Experiencing the French Riviera on a Budget

The Cote d’Azur, or French Riviera, is known for its beaches and celebrity appearances. Along with this comes displays of wealth like multimillion dollar yachts and cars that cost more than a house. As you might imagine, trying to maintain a budget while visiting the French Riviera can be a little bit tricky.
We recently spent 3 days in the French Riviera and took the approach of staying in Nice, which we found to be relatively affordable for France. We were then able to do day trips to other more glitzy destinations like Cannes and Monaco all without breaking the bank.
Nice

The old town of Nice is a maze of windy, twisty streets that is really fun to get lost in. It’s also where some of the best food is, too- we had a delicious traditional French dinner in the old town one evening for less than 50 euro.
Another cheap sight-seeing option in Nice is to explore the beaches. While most of the beaches in Nice are pebbly rather than sandy, there are still plenty of beautiful public beaches on which to relax. Or, if you’d rather admire the beaches from a distance, you can take a stroll as we did every day down the Promenade des Anglais- it’s great for people watching!
Perhaps our favorite site in Nice that we loved was Castle Hill, with its wonderful views overlooking the town and the Mediterranean . There are quite a few steps to get up to the top but the view is worth it. You can also take the free elevator up but if you ask me, that’s cheating.
Making Nice our main stop during our co-op travel stay in the Riviera was a perfect choice as our favorite highlights were free and we got to head out to even more glamorous destinations like Cannes and Monaco without being hit with the high cost of accommodation.
Cannes

Cannes is a short 45-minute train ride from Nice. We found that a few hours in Cannes was more than enough time to walk the length of La Croisette (the promenade along the shore), explore the old town of Le Suquet, and have lunch. Of course, we gandered at the high end shopping all along La Croisette, but knew better than to even set foot in any of the stores. When you have to ring a doorbell to enter the store, you know it’s out of your league. We did manage to find some pretty good, affordable pizza at Gastone Pizza Alla Palla for lunch on the far east side of the city, though.
Monaco

An even shorter trip from Nice, Monaco is a glamorous destination we’ve always wanted to visit. The minute we stepped out of the train station, views of superyachts greeted us. Rolls Royces lined the pier and Lamborghinis whizzed past us on the roads.
We hiked up to the old town of Monaco-Ville and stopped by the Oceanographic Museum, tempted on going in. But at the 14 Euro per person price tag, we decided on a much cheaper option: walking around Monaco! We walked through the gardens surrounding Monaco-Ville, which were simply beautiful. We sat down on a bench for a while, listening to the ocean waves and taking in the views of the buildings below. We also made sure to stop by the Grand Casino in Monte Carlo and snap some pictures of the fancy cars outside. After a few hours, we grabbed some gelato before heading back to Nice for dinner.
Budget dining options are pretty limited in Monaco, unless you want to have a simple meal of pizza or pasta at one of the restaurants along the pier. Otherwise, pack a lunch or head back to your home base for dinner.
All in all, we’re happy we got to see the lavishness of Cannes and Monaco, and even happier that we got to do so on a budget by using a comparatively cheaper city, Nice, as our base for exploring the French Riviera.