Yes, You CAN Afford the French Riviera

An AFFORDABLE Guide to the iconic French Riviera.

You'll learn everything you need to know:

Where to Stay

How to Get There

Cost-Savings Hacks

Where to Party (of course) 🕺🏼

As always, we'll be scoring our trips using the 3 L's:

• List: How many bucket list items am I checking? Most often this is countries, but it also applies to cities, landmarks and iconic events.

• Local: How much authentic / local / cultural fix can you expect? This is the stuff you'll tell your kids about. It's also where you earn your trip (hard hikes, lessons in something local, all apply)

• Loco: Spanish for "crazy", this is the hot sauce to your trip's burrito. Think nightlife, adrenaline sports, the 'hangover' in Hangoverseas.. Price: Reluctantly, we'll rate this too - though it's not as fun to think about

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The HOS French Riviera Roadie

Milan ↣ Nice ↣ Monaco ↣ Gorge du Verdon ↣ Moustiers Saint-Marie

Summary

This is your "do the French Riviera" moment. Believe it or not, you can make this as bougie OR as backpacker-y as you want. It only takes a few minor tweaks to make the whole thing quite affordable. We did this trip as broke student-backpackers.

Within about a week, you'll get:

• 3 Countries

• 2 Iconic landmarks

• A breath-taking drive

• Some outdoor adrenaline sports in the stunning French mountains

• Dinner in a fairy-tale town you've never heard of

• Elite speakeasies, pub crawls, and nightlife 🕺🏼

• One of Europe's premier cathedrals

• Bonus: chance for some celebrity sightings

🗺️ The Route:

Milan ↣ Nice ↣ Monaco ↣ Gorge du Verdon

This roadie starts in Milan, and heads down to Nice which then acts as a hub for visiting both Monaco and Gorge du Verdon. Ultimately you end back in Milan for an easy roundtrip flight.

This is the first cost-saving hack, as Milan is one of the cheapest and most well-connected airports in Europe - unlike it's French neighbours. Between that, it's proximity to the Riviera and it's own eclectic vibe - it's a perfect start/end point.

📍 Milan

Where to Stay

If it's nightlife you're after, no question you'll want to stay as close to Navigli as possible. This vibey riverside neighbourhood is where most of the best bars, cafes, speakeasies, and nightclubs reside (and where almost all pub crawls take place).

Otherwise, you'll stay in Zona 1 Centro if you want proximity to O Duomo and the other tourist highlights of Milan.

Hostels:

The big players by way of hostels are undoubtedly the pair of Ostello Bello (Hostelworld: 9.7) and Ostello Bello Grande (Hostelworld: 9.3), though they are a bit pricier than the others. Alternatively, we loved Madama Hostel (Hostelworld: 9.0), which is just slightly further East, but has a great social vibe, and an amazing restaurant in it's lobby. The building is split into a hostel and a restaurant owned by a pair of business owners with these two respective passions. A brunch at the bistro will cure any hangover.

⭐️ PRO TIP: Milan's speakeasy and secret-bar scene is INSANE. From 1930 to White Rabbit, these places are no joke; with secret addresses, invitation-only requirements and password-protected entries. Any good speakeasy is one you have to earn! Hint: stop by MAG, in Navigli, the precursor bar for 1930, and try chatting up the managers for some intel.

🚂 From Milan, take one of the 5 daily trains to Nice (5 hours)

📍 Nice

Welcome to France! A jewel of the French Riviera, Nice will be your home-base for the next few legs of the trip. Here, you'll find a vibey nightlife scene with some solid pub crawls, and a pebble beach. You'll also rent a car for your upcoming day trips to Gorge du Verdon and Monaco.

Where to Stay in Nice

As a rule of thumb, we like to aim around the Jardin Albert 1er park at the south of the city. This park represents the centre-point of:

• the bar area just to the East (Old Nice)

• the beach and awesome day-patios just to the South (check out Le Galet for delicious seafood pasta with a massive ratio of seafood)

• Avenue Jean Médecin to the North, which houses the convenient street car, the Notre Dame Basilica and is the spine of downtown Nice.

While people often think "boutique hotels" in the French Riviera, hostels are an easy way to save cash while meeting people. Realistically, between the weather and all the things to see, you'll never be in your room anyway.

With location in mind, the best and closest hostel is Villa Saint Exupery Beach (Hostelworld 8.2 with 7k reviews). Although it's slightly more expensive and not rated the highest in "Atmosphere"(7.6), it has a massive common area you can make plenty of fun in, and for what it's worth also has a gym and co-working space. For a slightly more party or social vibe, you may opt for Antares Hostel (Hostelworld: 8.2 with with 7k reviews). It's located slightly more North, but sits right along the Avenue Jean Médecin meaning it's an easy street-car (or drunken walk) to or from the beach and bars.

Overall, don't expect to be blown away by Nice hostels in general, they're average relative to some other European hotspots, but the diverse crowd and lively pub crawls make up for it - as well as the savings!

