Nice 7-Day Itinerary: Antibes, Cannes, Èze, Saint-Paul

How should you spend 7 days in Nice?

Spend two days in Nice itself, the old town and Castle Hill and then the Cimiez museums, and use the rest for the coast: Antibes on day three, Cannes and Île Sainte-Marguerite on day four, a slow beach day, Saint-Paul-de-Vence on day six and Èze or Menton before you fly. Avoid Tuesdays for Cimiez.

A week turns Nice into a base rather than a destination. The Nice 3-day itinerary spends its third day on Monaco or Cap Ferrat; this plan leaves those to the shorter trip and goes west and inland instead, to Picasso’s museum in Antibes, the island fort off Cannes, the Fondation Maeght above Saint-Paul and the hilltop garden at Èze, with a free day in the middle so that the week never turns into a commute.

The coast makes this easy without a car. SNCF says regional trains run every 15 minutes between Cannes and Menton (SNCF TER), and Lignes d’Azur buses climb to the hill villages. Every hour, fare and closure below comes from official pages checked on 16 and 17 October 2026.

Choose a base near Nice-Ville station or the tram with where to stay in Nice, and check the season with best time to visit Nice.

What does a week in Nice look like day by day?

Days one, two and five stay in Nice, and days three, four, six and seven are day trips: two by train along the coast, one by train and ferry, and one or two by bus into the hills. The table shows transport, the weekly closures that decide the order and a bad-weather swap for each day.

Weekly closures shape the order. The Musée Matisse and the Musée Chagall close on Tuesdays (Musée Matisse, Musée Chagall), the Musée Picasso in Antibes closes on Mondays (Côte d’Azur France), and the Fort Royal museum on Île Sainte-Marguerite closes on Mondays from October to May (Ville de Cannes). The Cours Saleya flower market does not run on Mondays (tourist office).

A Wednesday arrival works well: Cimiez falls on Thursday, Antibes on Friday, Cannes on Saturday, the slow day on Sunday, Saint-Paul on Monday, when the Fondation Maeght is open as usual, and Èze or Menton on Tuesday.

What should you book, and what will trains, buses and passes cost?

Book the Musée Matisse online and your Riviera dates early if they touch Carnival, the Lemon Festival or the Monaco Grand Prix. Trains need no reservation: a full-fare single costs €7 to Antibes, €9.70 to Cannes and €7.70 to Menton, less with a ZOU! card. A Nice day pass costs €7.

SNCF lists more than 140 daily round trips between Nice and Antibes, about 20 minutes, at €7 full fare or €4.90 with a ZOU! Malin card (SNCF TER); more than 140 between Nice and Cannes, about 35 minutes, at €9.70 or €6.80 (SNCF TER); and 65 between Nice and Menton, about 40 minutes, at €7.70 or €5.40 (SNCF TER). In Nice, a Solo ticket costs €1.70 for 74 minutes and a day pass €7 (Lignes d’Azur, day passes).

For museums, the Musée Matisse charges €10 and a four-day pass to Nice’s municipal museums costs €15 (Musée Matisse); the Musée Chagall charges €12 (Musée Chagall) and the Fondation Maeght €18 (Fondation Maeght). The Horizon ferry to Île Sainte-Marguerite costs €19 for adults and €13.50 for children (Cannes tourist office).

Event dates push up room prices along the whole coast: Nice Carnival runs from 9 to 28 February 2027 (tourist office), Menton’s Lemon Festival from 13 to 28 February 2027 (Fête du Citron) and the Monaco Grand Prix on 4–6 June 2027 (Formula 1). Cannes adds MIPIM on 16–19 March and MIPCOM on 18–21 October 2027 (MIPIM, MIPCOM).

Days 1 and 2: how do you see Nice itself in two days?

On day one, take tram 2 in from the airport, walk the Promenade des Anglais and spend the evening in Vieux-Nice. On day two, climb Castle Hill when it opens at 8.30am, then take bus 5 to Cimiez for the Chagall and Matisse museums. Skip MAMAC, which is closed for renovation.

