Inter cities
In the Maritime Alps, buses are extremely cheap. Almost all one way tickets cost 1.50€, no matter how far you go. The drawback is that journeys are quite long. Expect 2h from Nice to Cannes whereas 25mn are needed by train.
The 10 trips cards cost only 10€ with therefore a cost of 1€ per trip. For this price you'll be able to travel as much as 100km (Nice - Auron for exemple).
You will find the schedules for most of the lines on the Deparement web page. They enable you to go (almost) everywhere without a car.
The main lines :
- 100 : Nice - Menton via the lower corniche (Villefranche, Beaulieu sur Mer, Eze, Cap d'Ail, Monaco, Roquebrune...)
- 200 : Nice - Cannes via St Laurent, Cagnes/Mer, Biot, Villeneuve Loubet, Antibes, Golfe Juan...
- 400 : Nice - Vence via Cagnes sur Mer and St Paul de Vence
- 500 : Nice - Grasse via Cagnes, Roquefort les Pins....
- 600 : Cannes - Grasse via Mouans Sartoux.
There are others, with fewer buses. Check the schedules (above).
But there are some other important lines which, for obscure administrative reasons are not dependant on the Departement. You will find their schedules on the Ligne d'Azur web page. Use it if one of the links below doesn't work any longer owing to schedules changes. (Also read below the part dealing with the ski lines.)
- the 730 line Nice - St Martin Vésubie serving the Vésubie valley. 2015 schedules.
- the 740 line Nice - Auron serving the high Tinée valley. 2015 schedules.
- the 746 goes from the Tinée to the Vésubie valley through Valdeblore and enables connections to/from Nice with lines 730 and 740. 2015 schedules.
- the 750 line Nice - Isola 2000 serves the Tinée middle valley. 2015 schedules.
These lines will enable hikers to reach the highland and the Mercantour National park.
To find your itinerary and the lines you can use, you may use the ceparou06 web page. This is an official page, but it works more or less, doesn't always find a solution even when it exists and is not very user-friendly.
NOTICE:
When you buy your ticket in the intercity bus, if you need to take an other bus afterwards within your destination city, request the connection ticket to the driver WHEN YOU BUY YOUR TICKET. He will give you a free ticket enabling you to continue your trip with the destination city bus network (Cannes, Nice). But you must request it before he issues your ticket because in this case, it won't be the same one. (He won't be able to do it if he issued the ticket without connection first.) You'll therefore have 2 tickets for the price of one. The second ticket will have to be used just after your arrival.
Ski lines
In winter, special lines are opened from Nice towards ski resorts : Auron (91), Isola 2000 (92) and la Colmiane (90). Daily service (91 and 92), or saturdays and sundays only (90). Each leg costs 6€, or 12€ for a return trip. You have to book you seats on the internet only and you must then print the tickets on paper.
City buses
Several cities have their own buses networks : Antibes, Cannes, Nice, Monaco Monte-Carlo, Menton... which also serve the cities nearby.