When I visited in late March, the weather was great, generally temperatures in the 60s to mid 70s during the day. Some locals told me that the weather has been changing – January was quite rainy, unusual they say because Nice is noted as having 300 sunny days per year. The forecast for the several days I was there was for rain – fortunately it only rained one day, and almost every day started off sunny and most days stayed sunny for much of the day. Prior to my arrival there were some very heavy rains.
Nice is fairly inexpensive relative to other French destinations I’m told. Transportation is very inexpensive with buses taking you to many points between Cannes and Monaco for about $2.00 (one way). Trains are fairly inexpensive, about $18.00 round trip to Bordighera, Italy. There are several cafes, sandwich shops and grocery stores offering inexpensive meal items. Several budget hotels are found between the train station and Place Massena. All Museums except the Chagall and Russian Cathedral are free. Nice is very cosmopolitan – in addition to the native French, there are many Africans and Arabs – I met some people from Prague who are studying in Nice.
Because Nice is such a central location and is inexpensive, it is a great location from which to explore towns and villages across the Riviera. It is only about 30 miles to Cannes; there are seveal buses and trains each day between the two cities. In the opposite (easterly) direction, Bordighera Italy 31 miles can easily be reached by train as well.There are several beautiful towns and villages between both of these cities, including: La Turbie, Monaco, St-Paul-de-Vence, Antibes, Villefranche sur Mer, Eze-le-Village, SAINT-JEAN-CAP-FERRAT, and Ventimiglia, Italy. I visited all of these except for Antibes and La Turbie. Hopefully I'll return and will visit these two at that time.
I referenced several sources before travelling to Nice and the surrounding French and Italian Riviera. These include: Rick Steves’ France Guide, Frommer’s Europe, Rough Guide’s Europe on a Budget, Lonely Planet-Europe on a Shoestring, Europe by Eurail and Let’s Go Europe (all books), as well as Rick Steves’ Europe PBS Television Show (available on DVD) and Dennis Callan on YouTube. Even though I enjoyed all of them, I found Rick Steves’ material the most informative and thorough with the bonus of offering many tips and “off the beaten path” options.
Prior to arriving, I read that the French are somewhat arrogant and impatient of tourists, particularly those that do not speak French. I found that not to be the case everywhere I visited. At the hotel, all the staff were friendly. Each town I visited had Tourist Information Offices that offered maps and descriptions of attractions; the staff were friendly and patient.
Because my pictures were taken with an inexpensive Nikon camera, some of the pictures in this blog were obtained from WikiMediaCommons at www.commons.wikimedia.org; where I used their pictures, I have cited the author.
The information below is a summary of the sites and activities I enjoyed while I was in Nice Nice and the surrounding French and Italian Riviera.
Try to stay near: Between Place Massena and the train station or along Avenue Jean Medecin that connects the train station with Place Massena. From here you will have easy access to the Old Town and the Promenade des Anglais and points along the Mediterranean. Why:
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Many buses travelling between Cannes and Monaco arrive/leave at the bus station between Boulevard Jean Jaurès and Avenue Félix Faure (near Place Masséna)
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It is a direct walk (after turning the corner from the train station) between the train station and the Medittiterranean along Avenue Jean Medecin.
The information below is a summary of the sites and activities I enjoyed while I was on the Riviera.
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Massena Museum – housed in the opulent family estate near the seafront. Free. Closed Tuesday
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Nice Opera – performances September to May http://www.opera-nice.org/
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Vieux Nice (Old Town)
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Cours Saleya - Has been Nice’s main market square for hundreds of years.
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Down the center of Cours Saleya, near the La Cambuse restaurant is the famous socca queen Thérèse. She’s cooking socca, Nice’s chickpea crêpe specialty (until about 13: 00).
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Continuing down Cours Saleya is a golden building where Henri Matisse spent many years with a brilliant view onto Nice’s world.
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Notre-Dame-de-l’Annonciation is a small baroque church dedicated to St. Rita, a favorite patron saint of desperate of Nice.
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Palais Lascaris (c. 1647, gorgeous at night), a former estate from a prominent old Nice family. Interesting Baroque Italian architecture and collection of antique musical instruments— free entry.
