How to get there:
From Paris Gare de Lyon station, there are high speed trains (TGV) available to Nice Ville station. The journey takes around 6 hours through farmlands and eventually the Mediterranean sea comes into view when you're nearing the destination.
It is also possible to fly into Nice airport (and probably costs less) but as Nice Ville is right in city centre, I thought it was more convenient to travel via TGV.
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| Nice Ville train station |
From the station there are various buses to travel around town. There is a tourist information office right next to the station that provides good map and advice.
What to do:
1. Walk along famous Promenade des Anglais and chill out at the pebble beach. Note that the beach at Nice is a pebble beach, i.e. there is NO sand! It can be quite painful to walk barefooted so make sure you bring a good beach mat or towel to lie/sit down on.
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| The pebble does not stop the beach go-ers |
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| Aside from walking, velo/bike rental is readily available as well |
2. Visit Place Massena for shopping, cafe or simply people watching..
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| Modern fountain which was a good chill out spot amidst the summer heat |
3. Explore Vieux Nice (old town of Nice)
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| Very walkable street full of souvenir shops and restaurants |
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| A mozaic map of Vieux nice |
4. Climb up castle hill to get a panoramic view of Nice
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| You can take an elevator up but we chose to climb |
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| View of the French Riviera |
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| met a french couple doing DIY wedding photo shoot at the top |
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| There is a man-made waterfall at the top of castle hill |
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| Crossing over the other side is a panoramic view of the old port of Nice |
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| Steep steps down from castle hill back to old Nice |
Where and what to eat:
Before this trip my knowledge of Nicois cuisine was limited to its salad. Thanks to eatyourworld blogger Keely Barrett I learned about the top 5 local eats. Click
here for reference.
To hunt for the local food, here are some good restaurants to try out.
1.
Restaurant Acchiardo - Family-run for several decades, this local institution specialises in rustic, down-to-earth Niçois cuisine, including les petits farcis (stuffed veg with meat & cheese).
Address: 38 Rue Droite, Vieux Nice
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| Situated in a small alley in Vieux Nice. |
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| My favourite Nicoise speciality - petits farcis! Vegetables stuff with minced meat then grilled to perfection. |
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| La Daube Niçoise - melt in your mouth beef stew |
2.
Renee Socca @ 2 Rue Miralheti
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| It is a bar at night |
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| Socca: pancake made of chickpea flour with olive oil and salt. |
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| Le pan bagnat, socca & les petits farcis |
Apart from Renee Socca you can also try
Chez Pipo which is located behind Nice's old por since 1923 (13 Rue Bavastro).
Also, we wanted to try
La Merenda with ex michelin star chef, Dominique le Stanc (Le Chantecler) but it was unfortunately closed on the days we were there. Reservation is recommended. Address: 4 Rue Raoul Bosio, Vieux Nice
Where to stay:
Nice is a very big city and most of the cheaper accommodations are inland. Along promenade des anglais are mostly high end hotels or hotel chains.
We thought we would splurge a little and stay in Hyatt's Palais de la Mediterranee. The hotel has a pool that is half indoor and half outdoor, and a breakfast patio that overlooks the coastline. Despite so, I personally find the interior of the hotel a little old and not as nice as other Hyatt branches I've stayed. Also, despite indicating it was for our honeymoon, there was nothing special about our room and the balcony looks into another guest room's balcony and we had to keep the curtains closed all the time to get any privacy. Overall I would say it was rather over priced and not one of Hyatt's best branch.
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| Best feature was the pool |
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