Antibes sits at the heart of the Côte d’Azur, which makes it the perfect base for exploring the French Riviera. You’re 30 minutes from Nice, 10 minutes from Cannes, and an hour from Monaco — all by train. Add in medieval villages, island fortresses, and perfume factories, and you’ve got enough day trips to fill a week.
Here are the 8 best day trips from Antibes, with real train times, ferry schedules, and practical advice you won’t find in guidebooks.
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1. Nice — The Riviera’s Capital (30 Minutes by Train)
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Nice is the big sister city — grander, busier, and full of museums. The train from Antibes takes 30 minutes and runs every 20–30 minutes throughout the day. You’ll arrive at Gare Nice-Ville, a short walk from the old town.
Start with Vieux Nice, the tangle of ochre buildings, washing lines, and seafood restaurants that feels more Italian than French. The Cours Saleya flower and food market runs every morning except Monday (when it becomes an antiques market). Grab a socca — the chickpea pancake that locals eat standing up — from Chez Thérèsa.
Walk the Promenade des Anglais if you want the postcard shot, but the real charm is in the backstreets of the old town. If you like museums, the Matisse Museum (in Cimiez, north of the centre) is exceptional and free to enter. Nice has more polish than Antibes, but less soul.
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2. Cannes — Glamour and Film Festival Ghosts (10 Minutes by Train)
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Cannes is so close you can pop over for lunch. Trains run every 15–20 minutes, and the journey takes 10 minutes. You’ll arrive at Gare de Cannes, a 5-minute walk from the Palais des Festivals.
The main draw is the Croisette — the palm-lined boulevard where millionaires park their yachts and tourists photograph red-carpet stairs. It’s fun for people-watching, but Cannes doesn’t have the history or character of Antibes. The old town (Le Suquet) is worth a quick climb for the view, but it’s small.
What Cannes does well: luxury shopping, seafood restaurants, and a certain kind of effortless French glamour. It’s also the departure point for ferries to Île Sainte-Marguerite (see below).
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3. Monaco — The Principality (45 Minutes by Train)
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Monaco is not France. It’s a city-state the size of a neighbourhood, ruled by the Grimaldi family and filled with supercars, casinos, and Formula 1 barriers. The train from Antibes takes 45 minutes and drops you at Monaco-Monte-Carlo station, carved into the cliffside.
Start with the Palais Princier in Monaco-Ville (the old town on the rock), where you can watch the changing of the guard at 11:55 every morning. The Musée Océanographique is genuinely impressive — a belle époque aquarium perched on a cliff, with jellyfish tanks that glow like stained glass.
Monte Carlo itself is pure theatre: the casino (you can visit the public rooms for €17), the Hôtel de Paris, the hairpin bend of the Grand Prix circuit. It’s absurd, expensive, and oddly compelling. Don’t bother with restaurants — eat before you go or wait until you’re back in Antibes.
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4. Île Sainte-Marguerite — The Island of the Iron Mask (20-Minute Ferry from Cannes)
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This is the best escape from the Riviera crowds. Île Sainte-Marguerite is a forested island just off Cannes, famous for the Fort Royal — the fortress where the Man in the Iron Mask was imprisoned in the 17th century. Ferries run year-round from Cannes (Quai Laubeuf, next to the Palais des Festivals). The crossing takes 20 minutes.
Summer schedule (April–September): ferries depart every 30–60 minutes, first departure 9:00 AM, last return 6:00 PM. Winter schedule is reduced. Round-trip ticket: €16 for adults. Check current times at cannes-ilesdelerins.com.
Once you arrive, walk the coastal path, swim in the coves (the water is absurdly clear), and visit the fort. The prison cell is small and damp and makes you grateful for air conditioning. Pack a picnic — there’s one restaurant on the island, and it’s overpriced.
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5. Saint-Paul-de-Vence — The Hilltop Artists’ Village (30 Minutes by Car)
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Saint-Paul-de-Vence is the most beautiful village perché near Antibes. It’s been an artists’ colony since the 1920s, when painters like Chagall, Matisse, and Picasso traded canvases for meals at the Colombe d’Or restaurant. The village is car-free, walled, and aggressively picturesque.
Getting there without a car requires a bus (Envibus Line 400 from Antibes to Cagnes-sur-Mer, then transfer to Line 9). It’s easier to drive or take a taxi. The village itself is tiny — you can walk the ramparts in 20 minutes — but it’s the atmosphere you come for: cobbled lanes, stone archways, galleries selling ceramics and olive wood carvings.
The real treasure is the Fondation Maeght, a 10-minute walk outside the village walls. It’s one of the finest modern art museums in Europe, with works by Miró, Giacometti, and Chagall displayed in a sculpture garden. Admission: €16 for adults. Open daily 10:00 AM–6:00 PM (reduced hours in winter). If you only visit one art museum on the Riviera, make it this one.
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6. Grasse — The Perfume Capital (30 Minutes by Car)
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Grasse is where French perfume was born. The town sits in the hills above Cannes, surrounded by fields of jasmine, roses, and lavender. In the 18th century, Grasse’s tanners started scenting their leather gloves, and an industry was born. Today, it’s where Chanel, Dior, and every other major perfume house sources their raw materials.
You can visit three historic perfume factories: Fragonard, Molinard, and Galimard. All offer free guided tours in English, where you’ll learn how 10,000 jasmine flowers produce just 1 kilogram of essence. The tours conclude in the gift shop, but products are high quality. Open daily; check ahead for winter hours.
Grasse is easiest by car (30 minutes from Antibes via the D35). Buses run but are infrequent (Envibus Line 500). The old town is steep, atmospheric, and largely ignored by tourists — a good place for lunch after your perfume tour.
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7. Vallauris — Picasso’s Pottery Town (15 Minutes by Bus)
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Vallauris has been a pottery centre since the 16th century, but it became famous in the 1940s when Picasso moved here and started throwing mad ceramic animals, plates painted with fauns, and vases shaped like women. The town is still full of ceramicists, and the shops range from tourist tat to serious craft.
Take bus Line 200 from Antibes (direction Nice) and get off at Vallauris Mairie. Journey time: 15 minutes. The Musée National Picasso is housed in a Renaissance chapel and displays Picasso’s giant mural War and Peace, plus a collection of his ceramics. Admission: €6. Closed Tuesdays.
Vallauris isn’t polished, but it’s authentic. Come for the pottery, stay for the working-town atmosphere and genuine ceramicists.
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8. Èze — The Eagle’s Nest Village (25 Minutes by Train + Bus)
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Èze is the most dramatic village perché on the Riviera — a medieval fortress clinging to a cliff 400 metres above the sea. The views are ridiculous: blue Mediterranean, red roofs, yachts the size of matchsticks.
Getting there: take the train from Antibes to Èze-sur-Mer (25 minutes), then catch bus Line 83 up the hill to Èze Village (10 minutes, runs hourly). The village itself is tiny and very touristy, but the Jardin Exotique at the top — a cactus garden built into the ruins of a medieval castle — is worth the climb. Admission: €6. Open daily.
Arrive early or late to avoid cruise-ship crowds. Wear good shoes — the streets are steep, cobbled, and steep.
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Start with Antibes
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Before you explore the rest of the Riviera, make sure you’ve uncovered Antibes itself. Most visitors miss the best bits — the hidden squares, the Picasso stories, the reason Port Vauban became the superyacht capital of Europe.
Book a walking tour with a local guide and learn the history that doesn’t make it into guidebooks. Small groups (max 6 people), 2–3 hours, in English or French. Kids under 16 go free.
€30 per person
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