Tram line 2 runs from both airport terminals through Jean Médecin to Port Lympia, about every 7 to 8 minutes on weekdays (Lignes d’Azur), and airport stops need the €10 Aéro return or a loaded Lignes d’Azur card (Lignes d’Azur). The Cours Saleya flower market, trading since 1861, runs from Tuesday to Sunday (tourist office). Until 22 October 2026, evening maintenance stops tram line 1 early (Lignes d’Azur).

Castle Hill is free and opens from 8.30am to 8pm between 1 April and 31 October and to 6pm from November to March (Ville de Nice). The Musée Chagall opens daily except Tuesdays, closing from 1pm to 2.30pm, and bus 5 stops outside (Musée Chagall); the Musée Matisse also closes on Tuesdays, and was shut from 29 September to 20 October 2026 for a new exhibition (Musée Matisse).

The tourist office lists the Musée d’Art Moderne et d’Art Contemporain, MAMAC, as closed for renovation (tourist office), so older itineraries that send you there need a swap. For a fuller day in the city, see Nice in one day.

Day 3: how do you spend a day in Antibes?

Take a mid-morning TER to Antibes, about 20 minutes, and walk to the Musée Picasso in the Château Grimaldi, closed on Mondays. Spend the afternoon exploring the old town, then catch an evening train back; the last listed departure from Nice leaves at 10.56pm.

The regional tourism board lists the Musée Picasso, on Place Mariéjol in the Château Grimaldi, as open from Tuesday to Sunday, 10am to 1pm and 2pm to 6pm, from 16 September 2026 to 14 June 2027, and from 10am to 6pm without a break from 15 June to 15 September; it closes on Mondays. The listing flags these hours as unconfirmed, so check with the museum before you go (Côte d’Azur France).

SNCF gives more than 140 daily round trips between Nice and Antibes, the first from Nice at 5.31am and the last at 10.56pm (SNCF TER), so there is no need to book a train or watch the clock. Antibes sits on line 3, which runs from Les Arcs and Saint-Raphaël through Cannes and Antibes to Nice (SNCF TER).

In summer, see the museum first and the old town after lunch. The UK government warns that wildfire risk is highest along the Mediterranean coast in hot, dry weather and that pickpockets in France often work in gangs (FCDO), so keep bags closed on busy summer trains.

Day 4: how do you combine Cannes with Île Sainte-Marguerite?

Take the TER to Cannes, about 35 minutes, and walk to Quai Laubeuf for the 15-minute ferry to Île Sainte-Marguerite, which runs daily. Spend the middle of the day at the Fort Royal and its museum, then take an afternoon boat back for a walk along the Croisette. Check the sea before you leave.

The Horizon ferry runs every day in 2026, with departures to the island from 9am to 4.30pm (some marked optional) and returns from 9.15am to 5pm; tickets cost €19 for adults and €13.50 for children, and the company can change sailings for weather or technical reasons (Cannes tourist office).

The Musée du Masque de Fer et du Fort Royal opens from Tuesday to Sunday, 10.30am to 1.15pm and 2.15pm to 4.45pm from October to March, to 5.45pm in April and May, and every day from 10am to 5.45pm from June to September, with last admission 30 minutes before closing. It closes on 1 and 11 November, 25 December and 1 January, and entry is free for under-18s, students up to 26 and everyone on the first Sunday of the month from November to March (Ville de Cannes).

SNCF lists more than 140 daily round trips between Nice and Cannes, with the last train from Nice at 11.10pm (SNCF TER), so trains in both directions are frequent enough to stay in Cannes for an early dinner. Avoid MIPIM and MIPCOM weeks if you want a quiet Croisette (MIPIM, MIPCOM).

Day 5: what should a slow day in Nice include?

Keep day five free. In summer, spend it on the beach, lifeguarded from 1 July to 31 August, with a long lunch at the port; in autumn and winter, browse the markets and walk the Promenade. Use it to catch up on a museum you missed, or to rest before two more day trips.

