Nice-Paris by plane €55 cheaper than taking a taxi to Monaco!
This page is translated from the original post "Nice-Paris en avion 55 € moins cher que le taxi pour Monaco !" in French.
- 26/08/2025 16:29
The debate rages on: is the airplane too cheap or are other means of transport too expensive? The Nice-Monaco taxi demonstrates this.
On one side, a 32 km taxi ride, on the other 688 km by plane. In the first case, 95 euros fixed to reach the Nice airport from downtown Monaco. In the second, an Easyjet seat for less than 40 euros to get to Paris. And if we take the reasoning a bit further, the round trip of 1380 km will cost even less. Yet, an airplane costs millions of euros, its fuel is expensive and polluting, ground infrastructures, personnel, everything is costly. How is this possible? Is the transport world upside down?
At the arrivals terminal of Nice airport, you have plenty of options. Literally: shiny Mercedes S-Class, BMW Series 5, Tesla Model Y, Audi A6… The taxi business is thriving. The traveler, barely out of the plane, already senses how he will be charged when heading to Monaco if he hasn’t thought to take the train.
But clearly, the situation doesn’t bother anyone: the rates from and to Nice airport are indeed regulated, but at truly outrageous values. When a trip from downtown Paris to Charles-de-Gaulle airport costs you 56 euros for about 1 hour of travel, the fare from Nice airport to Monaco will cost you 95 euros… for 35 minutes (including a toll of 3.9 euros).
Taxi fares in Paris and Nice
That said, the 32 euros required to reach downtown Nice, just 15 minutes away, is quite remarkable. The reason? An exorbitant taxi license fee.
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Voluntarily high taxi fares?
In Nice, the taxi license – officially called Parking Authorization (ADS) – represents a colossal investment. Its price generally ranges between 200,000 and 250,000 euros, making it one of the most expensive in France. This exceptional valuation is explained by the scarcity of available licenses, strictly regulated by a quota set by the city hall.
The city hall only issues new ADSs exceptionally, when it deems that the supply no longer meets the demand. As a result, the market is stagnant, and existing licenses increase in value like a rare asset. This reality is also supported by a historical legacy: for a long time, ADSs could be freely resold, allowing departing drivers to finance part of their retirement. Since 2015, new licenses issued are no longer transferable, but the old ones continue to circulate, artificially maintaining very high prices. In the age of robotaxis, all of this will soon become a thing of the past…
Finally, the exceptional attractiveness of the French Riviera, boosted by international tourism and flows to the airport, reinforces this scarcity: limiting the number of taxis helps ensure the profitability of existing drivers. A system that protects professionals but imposes an exorbitant investment on any new entrants, explaining high prices for customers.
The train as a backup option!
Fortunately, the traveler has the option of taking the train. The Nice-Saint-Augustin station is only 500 meters away (10 minutes on foot or a free shuttle between the Terminals 1 and 2 to the adjacent Grand-Arénas station). And there, a train will take you to Monaco every 12 minutes for only 6.90 euros per person, without traffic jams, CO2 emissions, nausea, or anything else, and in just 32 minutes. There isn’t even a reason to deliberate.
Finally, there is an intermediate solution: the offers from VTCs. Uber and others are half the price of Nice taxis. That’s how the tables turn…
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