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Place Rossetti: Bustling Italian influenced square with lots of eateries and people. The popular Fenocchio gelato shop is here.
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Cathedral of St. Réparate—Named after Nice’s patron saint, a teenage virgin named Réparate. Legend says her martyred body floated to Nice in the fourth century accompanied by angels .
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Castle Hill is near the Cathedral of St. Réparate up the steep walkway. It is between the Port and Vieux Nice. There are remnants of the old fort, a beautiful park and lovely views.
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Promenade des Anglais is an approximately four-mile-long seafront walkway along the Mediterranean on the opposite side of the Place Massena from the Vieux Nice and the Port.
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Hôtel Negresco —Nice’s finest hotel is also a historic monument, offering up the city’s most expensive beds
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Bay of Angels (Baie des Anges) — Lots of benches along the walkway so you can enjoy looking at the turquoise and blue water and all the action. Or you can rent chairs on the beach. From here you can see Castle Hill and Villefranche-sur-Mer.
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Albert 1er Park —Former private gardens of the Belgian King. A statue at the edge of the park commemorates the 100-year anniversary of Nice’s union with France.
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Masséna Museum (Musée Masséna) —Named after Jean-André Masséna, a commander during France’s Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars. The mansion and grounds are beautiful. There is some lovely artwork and other exhibits. Price is free.
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Russian Cathedral (Cathédrale Russe) —Nice has a large number of Russians, so they built a large Orthodox church in which to worship. Cost is free. It’s about a 10 minute walk from the train station.
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Place Garibaldi , the crossroads of the old town and new town
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Place Massena – the main square of Nice, that is at the edge of Vieux Nice and Albert 1er Park
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Matisse Museum Small but worthwhile collection. Housed in a beautiful Mediterranean mansion set in an olive grove amid the ruins of the ancient Roman city of Cemenelum.
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Chagall Museum – one of the few museums that have a price for admission.
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Fine Arts Museum ( Musée des Beaux-Arts) —Located a bit of a distance from other sites, it is located in a Riviera villa with lovely gardens, this museum holds 6,000 artworks from the 17th to 20th centuries; the collection may be a bit of a disappointment but the building and grounds are lovely. As with most museums, it is free.
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Fabulous Opera House (Opéra de Nice) reputed to have inexpensive performances in this beautiful building.
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Mont-Boron forestal park ROUTE FORESTIÈRE DU MONT BORON (K6) trails and a Botanical garden in this Mediterranean forest. From the Mont-Alban Fort at the top of the his, enjoy views along the French and even into Italy. Take The 30-min jorney from Nice center on bus no.14.
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The following represent the nearby cities and towns that are generally within an hour train or bus ride from Nice. Buses are cheap, 1.5 euro (about $2.00) one way
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Monaco – take Bus #100, then walk or take local buses to see the sites. The principality of Monaco consists of three distinct tourist areas : Monaco-Ville , Monte Carlo, and La Condamine.
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Monte-Carlo Casino
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Oceanographic Museum
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Prince’s Palace, built on the site of an old Italian fort.
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Palace Square offers views over the city and the port.
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statue of a “monk”, actually François Grimaldi, an Italian who captured Monaco in 1297 and began the dynasty that still rules the principality.
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Monaco Cathedral – burial location of royalty, including Princess Grace.
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Jardin Botanique , lovely garden with more fine
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St-Paul-de-Vence – a lovely medieval hill town with buildings from the 15th and 16th century. It is historic, clean, compact and good views from parts of town. This hill town is set high above the Riviera. The walled city has one main street and not a lot of side streets. Take Bus #400 that drops you about a 10-minute walk to the town center.
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Villefranche sur Mer– small peaceful town reached using bus #100 from Nice. The old town is about a 10 minute walk from the bus station.
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Eze-le-Village– take bus #82 or #112 to get to this very touristy but extremely lovely and historic place. Well preserved medieval hilltop town overlooking the Mediterranean. Beautiful narrow streets lead you around and up past magnificent stone buildings, many with lovely gardens, shops and floral decorations. George Sands and Fredrich Nietzche wrote here. When you’re done visiting Eze-le-Village, take the trail just beyond the entrance down to the town of Eze-Bord-de-Mer. It descends about 1,300 feet to the sea offering many lovely views. It takes about 30 to 45minutes. Once in Eze-Bord-de-Mer, you can catch a bus or train to all destinations between Nice and Monaco.
