Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Vence is a well-discovered yet appealing town set high above the Riviera. While growth
has sprawled beyond Vence's old walls, and cars jam its roundabouts, the mountains are
frontandcenter andthebreeze isfresh.Vence bubbleswithworkadaylife andample tour-
ist activity in the day but is quiet at night, with few visitors and cooler temperatures than
along the coast. Vence makes a handy base for travelers wanting the best of both worlds: a
hill-town refuge near the sea.
Tourist Information
Vence's fully loaded and eager-to-help TI faces the main square at 8 Place du Grand
Jardin, across from the merry-go-round. It offers free Wi-Fi, bus schedules, brochures on
the cathedral, and a city map with a well-devised self-guided walking tour (25 stops, in-
corporates informative wall plaques). The TI also publishes a list of Vence art galleries
with English descriptions of the collections. To properly engage you in French culture,
the staff can help you find French-language classes and—even better—
pétanque
instruc-
tions with
boules
to rent for €3 per person. Ask about guided walking tours in English (TI
open July-Aug Mon-Sat 9:00-19:00, Sun 10:00-18:00; March-June and Sept-Oct Mon-Sat
9:00-18:00, Nov-Feb 10:00-17:00; closed Sun Sept-June; free Wi-Fi, tel. 04 93 58 06 38,
Market day
in the
cité historique
(old town) is on Friday mornings on Place Cle-
menceau. A big all-day antiques market is on Place du Grand Jardin every Wednesday.
If you miss market day, a
Monoprix
is on Avenue de la Résistance, across from the en-
trance to the Marie Antoinette parking lot (grocery store upstairs, Mon-Sat 8:30-20:00,
Sun 8:30-12:30).
Arrival in Vence
By Bus:
Buses #94 and #400 (from Nice, Cagnes-sur-Mer, and St-Paul-de-Vence) drop
you at the bus stop labeled
Halte Routière de l'Ara
, which is on a roundabout at Place
Maréchal Juin. It's a 10-minute walk to the town center along Avenue Henri Isnard or Av-
enue de la Résistance.
By Car:
Follow signs to
cité historique,
then look for blue
P
signs and park in one
of two lots:
Marie Antoinette
or the underground
Grand Jardin
. Both are a five-minute
walk from the town center and have the same rates (€15/day, €2/overnight 20:00-8:00).
Some hotels offer discounted rates.
