Villefranche Shore Excursions - Private French Riviera Tours & Nice Shore Excursions

Cruise ships anchor in the Bay of Villefranche-sur-Mer, one of the deepest natural harbours on the French Riviera. Passengers are tendered ashore to the Villefranche waterfront - there is no fixed cruise terminal. The tender landing is right in the heart of the old village, steps from the seafront restaurants and the narrow medieval lanes. Your Private Shore Trips guide will be waiting at the tender landing point with a name sign, and your private vehicle will be parked nearby, ready to set off along the coast.

Our Riviera Highlights tour is a 6-hour private shore excursion that covers the essential destinations along the eastern Cote d'Azur. A typical itinerary includes the old town and Promenade des Anglais in Nice, the medieval hilltop village of Eze with its panoramic views and optional Fragonard perfume factory visit, and the Principality of Monaco including Monte Carlo's Casino Square, the Prince's Palace, and the Grand Prix circuit. Your guide tailors the pace and stops to your preferences - some guests swap a stop for extra time at a cafe or a walk through a local market.

Riviera Highlights is a 6-hour tour focusing on the eastern Riviera - Nice, Eze, and Monaco. The Best of French Riviera is an 8-hour full-day tour that covers both the eastern and western Cote d'Azur, adding Cannes, Antibes, and the hilltop artist village of Saint-Paul-de-Vence. If your ship has a longer port call - typically 10 hours or more - the full-day option lets you see both ends of the Riviera without feeling rushed. For shorter port calls of 8 hours, the 6-hour Riviera Highlights is the better fit.

Eze is a medieval hilltop village perched 427 meters above the Mediterranean between Nice and Monaco. Its narrow cobblestone lanes, stone archways, and artisan shops feel frozen in time, and the exotic garden at the summit offers one of the most photographed panoramic views on the entire Cote d'Azur - on a clear day you can see from Italy to Saint-Tropez. Eze is also home to the Fragonard perfume factory, where visitors can tour the production rooms and learn how perfumes have been crafted in Provence since the 18th century.

Yes - Monaco is only about 10 kilometers east of Villefranche, roughly a 20-minute drive along the stunning coastal road. Despite being the second-smallest country in the world at just 2.02 square kilometers, Monaco packs in an extraordinary amount: the Prince's Palace and its daily changing of the guard ceremony, the Monte Carlo Casino and its legendary square, the Formula One Grand Prix street circuit, the Oceanographic Museum, and the narrow lanes of Monaco-Ville. All of our Villefranche shore excursions that include Monaco give you enough time to see all the key sites before continuing to Eze or returning to the ship.

Our back-to-ship guarantee means that if an unforeseen delay during your private Villefranche shore excursion prevents you from returning to the tender landing before your ship departs, we will arrange and cover the cost of transportation to your next port of call. This guarantee applies to all private French Riviera tours booked through us from Villefranche-sur-Mer. Your tour must be scheduled to return 1.5 hours before the ship departs.