Read this as an example, not a program
Every multi-day journey I guide is designed for the people in front of me, so there is no fixed three-day tour on this site. But travelers ask me the same question again and again: with three days on the Riviera, what would you do? This is my honest answer, written the way I would write it for you after our first exchange. Take it as a starting point. On the day, we will change it, and that is the point.
Day 1: Nice and the Cap-Ferrat villas
We start at the Cours Saleya market at nine, when the flower stalls are fresh and the socca is coming out of the oven. From there, the lanes of the Old Town: the baroque chapels, the Palais Lascaris, the bakeries the guidebooks miss. By eleven we climb Castle Hill for the panorama over the Baie des Anges and the port, and I tell you how a Greek trading post became the winter capital of Europe.
Lunch is in the Old Town or at the port, at a table I have booked. In the afternoon we drive twenty minutes east to Cap-Ferrat for the Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild and its nine gardens, then, if you like belle-époque eccentricity, the Greek-inspired Villa Kérylos at Beaulieu. We finish with a drink on the quay of Villefranche as the light turns gold on the harbor.
Day 2: Èze and Monaco
An early start earns you Èze almost to yourself. We are in the medieval village before ten, through the fortified gate and up the spiral of stone lanes to the Exotic Garden and its view from Cap-Ferrat to Italy. If you want the most memorable souvenir of the trip, we book the private perfume workshop at the foot of the village, where you create your own fragrance in about two hours.
Monaco fills the afternoon: the Rock and the Prince's Palace, the cathedral where Grace Kelly is buried, the harbor and the Grand Prix hairpin, then the Casino square when the light is on the belle-époque façades. We drive back to Nice by the Grande Corniche, the road Napoleon built, for the last view of the day.
Day 3: Saint-Paul-de-Vence and Antibes, before you leave
The last morning is a half day, timed around your flight or your train. We reach Saint-Paul-de-Vence when the ramparts are still quiet: the Rue Grande and its galleries, the pétanque square, Chagall's grave in the small cemetery, and for art lovers the Fondation Maeght in the pines above the village. Then twenty minutes down to Antibes for the Provençal market before it closes at noon, a walk along the ramparts, and, if the timing allows, the Picasso Museum in the Château Grimaldi.
I drop you at the airport, the station or your hotel by early afternoon, with the vehicle and my time ending where we agreed. If you prefer Cannes to Antibes, or a nature walk beside a hidden river to Saint-Paul, the morning is yours to reshape.
How this itinerary maps to what I offer
Two full days of eight hours and one half day of four hours is exactly my 2.5-day tailor-made journey: €1650 per group, not per person, with an all-electric vehicle included for up to three guests and pickup at your hotel each morning. For larger parties, my partner drives a premium chauffeured vehicle while I guide. If you have a fourth day, the 3.5-day journey (€2160) adds Cannes and the Lérins islands, Menton and the Italian border, or the hill villages of Gourdon and Tourrettes-sur-Loup. Entrance fees, the perfume workshop and meals are paid on site.
What makes these three days a luxury experience
Not the price. The pace. You never wait for a group, never queue for an audio guide, never wonder whether the village will be crowded, because I have timed the day so that it is not. As a state-licensed guide I take you inside the villas, the museums and the churches, not only around them. The car is at your door in the morning and your tables are booked. And every one of these seven places is one I know from years of living twenty minutes away, not from a briefing sheet.
For the detail of each place, my city pages on Nice, Èze, Monaco, Saint-Paul-de-Vence and Antibes go deeper, and this page explains what luxury means on a private experience with me.
Live It With Me
These private experiences are the natural next step after this article. Prices are per group, never per person.
Frequently asked
Is three days enough for the French Riviera?
Three days cover the essential coast well: Nice, the Cap-Ferrat villas, Èze, Monaco, Saint-Paul-de-Vence and Antibes, at a comfortable pace. A fourth day opens Cannes, Menton or the Provence villages. Less than three days and I would choose between the east (Èze, Monaco) and the west (Antibes, Saint-Paul).
What is the best time of year for this itinerary?
April to June and September to October: warm, bright, and far less crowded than July and August. In summer I start earlier and keep the villages for the first hours of the morning. Winter is quiet and often sunny, with shorter days and some gardens on reduced hours.
Do we need to rent a car?
No. On my multi-day journeys an all-electric vehicle is included for up to three guests, with pickup at your hotel each morning. You are never looking for parking in Monaco or Èze, which is one of the great luxuries of the trip.