This post is about travelling to French Riviera with a low budget, but still feeling the glamour.
This is my friend Marcella, she is a France lover.
I was au pair for one year in the Netherlands, when I got my PhD in beeing poor. Au pairs in the NL earns 300-340 euros per month.. so.. yeah..
On my last month I planned a trip with a friend that was coming from brazil. The plan was Netherlands-Paris-Nice- Prague - then I get back to NL and she goes to London then NL.
Rotterdam-Paris we took a Bus. 9,99 euros. About 10h trip (it should be way less but it was a night trip and there was a lot of traffic in paris) it is ok.. I have a lot of friends who go on bus trips around europe 10h+. You can survive.. but I think it is super uncomfortable and tiring. Not worth it.
From Paris we went to Nice by airplane. 50 euros. 1h30. Great. We got there and it was late, the bus to the city was every 1h, and I think we missed the last one. So we took an uber. It was about 20 euros. Split for 2. Still great.
Chillin'
We got to an airbnb. Close to the beach, close to the train station and very nice neighbourhoood, close to the Promenade des Arts. The owner is Neko, so if you see her name on Airbnb you can surely go for it. She rents two rooms of her house for travellers and she is super nice and friendly. In the morning she makes breakfast for us and when we wake up we eat our breakfast on our more-french-impossible balcony. the Airbnb cost was 146 euros for 3 nights. So around 24 euros per night each in french riviera.
Our lovely balcony
On the first day we got in a cruise for 20 euros. I recommend it 100%. 1-hour sightseeing cruise to Baie des Anges and the Rade de Villefranche-sur-Mer listening to commentary about the history of the French Riviera. You can buy tickets online on Viator website.
We used to make sandwiches, take it to the beach and do photosynthesis the whole day. After this we take a shower and go to the old town - Vieille Ville.
At the old town you can find a lot of tourist-trap restaurants. Super expensive and not that good. But there is also small italians cantines super good and cheap where you can eat nicely. its not hard to find it.
If you want to eat in a restaurant with tables in a sidewalk and great atmosphere it is also possible. I remember when I was going there people saying "oh, these places are extremely expensive, you pay 10 euros for a bottle of water" and yes, maybe you can find these places. But you can easily have a great trip not spending too much.
We went to this restaurante and the dishes were about 15-20 euros. The cola about 5 euros but ok. Just pay attention!
During the night the best thing you can do is just walking around the Promenade des Anglais and enjoy the vibe.
Next day we went to another place called La Pinède - beautiful. Almost in Monaco. A tip from our Airbnb host. The train tickets were around 3 euros! and you can see the french riviera by train. Incredible beautiful place.
So, that was it. We all can afford french riviera. It is one of my favorite places! very beautiful, very nice people. I can't wait to go back!
