Nice, France

kmoon

(Thanks in advance)

Thinking of heading there for a sun-and-sand holiday as opposed to one of the usual places. Is it that sort of resort? How far are beaches from the town? Is it expensive? And what about the nearby resort of Cannes? Can book flights, transfers and hotels seperatley as I usually do, but wouldn't mind a package deal this time round - anyone knwo any tarvel agenst that specialise in this part of the world?

Cheers

Morlar

Nice is not really a resort town at all from my experience. Its pretty cheap in most respects - if your going to be out and about much forget about getting a taxi on the street to take you home at the end of the night.

Some parts are a bit grotty and it does have a crime problem, particularly car crime. Cannes is ok too (from memory just bout an hour up the road) - was only in cannes for a day but it seemed fine, a lot cleaner and better shops /sights than found in nice imo.

mikedragon32

Nice has a 7km long beach but not a bit of it is sandy. It's all stone, which gets washed away in Winter but is replaced in Spring!

Nice is the 5th largest city in France, but it's not all as nice as the promenade, old town (vieux Nice) or the area around the port. That said, you'll find some nice hotels along the promenade or around the harbour that won't cost too much. If you're staying around the old town, you're not going to need taxi or worry about car hire. It's very compact and the main shopping areas are no more than 10 mins walk from anywhere in the old town and maybe 15 mins from the port.

There's a big shopping centre next to the airport called Cap 3000, but there's nothing there you won't find in the city.

There are restaurants and cafés/bars to suit any budget and Cours Selaya is bustling during the day with a market Tues-Sun (it's an antiques market on Mondays), then in the evenings all the bars and restaurants have tables lining the square, which is great for people watching.

In my own opinion, you should really book flights & accommodation indepentantly or maybe try lastminute.com for your a deal. In terms of transfers, buses 98 and 99 go from the Airport to the city in about 20mins and costs about €4 per person (you can then use that ticket for the rest of the day). An organisation called ATS runs minibuses which can be used for private transfers if you don't want to share and doesn't cost much more than a taxi.

Aer Lingus is the only airline to fly direct from Dublin, but Ryanair fly into Marsielle, about two hours down the road.

How many are going and what's your budget? I have a friend with a villa to let on the promenade that accommodates 6, but it may be pricey.

jdivision

I like Nice a lot but as other people said parts of it are a bit grotty. My recommendation would be walk to the headland at the left end of the promenade and get the lift up. The views when you walk out are fantastic. Nice place to ramble around for an hour as well. If you find hotels in Nice expensive stay in one of the towns outside like Eze and Beaulieu sur Mer. There's a good cheap train service connecting them to Nice. A day trip to Monte Carlo is a must and I also went over the Ventigmilia in Italy. Amazing change of pace for a place that's just 10-20 minutes over the border. I liked Antibes a lot - great beach there- but found Cannes a bit overrated, others loved it though.

mikedragon32

jdivision wrote:

I like Nice a lot but as other people said parts of it are a bit grotty. My recommendation would be walk to the headland at the left end of the promenade and get the lift up. The views when you walk out are fantastic. Nice place to ramble around for an hour as well. If you find hotels in Nice expensive stay in one of the towns outside like Eze and Beaulieu sur Mer. There's a good cheap train service connecting them to Nice. A day trip to Monte Carlo is a must and I also went over the Ventigmilia in Italy. Amazing change of pace for a place that's just 10-20 minutes over the border. I liked Antibes a lot - great beach there- but found Cannes a bit overrated, others loved it though.

The LIFT!!!!!?????

Take the stairs up for some great views along the way! Walk all the way up to the waterfall too! Great walks to be had around there. Views of Vieux Nice on one side and the Port on the other.

Train to Ventigmilia is a great idea. Don't make our mistake and drive there on a Friday! Not for the faint hearted!

Right_Side

The big advantage of Nice is location. Various places are within close reach e.g. Monte Carlo, St. Tropez, Cannes etc.

Beach is crap get the train to a better beach.

Pretentious feel to the city.

Very expensive... about €8 a pint although 6 bottles of a well-known beer in the supermarket is unlikely to cost more than €5.

mikedragon32

Not everywhere charges €8 a pint. Some charge more!

There's a Swiss bar next door to the Claire Fontaine restaurant in Vieux Nice where it's about €3.50 a half litre all night. The bar I usually frequent when there (I don't know its name, I'm afraid) charges about €5 for a half litre.