Day trips from Monaco, from Èze to Ventimiglia

Monaco takes a day or two to see, and after that what surrounds it is every bit as good as the Principality itself. Within a short radius there are medieval villages hanging over the sea, villas turned into museums, a Roman monument and even Italy. Nearly all of it is reachable by train or on the ZOU! 600 bus, which runs along the coast between Nice and Menton. Here I rank the trips with my own scores and tell you how to reach each one. If you’re doing it the other way round and coming over for the day from Cannes, the train is in Cannes to Monaco.

Èze, my first choice

If I could only make one trip, it would be to the village of Èze. Èze-Village is 9 km from Monaco by road, on top of a rocky peak settled since the Iron Age. At the summit, inside the Exotic Garden, stand the remains of the fortress built there in the 12th century, and the neoclassical church of Notre-Dame-de-l’Assomption, rebuilt between 1764 and 1778. Down at the foot of the rock, Fragonard has had a factory with a free guided tour since 1968, and Galimard has another, also free, lasting about 45 minutes.

What turns Èze into a complete day out is the path down to the coast that bears Nietzsche’s name, because the philosopher wrote part of Zarathustra, the third section, while walking it. It’s 2.1 km long, starts on concrete before turning to steps and stone, and the tourist listing allows 60 to 90 minutes for it. I’d walk it downhill and come back from Èze-Bord-de-Mer station, which is served by as many as 80 trains daily in high season.

To get up there, the Èze tourist office names bus 602, which serves the village, and the 605 along the Grande Corniche. I couldn’t match them against ZOU!’s own timetables, so I’d confirm on the day.

What is there to see in Villefranche-sur-Mer and Cap-Ferrat?

Villefranche strikes me as the most charming village on this whole coast, and I’ve written a full guide to what to see in Villefranche-sur-Mer. Its harbour is among the deepest in the Mediterranean, says the tourist office, which is why cruise ships call. Emmanuel Philibert of Savoy ordered the Saint-Elme citadel built in 1557, the rue Obscure is a covered passage from the 13th century and the baroque church of Saint-Michel dates from 1757. The one thing I wouldn’t miss is the Chapelle Saint-Pierre, which Jean Cocteau decorated inside and out in 1956 and 1957, for €4 and with no photos inside. As for the citadel museums, I can’t promise anything, because the town hall talks of preparing to reopen their route.

Close by, in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, the Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild opens from 10:00 to 18:00 in September 2026 and costs €18, with an audio guide. With the Villa Kérylos in Beaulieu, €15 on its own, the combined ticket is €24 and is valid for eight days from purchase. Kérylos opens from 10:00 to 18:00 until 30 September and closes an hour earlier in winter, and you can’t eat or bring dogs into its gardens. With two hours to spare, the Tour du Cap-Ferrat path is 4.8 km around the headland, though it isn’t recommended if you suffer from vertigo. The 600 bus stops at Villefranche and Beaulieu on the way to Nice, and I go through that stretch of coast in the Nice to Monaco journey.

Roquebrune, Cap-d’Ail and La Turbie, right next door

The three shortest trips almost touch Monaco. Roquebrune-Cap-Martin has a medieval village up at about 300 metres with a castle built around 970, one of the oldest surviving medieval keeps in France, which costs €5. Next to it grows an olive reckoned to be 1,800 to 2,200 years of age. Down below, Cap Moderne brings together Eileen Gray’s villa E-1027 and Le Corbusier’s Cabanon, 3.66 by 3.66 metres, and can only be visited with a guide and a booking, at €19. The Monte Carlo Masters is played in this same French municipality, however much the name suggests otherwise.

The Cap-d’Ail coast path is my favourite free outing. It’s an easy 3.6 km from Marquet beach, facing Monaco, to Mala beach, in about 90 minutes. The SNCF notice the town hall publishes refers to train disruption, not the path, so the walk isn’t affected. More plans that cost nothing are in Monaco on a budget. And just above, already in France, is Beausoleil, right against Monte-Carlo, with the Riviera Palace and the Mont des Mules.

At La Turbie, the Trophy of Augustus is a Roman monument with a €7 entry fee, waived for under-18s and for young Europeans up to 25. It’s closed on Mondays. The monument gives bus 102 from Monaco, while the Èze office mentions the 605, so once again it needs checking.

Menton, the lemon town

Menton has an old town of narrow streets, steps and small squares, with the Saint-Michel basilica from 1639 and its 53-metre bell tower. The marché des Halles, from 1898, opens every day until 13:00 and sells socca, barbajuans and lemon tart, a good chance to compare with what I describe in Monegasque food. The Jean Cocteau Museum-le Bastion, the first devoted to the poet, opened in 1966, is open every day except Tuesday, costs €5 and is free on the first Sunday of each month and for under-18s. Until 16 November 2026 it’s marking 80 years of «Beauty and the Beast» with an exhibition. February brings the Lemon Festival, which in 2027 runs from 13 to 28 February and draws over 250,000 visitors.

You get there by train, to Menton or Menton-Garavan, or on the 600 bus, which takes 1 h 40 min end to end between Menton and Nice. The ways of getting about the area are in getting around Monaco.

Ventimiglia, Italy in 26 minutes

Crossing into Italy by train is so easy it feels like a trick. Ventimiglia is 26 minutes from Monaco, and its Friday open-air market, which the town bills as one of the biggest in Europe, is the best reason to go. On any other day of the week I wouldn’t put it ahead of the others. If you carry on to San Remo, the change at Ventimiglia is explained in San Remo to Monaco. If you’re going to chain several of these trips together, the Pass Sud Azur costs €35 for three days and covers trains, buses and trams across the whole area and Monaco.