🚗 **After 1 or 2 nights in Nice, rent a car for the next legs of the trip**

📍Gorge Du Verdon

This is one awesome drive. And bonus, it's free. We recommend leaving Nice early in the morning (8:00am ideally), and packing plenty of bread, deli, fruits and water for a day on the road. You'll travel Northwest, climbing higher and higher into the mountains until you find yourself in a classic French movie scene.. passing through cliff-side tunnels, overlooking river valleys and driving through mountain-top plateaus, with thinly scattered stone houses, complete with grape-vines and wine-drinking families in their courtyards. It's as authentic as it gets - and it means you're close!

A little ways further, you'll get to Gorge du Verdon, a striking river that cuts through the cliffs of the French countryside and makes for one epic day on the water. Whether it's kayaking or rafting (aka chill or thrill), MAKE SURE TO BOOK IN ADVANCE.

Also, and this is so random.. but MAKE SURE THE RIVER IS FLOWING THAT DAY. If you go on the wrong day, a nearby dam may stop the flow of water leaving it useless for anything but skipping rocks. Speaking from experience lol.

All that aside, the kayaking experience is 100% worth it. You're surrounded by limestone cliffs and travellers from around the world, having a floating hangout in the French sun. Where exactly you start and end will depend on who you choose as a provider, they'll give you all the details.

⭐️BONUS: Since you're already off the beaten path, you'd be remiss not to stop for dinner in Moustiers-Sainte-Marie before heading back to Nice. This mountain-top village looks like it's built INTO the cliff-side and is as authentic a French dinner as you can have. A full "LOCAL" experience that none of your friends have been to (until they read this of course..).

🚗 At the end of the afternoon, you'll be driving back to Nice for the night. Tomorrow, the big dance! Well the big race..

📍Monaco

Monaco is arguably the richest place on Earth... and yes, unless you're swimming in money there's lots of it you won't have access to. That does not mean you shouldn't go. If you run Monaco as a day trip from Nice, it can be quite reasonable. We personally packed up the car early in the morning and took off on the 30-minute drive to Monaco. Again, we stocked up on water and snacks before entering the hyper-rich nation. We also stopped for a hardy breakfast and hangover gatorades in a small town en route, and were parked in Monte Carlo (Monaco) by 10:30am.

Monte Carlo is a visually unbelievable place, and even if you're on a budget, grabbing a coffee at any harbour-front patio will be well worth it. We personally had some cocktails overlooking the mega-yachts of the marina, and it didn't even set us back all that much. Think Paris prices.

Casino Monte Carlo

Listen.. even if you're not a gambler.. even if you're on a budget.. playing a few hands at the world-famous casino is a bucket-list must. Some of history's most iconic and notorious figures rolled the dice here. Just know your price, know your limit, and you're good. Transparently, we lost $300 between two of us, but it was 1000% worth it. On the flip side, we could have WON and had a free trip 😏.

After you play - I highly recommend grabbing a seat across from the main entrance, in the centre of the famous roundabout. From here, you can watch the who's who of world elites stop their what's what of exotic supercars in front of the casino's valet. Another free but mesmerising Monaco experience. We were blown away..

If you're really on a budget - don't hesitate to do as the French do - reach for a baguette. At one point, we dodged a restaurant-lunch and opted to grab baguette, salami and cheese from a small shop on the corner. We had a 5-euro lunch, basking in the riviera sun and overlooking the pristine city-state from atop the hill. Brilliant.

🚗 At the end of the day, you'll be driving back to Nice for the night, where you can stay as long as you'd like before taking the train back to Milan to fly out.

Omissions

Another major cost-saver in this version of a Riviera trip, is dodging the intensly bougie and overprices destinations of Cannes and San Tropez. While beautiful, if you're on a budget they don't add much value relative to the sights you've already seen in Monaco and Nice. Similarly, Marseille and Montpellier ask you to drive quite a lot further, for little in extra experiences. Each spot has it's charm, certainly, but for a budget-trip it's just not worth the extra time and money.

🏅 The Rating:

List: 9.3 - Three countries (Italy, France, Monaco), the O Duomo, the world's most iconic casino, the most prestigious motor-race in history, and perhaps a few celebrity sightings. Albeit different than our usual, this definitely packs some bucket list punch. Local: 8.3 - The French riviera is not only glitz and glamour. Sure, in Nice and Monaco you'll spend more time with backpackers dancing on the bar-top, but the riviera itself, especially Gorge du Verdon and Moustiers, are as authentic as you can hope for. Mix these in and leave with a reasonable Local fix.

Loco: 8.1 - Speakeasies and the famous Navigli neighbourhood in Milan, wicked pub crawls in Nice, celebrity sightings in Monaco and high-adrenaline rafting in the Gorge, this trip has no shortage of spice. Price: $$$$ - When you read "Monaco & The French Riviera" what did you expect.. this won't be your cheapest trip. That said, with the tips above: i.e. flying in and out of Milan, using Nice as a hub, only day-tripping to Monaco etc., you can keep the costs manageable.

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