South of France Travel Guide is part of the Still The Best Trip Report.
TPOL’s Guns & Butter Travel Guide is the best way to see as much as you can in as little time as possible. Here’s how it works – A trip is composed of two factors: Labor And Lazy. The opportunity cost (what is given up) for relaxing and being Lazy is gained by being adventurous in the form of Labor and vice versa. The guide includes inefficient activities i.e., tourist traps that should be avoided and aspirational activities that are worth doing but may be impossible to see given the constraints of time and resources.
Do you know what sucks? Being poor. Do you know what sucks more? Realizing how poor you are. That summarizes my time in the French Riviera or as the elite call it, Côte d’Azur.
The travel guide is not the place for a philosophical discussion about money buying happiness. What I can say is that no amount of money will be enough for those who chase money. Someone will always have more. Having said that, I don’t enjoy being around people that have that much more. Unless Saddam would have given me my own oil field, I, sadly, do not see a way to keep up with the Laurents (French for Jones’s). That does not mean I won’t stop trying. #capitalism #Americanquoteunquotedream.
Now that you are profoundly depressed, let me share with you what there is to do on the French Riviera on a stimulus check budget.
- Take the Bus
Rich or poor, time is of the essence. The best way to get to Cannes from Nice airport is on the bus (see By Bus: Nice to Cannes).
2. Don’t Stay in Cannes
What’s dumber than spending 1k+ a night for a hotel room? Spending hundreds of thousands of points on a hotel room.
The question is, do I want to invest more time in a points rich scheme or a get rich quick scheme so that these rates are acceptable? I have promised not to philosophize further in this post so I won’t answer that query.
3. Bring your earplugs.
Do you like fireworks? Growing up going to Disney every spring break, I have seen enough fireworks for this life and the next. To be sure, I confirmed my apathy for fireworks by witnessing them in Hong Kong for New Years (see Hong Kong New Year’s Eve Fireworks: What a Dud!). Incidentally, I was in Cannes for the Cannes Pyrotechnic Festival. Here is how it is described on the website: This international competition, held in the Bay of Cannes, featured six shows presented by masters of fireworks and the art of synchronization, with international fireworkers competing for the Silver Vestal prize.
All I witnessed was loud noise and people videoing it. 
TPOL’s Tip: Don’t video fireworks. You’re not going to watch it again!
4. Have Gelato.
If you’ve soured on the French Riviera, try something sweet. I was told that Le Quirly had the best gelato this side of the Seine.
5. Have a Drink
Money considerations aside, the town is buzzing during the summer.
6. Bolt Home?
To keep the riff-raff out, the public transport stops running early in the evening. To get back to Nice, I paid 80 euros for an overpriced Bolt where the driver talked on the phone the whole time and did not put on the AC (see Scam Alert!: You Didn’t Request AC for Your Rideshare). 
7. Holiday Inn Express Nice
Unexpected transport charge aside, staying at the Holiday Inn Express Nice using a stay certificate was much better than burning points in Cannes. I arrived at 1 AM and was out the door headed for Monaco early the following morning.
8. Monaco
If you liked feeling poor in Cannes, you might also like Monaco. I was unimpressed (see See What? Crapping Out in Monaco) and will not return whether it is by train or helicopter (Nice to Monaco by Train: Next Time by Choppa*).
9. Nice Plage
Rocky beaches are not my thing.
Though the beach bars looked like fun, my time on the Riviera was up. 
10. Get Out
Having suffered limited financial loss, it was time to leave. This time the Bolt had AC.