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Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat – another lovely village that is home to the wealthy of the French Riviera. It is especially noted for the exceptional Ephrussi De Rothschild Villa and Gardens, a highlite of my trip. I was fortunate to have an exceptionally clear day with no humidity while I was here. The staff are very friendly. Once done visiting the mansion and gardens, you can wonder around looking at the lovely homes on their well-manicured lots. There is a path nearby that allows a walk along the sea and mansions; because of recent heavy rains just prior to my arrival, several locals said the walk-way was not safe due to the possibility of a land-slide.
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Cannes – Because it is easily reached from Nice by inexpensive train, there is no need to stay at the expensive hotels in Cannes. The train station is just a few blocks from La Croisette, and Le Suquet is located at the western end of La Croisette. So much of Cannes is easily accessible from the train station.
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Le Suquet – the area high above the port that contains the fort and the church of Notre Dame de l'Espérence. These date back to the 12trh and 17th centruries. The views from Le Suquet are very nice.
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La Croisette – the walkway along the shore takes you past the beach, gardens, marinas, and beautiful scenery.
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Louis Lumiere Exhibition Hall were the Film Festival takes place every year is located at the center of La Croisette
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Admiring the beauty of the architecture and people watching (notice all the expensive cars and shops).
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Bordighera Italy – It is renowned for its beautiful coastal scenery, so it is no wonder that Monet lived here and did many paintings here. Walking into the city and up the hill, I found beautiful homes, mansions and views. Bordighera is on the main railway line between Genoa and France (about 1 ¼ hour from Nice). When you get off the train, the seaside Promenade will be directly in front (the sea is within view). The “hill town” of course is on the opposite side of the station. Train fare is about $20.00 round trip.
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Ventimiglia, Italy can be reached by the SNCF (the french railway company) train that also passes through Monaco. Ventimiglia is located at the terminus of the coastal railway line that runs between Nice and Monaco (50 minutes from Nice). The adult fare from Nice is aboutr $10 for adults. Ventimiglia is the train connection to continue on to Bordighera, so it is possible to do both cities in one (long) day while paying only for the train ticket to Bordighera. Ventimiglia has a sort of undiscovered feel, as if the ancient buildings and pasta shops run by generations of families have escaped the passage of time and the glare of notoriety
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Don’t go on Friday as it is busy due to the Friday market.
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The "new" town center and shoreline are an easy walk toward the south from the terminal. The original/historic section is across the river to the west...also an easy walk.
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Sitting on steep sea cliffs, the medieval old town served as the fortified city centre through the 1800s. Today, it is a beautiful and architecturally unusual historical site. There are four churches in the steep, winding streets – one of which, the Church of San Michele, just off of the main road via Garibaldi, is more than 1,000 years old.
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Because pastis and the food is much cheaper here than in France, you can splurge a bit. Head towards the Roya river that separates the modern part of town (where the train station is) and the older medieval section, known as “Piazza”, on top of the hill for an inspiring walk and beautiful views.
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One place that I wanted to see but did not is “La Turbie”, between Nice and Monaco. Some guidebooks say it is within walking distance of Monaco. I’ll have to see that if I ever return. The main site is “La Trophee des Alpes, Agustus Caesars monument to his conquest of the area. Great views of all of Monaco. Closed Monday. According to the guide books, there are great views, very few tourists and a great restaurant with low prices: La Terrasse (14 euro plats du jour).
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Take bus T-66 from Nice’s Pont St. Michel stop (5-7 per day, 45 minutes, last bus returns to Nice at 16:00). In Nice, take the tram to the Pont St. Michel stop.
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From La Turbie to Monaco, bus #114 (6/ day Mon-Sat, 5/ day Sun, 30 minutes). La Turbie’s bus stop is across from the post office (PTT) on Place Neuve (to reach La Trophée des Alps from here, walk 5 minutes around the old village, with the village on your right).
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From Monaco, bus #100 connects to Nice (4/ day Mon-Sat, 3/ day Sun, 50 minutes).
