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Popular Transportation | Miscellaneous Transportation Tips | All Tips (144)  | |  |  | Around the Riviera, take the bus! | Tip Rating:   |  |  | |  |
The easiest way to get between Nice and the main towns along the Riviera is the bus. The Gare Routiere (Bus Station) is central (Bd Jean Jaures) and buses go from here to Antibes and Cannes (Route 200), Vence (Route 400/ 410), Villefranche, Monaco and Menton (all route 100), St Jean Cap Ferat (route 81, not Sundays) and 82 or 112 for Eze Village. The "TAM" (Trans Alpes-Maritime) Route 100 Nice-Menton leaves Nice Gare Routiere every fifteen minutes on weekdays, every twenty minutes on Sundays and holidays, and costs just one euro flat fare. Buy the ticket on the bus from the driver - just name your destination and the number of passengers, offering as close to the correct fare as you can. For a small fare of 1 euro, offering a fifty Euro note doesn't always go down very well. He is not a change machine. And dont expect him or her to converse in English - mostly they don't. On the downside, the buses finish for the evening suprisingly early, mostly 8.30 pm is the last bus. Being the cheapest way to travel they become full quickly - when they are notorious for pickpocketing - and it is common to have to stand the whole journey. Compared to the train they are very slow. Cannes is over two hours by bus compared to twenty minutes on the train. However the train timetable can be very patchy - sometimes two or three close together then nothing for an hour, and with long gaps in the schedule, specially around lunchtimes and later evenings. Some of the bus drivers are clearly graduates of the Aeroflot charm school - don't expect lots of helpful advice. (Sample conversation: American lady to driver: "Is this the bus for Villa Ephrussi?" Blank look. "Can you tell us which stop to get off?" Blank. "Is it far to walk?" Blank. Lady turns to friend. "He doesn't know". Friend: "No, Myrtle. He doesn't care") Nevertheless, the bus is still often the best way to get around from Nice. Leave a Comment Theme: Bus
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| | | | The only way to avoid those ticket queues | Tip Rating: | | | | |
These blue machines are generally the only way to avoid the apalling long and slow queues at Nice Ville Gare SNCF ticket windows. The queue at the ticket windows can be 15 minutes, and is the choice of people who have problems and a dozen questions to ask to plan their journey. On some of the unmanned stations along the Riviera, they are the only way to buy a ticket. So mastering these machines is your key to the universe. Its not difficult. Firstly, as regards payment, the machine don't take notes - only coins and plastic. So all those 20 and 50 euro notes are going to be no use to you whatsoever. But the amount of coins you will need is not trivial. Billetiere machines now accept Visa and Mastercard credit cards and this is the way to go. Avoid precious debit cards as there is always a small risk of malfunction, which on holiday is one risk you don't need! The ticket part is straight forward and logical. A wheel scrolls to highlight your choices on the screen, and the button selects them. You want the "Other tickets" - not Carte Isabelle or various special passes for locals - travel either today or in the future, your destination station, second class, adult, one way or return, the number of passengers, no receipt required, in with the card, punch in PIN, collect printed ticket, retrieve card. Job Done. Advice: don't go off to the newspaper shop to beg for change - they are not a change machine, and even the "innocent" ruse of buying a trivial item and offering a twenty euro note is likely to be snubbed. For them it happens every five minutes As an alternative, French rail tickets are valid for two months, so you would be well advised to buy whatever tickets you need advance at a time when the station is not busy, and avoid all the hassle totally. Just turn up ticket in hand, validate (date stamp machines - most important!), and go. Leave a Comment Theme: Train
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| | | | French Railways | Tip Rating: | | | | |
Forget the glamorous 180mph prestige TGV high speed trains from Paris. The basic French Railways are dreadful, run for the convenience of their employees , who when not out on strike, are out to lunch. Be wary of the long break in their schedules at lunch times that can leave you cooling your heels at a station for an hour or two. If a train arrives packed with people don't assume that anyone will make room to let you get on. You can be confronted at the carriage doors by a wall of passengers who have absolutely no intention of being inconvenienced by moving up to let you on. Appeals to "move up" will fall on deaf ears. The only recourse is to physically elbow your way in. They won't like it, but so what? The late night schedule can stop early so check the times of the last trains very carefully. Better still, if you can avoid it don't travel on late evening trains on the Cannes La Bocca / Marseilles direction - the service does not have a good record on personal safety. Buying tickets has a whole lot of issues of its own. See my warnings/ dangers tips on how the avoid the worst of it. Don't think about freeloading. Though they are run inefficiently, the French railways are quite ruthless about on the spot fines. Oh and the toilets - Nice Railway station's are just awful - just don't go there! On board the trains, they are a mixed blessing. I hope I am not giving you the wrong impression of French railways - in normal daytime services, provided you are savvy about the things too avoid, the service is fairly acceptable. Its just once you stray out of that window, be prepared for things to go downhill, fast. Leave a Comment Theme: Train
