Nice Côte d'Azur Airport to Menton
Furthest of the coastal towns; take the TER train (~50 min) or ride Zou! Express 80 through Monaco to Menton for €20.50.
Menton, NiceLe poulpe ambidextre / Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 4.0Menton, the lemon town on the Italian border, is the eastern end of the French Riviera — about 40 km from the airport past Monaco.
Every way to get there
Our verdict: for Menton, a private transfer is the easiest door-to-door option (from €120). Travelling light on a budget? The bus is cheapest (from €20.5) 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 | €21 | €120 | Bus |
| Couple · 2 travellers | €41 | €120 | Bus |
| Family of 4 · 4 travellers | €82 | €120 | Bus |
Which option should you choose?
| If your priority is… | Our pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Lowest price | Bus | From €6.6, 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
About 50 min for roughly €6.60, hugging the coast the whole way. The station is a short stroll from the seafront and old town.
Where to catch it: Tram 2 to Nice-Saint-Augustin, then an eastbound TER toward Ventimiglia (Menton is near the end).
Best for budget travellers near a stationBus / shuttle
The same €20.50 line 80 coach that serves Monaco carries on to Menton — direct, but 70-80 min all told. Grab a seat before it fills at Monaco.
Where to catch it: Terminal 2 bus station; free tram shuttle from T1.
Best for solo & budget travellersTaxi
One of the pricier coastal runs given the distance — around €110 by day and up towards €140 at night or on Sundays.
Where to catch it: Airport taxi rank outside T1 and T2.
Best for small groups in a hurryPrivate transfer
Buys you your own seat for the full 40 km rather than a coach that's standing-room by Monaco — a fixed ~€120-160 door to door.
Where to catch it: Driver waits in arrivals with your name on the app booking.
Best for families, groups & late arrivalsMenton & 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 Menton
Menton sits at the far eastern edge of the French Riviera, the last French town before the border posts give way to Italy. From Nice Airport it is about 40 km east, and getting there means travelling the whole coast: past Nice itself, past Monaco, past Roquebrune, before the lemon groves and the pastel seafront come into view. That extra distance is the thing to plan around. Everything runs to Menton, but nearly everything reaches it as a second leg, after Monaco has already done its bit to fill up the trains and coaches. For a slower, garden-minded stretch of the Riviera, here is how the run actually works.
The coastal TER that carries on to the border
The train is the option most Menton visitors settle on, and it earns that spot on price. From the terminals you take Tram 2 to the Nice-Saint-Augustin stop, then pick up an eastbound TER heading toward Ventimiglia — Menton is one of the last French stops before the frontier. The whole journey runs around 50 minutes for roughly €6.60, and the line hugs the water almost the entire way, so the stretch past Èze and Cap-Martin is spent looking at the sea rather than a motorway. Departures come about every half hour. The Menton station sits a short walk above the seafront and the old town, which puts you close to the Jean Cocteau museum and the Marché des Halles without any further transfers. If you are heading out during the February lemon festival, when the town fills with citrus sculptures, the train also sidesteps the road traffic that clogs the coast road on festival weekends.
Line 80 by the time it has passed Monaco
There is a single direct coach, and it is the same Zou! Express 80 that Monaco travellers use. It leaves from the Terminal 2 bus station — a free tram shuttle links Terminal 1 to it — and after serving Monaco it continues on to Menton for a flat €20.50. Direct is the selling point: no tram, no change, one seat from airport to town. The catch is time and crowding. All told the ride is 70 to 80 minutes, longer than the train, and by the time the coach pulls out of Monaco it is often standing-room only. If you want a seat for the final stretch, board early at the airport rather than counting on space later. Buses run roughly every 45 minutes across a window of about 08:30 to 22:00, so this is a daytime choice; land outside those hours and the coach simply is not there.
A taxi, and the night-and-Sunday premium
A regulated airport taxi from the rank outside either terminal covers the 40 km in around 50 minutes, door to door, with no changes and no wait for a timetable. Because Menton is one of the longer coastal runs, the meter reflects it: figure on about €110 in daytime, climbing toward €140 at night or on Sundays. That surcharge structure is worth checking before you commit, since a late Saturday arrival can tip you into the higher band. Where the taxi earns its keep is arrival timing and luggage — if your flight lands after the last line 80 coach, or you are carrying more than you want to haul up the station steps, the fixed rank price removes the guesswork. Ask the driver to confirm the fare band before setting off; the rates are set, but knowing which one applies to your hour avoids surprises at the Menton end.
A booked driver for the full 40 km east
Because Menton is the longest of these coastal transfers, a pre-booked private transfer earns its place by giving you a guaranteed seat for the entire run rather than a coach that is packed by Monaco — the driver takes you the full 40 km with your bags stowed and no change of vehicle. Operators such as Welcome Pickups or Riviera chauffeurs meet you in arrivals through your app booking and hold a fixed fare of about €120 to €160, door to door. For a group splitting the cost, or for anyone reaching a villa or apartment up in the hills behind the town rather than beside the station, that flat price and a known pickup can be steadier than a metered fare that shifts with the clock.
Choosing by your arrival hour
The decision tends to fall on timing more than budget. A daytime arrival with light bags points straight at the TER — cheap, frequent, and dropped near the sea. Want one vehicle the whole way and don't mind the extra twenty minutes? Line 80 does it for €20.50, provided you're inside its daytime window and grab a seat early. Land late, arrive on a Sunday, or reach the hills above town, and a taxi or a booked driver removes the question of whether the next coach will even run. Check the last line 80 departure against your landing time before you leave home — that single figure decides which of these four you'll actually use.
