Nice Côte d'Azur Airport to Antibes
The TER train is quickest (~22 min), while Zou! Express 82 is the cheapest direct coach at just €10.50.
Antibes, NiceGilbert Bochenek / Wikimedia, CC BY 3.0Antibes and Juan-les-Pins sit midway to Cannes — a walled old town, the Picasso museum and the yacht-lined Port Vauban, about 20 km west.
Every way to get there
Our verdict: for Antibes, a private transfer is the easiest door-to-door option (from €75). Travelling light on a budget? The bus is cheapest (from €10.5) but slower, with a change in the city.
What it costs for your group
The bus is charged per person, while a taxi or private transfer is one price for the whole car — so the more of you there are, the better door-to-door value looks.
| Group | Bus (per person) | Private transfer | Best value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Solo · 1 traveller | €11 | €75 | Bus |
| Couple · 2 travellers | €21 | €75 | Bus |
| Family of 4 · 4 travellers | €42 | €75 | Bus |
Which option should you choose?
| If your priority is… | Our pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Lowest price | Bus | From €5, though slower with a change in the city. |
| Speed & comfort | Private transfer | Door-to-door, fixed price, a driver waiting for you. |
| A group of 3–4 | Transfer or taxi | One flat fare splits cheaper than several bus tickets. |
| A late-night arrival | Transfer or taxi | Both run 24/7 when buses and the tram have stopped. |
By transport mode
Train
Fast and cheap: about 20-25 min and roughly €5 to Antibes station, a short walk from the old town and Port Vauban.
Where to catch it: Tram 2 to Nice-Saint-Augustin, then a westbound TER — Antibes is a few stops down the line.
Best for budget travellers near a stationBus / shuttle
The bargain of the airport coaches — €10.50 flat all the way to Antibes, Juan-les-Pins and on to Vallauris. Around 40 min via the motorway.
Where to catch it: Terminal 2 bus station (bay for line 82); take the free tram from T1 if needed.
Best for solo & budget travellersTaxi
Around €75 on the standard fixed tariff, rising to roughly €95 at night or on Sundays. Straightforward door-to-door for a 20 km run.
Where to catch it: Taxi rank outside arrivals, both terminals.
Best for small groups in a hurryPrivate transfer
The train and bus both leave you at the station — a booked driver instead reaches the old-town alleys or a Cap d'Antibes villa directly. About €75-105.
Where to catch it: Greeter in arrivals; car pre-assigned to your booking.
Best for families, groups & late arrivalsAntibes & Nice in photos
Buying tickets in Nice
Tram Line 2 runs from the airport into the city. The machines at the airport tram stop sell the "L'Aéro" ticket for €10, valid only as a return. Nice no longer sells single-use paper tickets, so for a cheaper one-way buy the reusable "La Carte" (€2) and load a €1.70 single onto it. Whatever you carry, tap or validate it on the reader every time you board or you are travelling without a valid ticket.
Taxi scams & safety in Nice
Inspectors regularly board at the first stop after the airport and fine anyone with an unvalidated ticket €60 on the spot (€40 if paid later), a frequent trap for tourists who forget to tap. For taxis, use only the official rank outside the terminal; agree nothing with drivers who approach you inside. Uber and Bolt are legal and run about €25 to €35 door-to-door, collected at the marked ride-hailing area rather than the taxi rank.
Getting from NCE to Antibes
Antibes is the shortest of the "out of Nice" runs west along the coast — about 20 km, roughly 20 minutes on the motorway, and the first proper town you reach before Cannes. That closeness changes the maths. For the walled old town, the Picasso museum in the Château Grimaldi and the yacht-lined Port Vauban, you have two genuinely good public options that a taxi struggles to beat on either price or time. Below, how the Zou! coach, the coastal train, the fixed-fare taxi and a booked car actually compare for someone heading to Vieil Antibes or Juan-les-Pins with children in tow.
The €10.50 coach against the €5 train
These two do most of the work on this route, and they pull in different directions. The Zou! Express 82 is the cheapest of all the airport coaches — €10.50 flat, first two bags free, and it runs straight through to Antibes, Juan-les-Pins and on to Vallauris with no change. It leaves from the Terminal 2 bus station; if you land at T1, take the free tram shuttle across first. The catch is the road: it uses the A8 and takes around 40 minutes, more if the motorway is heavy, and it runs only every 30 to 60 minutes, so a missed one is a real wait.
The coastal TER train wins on speed and frequency for barely more effort. From either terminal you ride Tram 2 one stop (or walk about ten minutes) to Nice-Saint-Augustin station, then take a westbound TER. Antibes is a few stops down the line — about 20 to 25 minutes once aboard, and near €5. Trains come every 20 to 30 minutes, so you rarely wait long. The trade is the two-part journey and hauling bags up to the platform; if that sounds fiddly with a pushchair, the single-vehicle coach may suit you better despite the slower ride.
From Antibes station to the old town, the museum and the port
Both the train and the coach leave you at, or beside, Antibes station rather than at your door — worth picturing before you choose. From the station it is a walk of roughly ten to fifteen minutes down to the Port Vauban ramparts and the edge of Vieil Antibes, mostly flat and easy with wheels. The Picasso museum sits inside the old walls a little further on, and the daily Marché Provençal on Cours Masséna is the same short stretch. Juan-les-Pins, on the far side of the Cap, is its own station one stop along, so if your hotel is on that beach it is often smarter to stay on the train one extra stop than to get off at Antibes and cross the peninsula.
The Zou! 82 makes several stops through the two towns, which can drop you closer to a Juan-les-Pins hotel than the station would — check the route map against your address before you assume the train is nearer.
Cap d'Antibes addresses and travelling with a family
Where public transport stops being the obvious answer is Cap d'Antibes itself — the villa-and-hotel headland south of the port, which no train or airport coach reaches. Here a pre-booked private transfer earns its place: it delivers you to a specific gate on the Cap or into the old-town alleys the buses skirt, and the driver loads the cases while you keep track of the children. Prices sit around €75 to €105 door to door, fixed when you book, with child seats available on request if you ask ahead. For a family of four splitting one fare, that is close to the combined cost of four coach tickets anyway, without the platform scramble.
A regulated airport taxi covers the same ground on the fixed zone tariff — about €75 by day, climbing to roughly €95 at night, on Sundays and holidays. It is the same door-to-door convenience with no advance booking; you simply join the rank outside arrivals. The difference is mainly that the taxi price is set on the spot while a transfer is agreed and confirmed in writing beforehand, which some travellers prefer for peace of mind on a first visit.
So, for a first trip to Vieil Antibes
If you are light on luggage and heading for the old town or Port Vauban, take the TER: around €5, near 25 minutes on the train, and frequent enough that you needn't plan around it. If the budget is tighter than the clock and one vehicle beats a tram-plus-train hop for you, the €10.50 Zou! 82 is hard to argue with. Save the taxi or the booked car for a Cap d'Antibes villa, a late landing when trains thin out, or a family that would rather not manage two changes and a walk. Buy the TER ticket at the Saint-Augustin machine before you board — inspectors do check the coastal line, and the fine dwarfs the fare.
