**** Twice As NICE! ***** (Nice)

Member Name: malibu_jenny

Product:	Nice
Date:	22/06/09 (36 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Restaurants & Nightlife, Central Location, Shopping, Accomodation, Sun & Sea!

Disadvantages: Only the pebbly beach.

The sun was blasting down with the tarmac under our feet almost sticking to our flip-flops. The spray from the sea crashed against the rocks on the harbour and The Boyfriend turned to face me. "What did you say?" he asked, lifting his sunglasses above his eyebrows. I hadn't said anything, but I was thinking it. Nice has pretty much everything you could want from a holiday.

GETTING AROUND

We arrived in early June, so not quite high season, but good enough as far as opening hours and sunshine go. Flying to Nice airport is convenient and cheap; it's around 5km from the town centre, with good bus and taxi links and is a popular destination for Ryanair and Easyjet flights. However, The Boyfriend is not a fan of planes or flying, so instead we swooshed in on the high speed TGV from Paris.

The station is relatively close to the action, with our fellow passengers spilling straight out onto the pavement at Avenue.Thiers halfway up the main shopping street, Avenue Jean Medecin. Next to the station is the tourist office, and although in our experience this was usually closed / run by unhelpful teenagers and their friends / subject to queuing times in excess of 30 minutes, you could try stopping here for a map.

You'd have no trouble being picked up from here or catching a bus into town (the stops are opposite the station). If you turn left as you exit and head along to the junction with Jean Medecin, the tram on the corner will take you in a downhill direction past high street names like H&M and Game to Place Massena. This is a pink and white square of colonial style archways and fountains, packed with families and shoppers but crisscrossed by speeding cars and the silent trams.

It's only a euro for a journey in any direction, but you need a certain sleight of hand to get tickets from the machines at the tram stop before you board. You're supposed to then 'compost' the tickets in the yellow machines on board, but we never saw a conductor of any sort to enforce this.

The next stop along from Place Massena is the nearest one for Vieux Nice. From here you can head into the alleyways of the old town or through it and out onto Promenade Anglais with it's pebbly beach and harbour view.

VIEUX NICE

Having managed to grasp neither the intricacies of catching the bus nor the tram, we arrived sweaty and dusty on foot with our hefty luggage in Vieux Nice. The buildings are high with the traditional tumbledown French exterior, all peeling plaster and heavy shutters. Puffing and panting, we hauled ourselves up nine flights of extremely steep and slippery stairs and into the tiny crows nest of a studio apartment.

Staying in Nice, particularly the old town, is not cheap. The advantage of Vieux Nice is that you are central to everything; bars, restaurants, the markets and the sea. The disadvantage is the lack of modern facilities (lifts, swimming pools) and, er, the noise from the bars, restaurants, markets and beach. On a Saturday night you'd be forgiven for thinking you were in Ibiza with pounding dance music, screaming and smashing glass all night long. I slept through it without a problem, but The Boyfriend had to console himself with the people watching opportunities it afforded.

The Cours Saleya holds the flower market and an extensive fruit and vegetable selection most mornings, beating the two tiny supermarkets in the area on price. Fruit is more expensive than in the UK, but the vegetables are excellent value and just the thing to knock up a stew with some crusty French bread.

In the evenings, the restaurants open all along here with their tables under the market awnings and a whole host of beggars, gymnasts and African-mask sellers pitch up to prey on the tourists. Most of the restaurants are Pizza orientated, but the Cote Sud does a tourist menu where you can sample three courses of local specialities for 15 Euros and there is a fish restaurant by the harbour archway selling the catch of the day. Drinks are steeply priced at all of these restaurants and 3-4 Euros for a Coke is around average.

The restaurants further into Vieux Nice, around place Rossetti and Rue De La Prefecture are substantially cheaper and worth a look, especially at lunchtimes for baguettes and crepes. If you're craving spicy food, the Raja Indian Restaurant on the Harbour does an 18 Euro set Menu or you can eat a la Carte for around 25 Euros per person. The food here is excellent and beautifully presented.

For a longer night out, there are plenty of English and Irish Bars (including the popular Wayne's, with live music), along with general outdoor drinking on the Piazza in front of Palais Du Justice.

SIGHTSEEING

If Nice's pebbly beach isn't going to entertain you indefinitely, there's plenty to see in the day. Climbing the steps by the harbour to the site of the Ancient Chateau, you can see the ruins of the 11th Century church and some spectacular views of the port. The park up here is full of shady spots and water fights, ice cream vans and a bar at the highest point. In the opposite direction, a stroll along the Promenade Anglais (or even better, a rollerblade) gives you a tour of the fanciest hotels, including the Negresco and an opportunity to pick up postcards.

Further afield, you can catch the bus out to Ciminez for fantastic Roman ruins and a free museum, more panoramas and the Monastery perched over the city in its beautiful gardens. There is also a ferry from the harbour in Vieux Nice to St Tropez and St Marguerite. Cannes, St Rafael and Monaco are all just a couple of Euros on the train, as is Grasse where the Estee Lauder and Dior perfumes are made.

MODERN NICE

The streets of modern Nice are beyond the Place Massena, towards the station. These wide, paved roads are well served by the tram system and rival Paris for shopping. We saw everything from 2 Euro dresses to designer boutiques and I indulgently picked up an overpriced but pretty dress in Esprit. Modern Nice is the place to find MacDonalds and a Barclays Bank - everything you went on holiday to get away from.

Nice Etoile, the commercial centre, is stuffed with boutiques and unusual shops; amusingly, the street lamps placed outside make the main sign read "Nice Toilet" from across the road. For more shopping (though it's unlikely you'll need anything you can't buy round here), there's also the 'Nice Mall' in Ciminez.

MORE...?

You don't have to take my word for it, thanks to Google Street you can now stroll around the streets of Nice; check out the link below for a stroll along the Promenade.
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&q=Nice%20 toile&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wl

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Summary: Go on, treat yourself to a holiday!