In 2026 the city’s beaches were lifeguarded from 1 July to 31 August, 9am to 6.30pm (Ville de Nice), and every public beach has been smoke-free since summer 2024 (Ville de Nice). Expect pebbles rather than sand.

Autumn is the season to keep flexible. Météo-France’s 1991–2020 averages for Nice airport give 128mm of rain in October and 138mm in November, against 14mm in July, and nights stay warm in midsummer, with August lows of 21.1°C (Météo-France). The city publishes colour-coded weather warnings, from yellow to red (Ville de Nice); on a red day, stay off the coast paths and hill roads.

For family ideas on a free day, see Nice with kids, and for a rainy one, Nice in the rain.

Day 6: how do you reach Saint-Paul-de-Vence and the Fondation Maeght?

Take bus 655, which runs between Cagnes-sur-Mer and Vence via Saint-Paul, to the St Paul Village stop, then walk about 10 minutes to the Fondation Maeght, open every day from 10am to 6pm, or 7pm in July and August. Spend the afternoon in the walled village before heading back to Nice.

The Fondation Maeght points visitors from Nice or Cagnes-sur-Mer to line 655 and the St Paul Village stop; it charges €18 for adults, and closes at 4pm on 24 and 31 December (Fondation Maeght). Because it opens daily, it is the best day trip for a Monday or Tuesday, when several museums on the coast close.

Bus timetables change by season, so check the current 655 timetable before you go and note the last return times at the stop when you arrive. Combine the Fondation with lunch in the village.

The Fondation’s indoor galleries make this a reasonable wet-day trip as well, though its gardens are the reason many visitors come. If the weather is bad, the Musée Chagall and Musée Matisse in Nice are the closer alternatives (Musée Chagall, Musée Matisse).

Day 7: should you end with Èze or Menton?

Choose Èze for a short morning: bus 82 or 602 from Nice to the hilltop village and its exotic garden, 429 metres above the sea. Choose Menton for a longer day by train, about 40 minutes each way. Either leaves time for tram 2 to the airport, but check November’s planned line closures first.

The Jardin exotique d’Èze, set in the ruins of a medieval fortress, opens daily from 9am to 6.30pm in October and from 9am to 4.30pm from November to December, with last entry 30 minutes earlier, and closes on 25 December; under-12s enter free, and the tourist office points to buses 82 and 602 from Nice (tourist office).

For Menton, SNCF lists 65 daily round trips, the first from Nice at 5.50am and the last at 10.20pm (SNCF TER). In February, Menton’s Lemon Festival runs from 13 to 28 February 2027 (Fête du Citron), which makes it the obvious choice that month.

Watch for works on the line east of Nice: SNCF says trains between Nice, Monaco and Ventimiglia are completely interrupted on 10 and 11 November 2026, and that services on line 4 towards Ventimiglia stop between 10pm and 6am from Sunday to Thursday until 11 December 2026, with replacement coaches (SNCF TER). On those days, choose Èze by bus.

What are the best swaps and tours for a Nice week, and who should change the plan?

Swap Monaco or Cap Ferrat in from the 3-day plan if you have not seen them, and use a guided Riviera tour if you would rather not juggle trains and buses. Families can drop Saint-Paul for a second beach day. Visitors in February should rebuild the week around Carnival and the Lemon Festival.

A small-group tour earns its cost on the hill-village days, when buses are slow, and for combining Èze with Monaco in one go. Check what entry fees are included, the time at each stop, the meeting point and the cancellation terms. For Monaco on your own, the Oceanographic Museum closes on 25 December and over the Grand Prix weekend (Musée océanographique); our Nice 3-day itinerary covers it.

With a ZOU! train ticket, SNCF lists €2 off entry at Grasse’s Musée International de la Parfumerie, reached on line 4, and at Monaco’s Oceanographic Museum (SNCF TER). Every stay in Nice adds the Métropole tourist tax, from €1.07 to €6.43 per adult per night in 2026 (Métropole tax schedule). For more ideas, see things to do in Nice and getting around Nice.