What makes the Cote d'Azur, and especially Nice, so special?

The special things about Nice

The climate: it's mostly sunny. The surrounding mountains keep the rain away. Even if it's that warm, a sea brease delivers a welcome cooling effect. It is not without reason that Nice is a pleasant place to stay in the winter.
There is a modern, big city. Next to it lies the old town. It is picturesque and very enjoyable.
The old city lies against a small hill. On the hill you'll find public gardens where in the weekends people play and picknick.
There are several of these elevated parks and places to picknick, like Mont-Boron and Cimiez.
On various places public toilets can be found (mostly paid ones).
There is a long, pretty boulevard - the Promenade des Anglais or Bay of Angels- that stretches from the airport to the old town.
The city is constantly revived or renovated.
A lot of English people live in Nice, so the inhabitants and shop owners have a reasonable knowledge of the English language. There are even cinema's with English spoken movies (with French subtitles). The French call them version originale (vo).
The center of Nice gets a lot of tourists, but that is nowhere troublesome. Only very few tourist from the Netherlands or Germany visit Nice. A lot of Italians come to Nice; Italy is only 30 km away.
Monaco lies nearby (the car races of Monte Carlo take place in may).
Cannes is also nearby (the film festival is every year in may).
Various other famous cities and picturesque villages are in short range. Like St. Paul de Vence and Villefrance sur Mer. Grasse, the city of parfumes, lies a little further ahead. But with the bus it's a good & cheap ride.
Not so well known is that the surrounding mountains are a good place for wintersport.
The airport is about 7 km of the center of the city away. From London it takes about two hours to fly to Nice. Additional advantage: due to the short flight you arrive healthy.
It's easy to rent a bike via the public bike plan (vélobleu). For long people and experienced bicyclers these bikes are a disappointment.
Pleasant prices in catering. Of course you can make it as luxerious or expensive as you want but the prices are comparable with those in other countries or cities. There are a lot of fish menus and a lot of Italian food, especially pizza's. The pizza's are good and affordable.
You'll see a lot of Italian ice-cream parlours. Unfortunately the ice is not so cheap.
Filled baguette for lunch or during a walk is tasty and cheap.
The various small 24/7 shops have reasonable prices.
Few flies and mosquitos.
Beautiful locations nearby for diving and skin-diving. Various diving schools plan trips en give afffordable courses.
Good public transportation (bus, tram and train)

Promenade du Paillon: border between the old and new town

Public transportation, bus & tram in Nice

There's a constant strive to upgrade the public transportation. Public transportation (bus & tram) is cheap. Rides cost normally 1,50 euro. You can buy a bus ticket with cash in the bus. For the tram you need to buy a ticket from the machines that are present at every stop. With a solo-ticket you can change in 74 minutes as much as you like (in one direction). Don not forget to validate your ticket every time you get on. You can even get to Monaco per bus with one ticket.
Tickets of 10 euro for 10 rides are available. Various persons can travel on one sucht multi-ticket.
From and to the airport a busticket costs 6 euro (line 98 en 99). With that you can (within 74 min.) change as much as you want on the busses or trams of Ligne d'?Azur, in one direction. Do not take another bus line than 98 or 99 on the journey back from Nice to the airport: the other busses do not stop at the airport, and getting out at a stop in the direct environment of the airport is not allowed.
At the end of 2019 tram line 2 will be completed. Line 2 starts at the airport and end at the port. About half of it is ready.

Groceries / supermarkets in Nice

At a lot of place in Nice you'll find small SPAR-supermarkets. In the center, at the Place Garibaldi (just above the north side of the old city) lies Monoprix. In the left building non-food is sold, in the right building the groceries department can be found.

Flying and accessibility of Nice / French Rivièra

We need to mention the accessibility by plane. The airport Aeroport Cote d'Azur Airport is one of the largest airports in France. The size is not much of a problem: no long hallways or other inconveniences. There are two terminals. Terminal 1 is the terminal that is closest to the town.
The airport lies at the west side of Nice, at the end of the Promenade des Anglais. This is the boulevard that stretches about 7 km's across to the center of the city.
On arrival to Nice you can buy a ticket for the bus for 6 euro's. See also the paragraph above about public transportation.

From the airport you can take the train (10 minutes walk to station St. Augustin). The train takes you in only a few minutes to Nice Central Station (Gare Nice Ville). Station St. Augustin lies near the airport but is not so good accessible for travellers with suitcases. That's why we advice to take the bus, or a taxi.

Ferries Nice - Corsica

Several times a day ferries plie to Corsica and Sardinië, and vice versa. Each time hundreds of cars are shipped with their passengers. The arrival and departure of these large boats, and the embarking, deliver fascinating events as seen from the quay. Two companies are responsible for the crossings: Corsica Ferries and Moby.

Ferry Nice - Corsica (of Corsica Ferries)

Tips for a holiday house at the Cote d'Azur

On various websites you need to enter an area or department. Use 'Provence-alpes', 'Cote d'Azur' or 'Alpes Maritimes'.
The most famous street is the boulevard Promenade des Anglais. It stretches from the airport to the old city, alongside the midterranean sea. It takes an hour and a half to walk from Nice Airport to the old town or center, but the bus is a bit easier.
Starting from Nice central (train) station it takes 15 minutes to walk to the beach or the old city.
Just to be clear: most French beachresorts do not have sandy beaches. Nice has a clean beach but is consists of pebbles. At several places you can rent deck chairs. Naturally you can also buy a beach matrass.
In the center of Nice a car is not so useful, there is not a lot of parking space. The public transportation is good.

Buying a studio or apartment
Renting an apartment or studio

Vélobleu bicycles at the Promenade des Anglais