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| | | | Asking for it: get your sign language right | Tip Rating: | | | | |
It's always helpful to support your communications with bus drivers and ticket clerks to be clear about what you are asking for. For a start, show some respect - don't launch into English assuming they will understand. Its just a job to them, you are in France and the language is French.. If you want two tickets to town, then of course its "deux billets", but if your french pronounciation is a bit ropey, people will reinforce the message by hand signalling "two". In some cultures like English, "two" is signalled by a "V-sign" - index and second finger. Remember that the V-sign has enormous significance in old English/ Norman French history, circa 1066. Bows and arrows were a big thing, King Harold having taken one in the eye. It was reputedly a taunt by English archers aimed at their French enemies, indicating their undiminished prowess with the bow and arrow (captured bowmen would have their string-drawing fingers amputated). Anglosaxon "one" is indicated by the index finger alone, as in "I suggest you consult your proctologist" Recipe for miscommunication. In France, "one" is signalled by the thumb, and "two" by the thumb and index finger together. For "three" add the second finger, and so on. You'll quickly find it works a treat and you get the right number every time. But as for the difference in pronunciation, in French, between "Cannes" and "Cagnes", you are on your own! Even the French have difficulty with that one. Leave a Comment Theme: Bus
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| | | | Don't think about riding without a ticket | Tip Rating: | | | | |
The French railway system will put every single imaginable obstacle in your path to buying a ticket. But don't think that will excuse you when the inspectors move through the train. In some countries, a kindly gent looks to see if you are holding something that looks vaguely like it might be a ticket, or lets you buy one one from him. These guys travel in threes, and are recruited from men thrown out of the French Foreign Legion for being "too hard". They will read the smallest of small print religiously, check the date and destination, the validation stamp you must apply to the ticket before boarding. If there is the slightest infraction, or you don't hold a ticket, you're in deep doo doo. The pens come out, forms in triplicate are solemnly completed, the spot fines up to 100 euro can be demanded in addition to the correct ticket price.Resistance is useless, or its off at the next stop accompanied to the police station. Sitting in a first class compartment with a second class ticket is heavily frowned on. Mumbling something in Swedish that sounds like an apology might, just might allow you to move without paying up for the upgrade. TGV seats are all only by reservation, and that is what you have to have to board a TGV, even if the train is self evidently empty, having completed the bulk of its journey from Lille or Paris. There are fines for ocupying a seat without reservation, though you can book a reservation if you have 20 minutes to spare at the station. Boarding a TGV without a reservation is common, I've done it myself, but the smart thing to do is stand in the corridor or around the boarding entrance - so you are not actually seated. They hire very clever people to run the railways. Unfortunately they never had a Margaret Thatcher to sort out the unions. Any whiff of reform and its out on strike, to which the government's response is to cave in immediately. Welcome to France. Leave a Comment Theme: Train
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| | | | Airpot transfers, Buses, Trains & Parking | Tip Rating: | | | | |
Nice airport is very close to the resort, making it a good choice for a short break. We caught the airport bus (3.50 euros or thereabouts) easily into the center. The bus drives along the coast and you just hop off at the nearest street to your hotel. A short trip and all very easy. The trip back to the airport was just as easy, We grabbed an airport bus on the main promenade (Promenade des Anglais), which got us back there in plenty of time. You can buy some local bus tickets from Tabacs, Tourist offices, Bus Stations but we paid for ours on the bus. Terminal 1 at Nice airport (as used by BA) is pretty drab, the shops weren't open (what shops there were) - there was no restaurant, and the flight was somewhat delayed.Grab what you need before you get into that particular terminal. Parking in Nice is apparently very tricky and costs around 10 euros per night. The town is easy to walk around (take sensible shoes as the cobbles in the old town can give you blisters!) - there isn't really much point in hiring a car unless you intend to drive to different areas of the Cote D'Azure. Even then, the trains are fantastic (can personally vouch for this) and buses good - and they are all reasonably priced. Trains leave for other coastal destinations and cities from the main Nice railway station. There are different styles of trains and various pricing systems (which can be a little confusing). You can book a train journey in a travel agents. We booked a couple of cabs during our visit, (via the hotel reception) they were reliable and reasonably priced. (See Nice transport Link Below in English). Leave a Comment Theme: OtherWebsite: http://riviera.angloinfo.com/af/145/
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