At the weekend many students can arrange to take optional excursions to local cities or local places of interest.

Some of the most popular weekend trips include: a train journey to Monte Carlo and Monaco, take the bus to Roquebrune village (famous for its fairy tale castle), a trip to Antibes and Cannes (famous resort towns) or even a weekend in Italy.

Monaco
A train journey from Nice will bring you to Monaco. This country packs a lot of living into a little land. Most of the people who live here come from somewhere else, drawn by the sun, glamorous lifestyle and - most importantly - tax-free income. This is the playground of Europe's elite, a country where lady luck might clean you out at the casino one day and put you on the Grimaldi's guest list the next. Monte Carlo: Don't miss: Monaco-Ville (the oldest part of the town on a high promontory), La Condamine (where the Monegasque people live), Monte-Carlo beach, and of course....the famous casino.

Cannes
This resort, on the world-famous Cote d'Azur,is the perennial favorite of wealthy scions and the shop-til-you-drop set. During the International Film Festivalin May, Cannes is crammed with more money, more champagne, more mobile phones and more cleavage than anywhere else in the world. Apart from posturing boutiques, hotels and restaurants, it also has beaches with the equivalent of room service, which the sallow studiously avoid.Just offshore is the eucalyptus and pine covered Sainte Marguerite, which was exploited so effectively by Alexander Dumas in his classic novel The Man in the Iron Mask.

Grasse
Clinging to the slopes of the Pre-Alpes 17 km North of Cannes, Grasse has served the country well in the art of perfume production for centuries. It is here that master perfumers - also known as 'nez'(noses) - train their probosci for seven years to recognize around 6000 scents. The town, with its distinctive orange roofs sheltering densely packed cottages, also produces some of France's finest flowers, including jasmine, Centifolia rose, lavender, mimosa, orange blossom and narcotic narcissus.

Antibes
One of the poshest and most famous of the Riviera resort towns. While there, visit the Musee Grimaldi- Picasso (Ancient granite castle was built on the ruins of a Roman camp) and the Musee Archaeologique Bastion St-Andre.

Neighbouring villages
Villefranche sur Mer (5km), Beaulieu (7km), St Jean Cap Ferrat (10km).

Take a local hike!
A ramble path, marked with arrows, fourteen kilometers long, is using the old country lanes which are linking the Var plain westwards, to the Gairaut hills eastwards. It allows, for good walkers, the discovery of the landscapes of the country of Nice, the Bellet vineyards, the olive groves, the traditional floral and market gardening, the pine forests and the green oak woods.

It offers marvelous viewpoints on the Baie des Anges and the hinterland overlooked by the Alpes Maritimes. A visit of the Bellet hamlet, the Saint Roman Church, with a stop by the spring, before taking the Via Augusta, built in 12 AD by August : so many interesting places, which are also telling the history of the region. The starting point is situated at the Lingostière station, which is served by the Chemins de fer de Provence train. Bus services are indenting the route, giving access to the paths, so one may interrupt the walk whenever he chooses to.