Getting Around the French Riviera: Transport Guide

The French Riviera is one of the most straightforward regions in Europe to explore without a car. A single coastal railway line connects all the major towns, Nice’s tram network makes the city easy to navigate, and the regional bus network fills in the gaps. Once you understand the structure, getting around is simple.

The Coastal TER Train

The backbone of Riviera transport is the TER regional train line, which runs from Cannes in the west to Ventimiglia on the Italian border in the east, stopping at Antibes, Nice, Villefranche-sur-Mer, Èze-sur-Mer, Monaco, Cap-d’Ail, Beaulieu-sur-Mer, and Menton along the way.

Services run every 15 minutes throughout the day, from around 5:45am until 10pm, seven days a week including Sundays and public holidays. Journey times from Nice Ville station are short:

• Nice to Monaco: approximately 22 minutes
• Nice to Antibes: approximately 22 minutes
• Nice to Cannes: approximately 30–37 minutes
• Nice to Menton: approximately 35 minutes

Ticket prices are modest. A single Nice–Monaco journey typically costs around €5.60; Nice–Cannes is a few euros more. Tickets can be bought at any station machine, via the SNCF Connect app or website, or through Trainline. There is no meaningful benefit to booking far in advance on these short regional routes — prices are fixed and availability is rarely a concern.

One practical note: avoid eastbound trains from Nice during the morning rush (7–9am on weekdays) and westbound trains in the late afternoon (4–7pm on weekdays). Outside those windows, trains are comfortable and uncrowded.

Getting Around Nice

Within Nice, the tramway network handles most visitor needs. Three lines cover 27 km across the city with 53 stops, carrying over 230,000 passengers daily.

Line T1 runs through the city centre, linking Place Masséna and the main commercial streets. Line T2 is the most useful for visitors arriving at the airport: it connects both terminal buildings directly to the city centre, running parallel to the Promenade des Anglais before terminating at Port Lympia in the old town. The Cathédrale–Vieille Ville stop drops you in the heart of Vieux Nice, 260 metres from the apartment at Gilli. Total journey time from the airport to the old town is under 30 minutes.

Tickets cannot be bought on the tram itself. At each stop, machines sell journeys loaded onto a reusable La Carte card, which costs €2 (refundable). Each single journey is €1.70 and allows unlimited transfers within 74 minutes — if you tram to a bus stop and continue your journey by bus, you are not charged again. Trams run every 7–8 minutes during the day.

Local and Coastal Buses

Lignes d’Azur, the regional transport authority, operates over 165 bus routes across the Nice area and along parts of the coast. The same La Carte card works on buses. For visitors, the bus network is most useful for reaching places the tram does not — the Cimiez neighbourhood, inland villages, or routes between coastal towns that sit between train stops.

For long coastal journeys, the TER train is generally faster and more reliable than buses. Bus services are better suited to short local trips within a town or for journeys to areas not served by the railway.

Tickets and Passes

The Lignes d’Azur network (trams and buses within the Nice metropolitan area) uses a straightforward fare structure:

Ticket	Price	Valid for
Single journey	€1.70	74 minutes from first validation, including transfers
1-day pass	€7.00	Unlimited tram and bus travel for 24 hours
7-day pass	€20.00	Unlimited tram and bus travel for 7 days

These tickets cover Nice’s trams and buses only. Intercity TER train journeys between Nice, Monaco, Cannes, Antibes, and Menton require separate SNCF tickets.

La Carte cards can be purchased at any tram-stop machine and at Lignes d’Azur sales offices. At the airport, machines sell a round-trip airport ticket for €10; if you plan to use the tram more widely during your stay, it is more economical to load a La Carte card at the first stop outside the terminal rather than buying the dedicated airport ticket.

Practical Notes

• Validate your ticket every time you board, even when transferring between tram lines within the 74-minute window. Inspectors check regularly.
• Nice Ville station is about 1.5 km west of Vieux Nice — a 20-minute walk or a short bus journey. The T2 tram does not stop at the station directly; the nearest tram stop is Jean Médecin, a brief walk away.
• During major events — particularly the Monaco Grand Prix (late May or early June) — coastal trains become very busy. Allow extra time and consider travelling before or after peak event hours.
• If you are visiting multiple destinations — Nice, Cannes, Monaco, Antibes, and Menton — the train makes day trips genuinely practical. All five are within an hour of Nice by rail.