feet tall and the highest point in Sète). On our way, we found lots of amazing street art. The view from the top was incredible and it was great to do this first thing before it got too warm out. There is a huge cross at the top and also a fisherman’s church called Notre Dame de la Salette. This church is unlike any we had ever seen before – it’s small, but has unique paintings inside on every wall. There’s also a building next door where nuns live and you’re allowed to climb to the top for an even better view!
From here, we made our way down to Pierres Blanches National Pine Forest. It’s lovely to have so much green space in the middle of a city. We wandered a few paths and enjoyed views of the Mediterranean and Thau lagoon (Étang de Thau) before we started heading back to the rest of the city. We took a nice long walk along the water that eventually got us to the Théâtre de la Mer (we could only see the outside) and the Cimitière Marin, which is a beautiful cemetery with decorations on the headstones and the Mediterranean as the backdrop.
As we continued our walk we could see the Lighthouse of Mole Saint Louis at the end of a narrow peninsula (we didn’t go up it, but it’s around 3 euros to climb it). Nearby, we climbed some steps to Quartier Haut which also boasted some beautiful street art and views of the lighthouse (some say this area reminds them of a Little Naples). We made it back to Les Halles for a different experience since it was bustling with people compared to the early morning. We wandered through other streets, found a pop up market and wandered the canals searching for more street art along the way. This city was the perfect end to our cruise experience and I would highly recommend a half day or day in this city.
While we did not go here, I read good things about the International Museum of Modest Art (MIAM) in Sète. Many people on our cruise went to Carcassonne (UNESCO World Heritage site), which is about 80 minutes away and is a walled castle. We opted not to go here because there seemed to be enough to do in Sète and because it was going to be challenging to “do-it-ourselves” in the amount of time we had at port.
Thank you!
Thank you for checking out the France and Monaco portion of our Mediterranean cruise and European adventure! Do you get the article title now? We hope you’ll take a few minutes to browse our other trips or read about our time in London, Barcelona and nearby Girona (great stop for Game of Thrones fans) and our ports in Italy. Be sure to follow us on Instagram! Until our next adventure!
I’m sure you can see why we fell in love with Monaco (cover image)! | TeamTravelsBaby
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