What To Do If You Had 48 Hours In Nice, France?

To orientate yourself and maybe work out where you want to spend your time, board one of the numerous open-topped Grand Tour buses, on these you will be able to see many of the best views in and around Nice. It leaves from the Jardins Albert Pier at the Promenade des Anglais every 45 minutes. Lasting about an hour and a half it takes you to via Port up for a bird’s eye view over the harbour and across the Baie des Anges from Mont Boron. You stop near the Chateau d’Anglais (a folly), a popular spot for photos before continuing up to the monastery at Cimiez.

Top attractions

However short your stay in Nice, you should spend some time wandering the narrow streets of Nice’s charming Vielle Ville (Old Town). Many of the buildings date back over two hundred years when Nice was still part of Italy. Compact, full of restaurants, souvenir shops and places to buy local specialities like olive oil and local wine, even in the height of summer it’s nice and cool place. Visit the market at Cours Saleya for flowers and local produce, on eat in one of the cafes that takes over from the market at lunchtime. A few minutes away in Place Rosseti, this is where Italian ice cream can be found.

Not only does the Place Rossetti sound Italian, but this is where you can indulge in the best Italian ice cream, with nearly 100 flavours to choose from. (Marianne Heredge 2008)

From the Old Town it’s only a few paces to the Promenade des Anglais and the Baie des Anges. Local people come and stroll, especially on Sunday afternoons. Beware the kids (and adults) with their rollerblades and skates. Special tracks are laid out for them and if you want a go, hire wheels or blades to fly along this wide esplanade. The beaches are a little stony, looking better from a distance than close up. This doesn’t stop most people and the sea is lovely and warm for most of the year.

August summer holidays! Looking across the beach to Mont Boron, Nice. (Marianne Heredge 2008).

If you’re interested in art, you couldn’t have come to a better place. Popular with many of the top artists who lived here at various times, there are museums of the art of Marc Chagall and Matisse in Nice, as well as collections of Picasso’s work not far away in Antibes, Renoir in Haute Cagnes near Cagnes-sur-mer, Fernand Léger in Biot, and a fabulous collection that belonged to Aime and Marguerite Maeght, art dealers at St Paul de Vence who were friends with artists like Chagall and Matisse. For Asian art, the little Musée des Arts Asiatiques de Nice is a gem and on Saturdays you can be taken through a Japanese ceremony (book in advance). The Fine Arts Museum (Musée des Beaux-Arts) and the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art have large collections of French and art from other countries too.

Rail enthusiasts will enjoy the scenic Train des Merveilles and Train des Pignes that go from Nice station east up to Italy and west to Dignes. Ideal for going into the Alpes Maritimes for day hikes or visits to villages in the beautiful arrière pays, you will probably need a whole day.

Getting to Nice

Nice is very accessible by air, with budget airlines like Easyjet and BMI competing with Air France and British Airways for cheap prices. In the Winter, when Nice enjoys mild temperatures (cold but brilliant blue skies) you can get rock bottom deals. By train, the TGV from Paris only takes about five hours and offers cheap prices when booked well in advance.

Accommodation

If you really want to treat yourself, the beautiful Negresco Hotel on the sea front not only offers luxury accommodation but some of the finest cuisine in their 3* Michelin restaurant, Le Chantecler. If your pocket won’t extend to this however, there’s everything in between. Lots of budget hotels can be found particularly by the station, just 20 minutes walk from the sea. For example, a cheap but good standard hotel is the Hotel Parisian on rue Vernier close to the station and Boulevard Jean Medécin that leads down to the Old Town with the tramway taking you to the heart of town within minutes.

Dining and shopping

For fans of shellfish and oysters, this is definitely the place to come. Le Cafe de Turin is the best place, down towards the port. Not only the plump North Atlantic oysters, but here you can also try the smaller but more distinctive tasting Mediterranean variety. You won’t be disappointed at any of the cheap little restaurants in the Old Town either, but Nice offers a good selection of haute cuisine restaurants. As well as Le Chantecler, try the more modest Lou Mourelec for good local cuisine.

For shopping, the Old Town shops are full of tempting souvenirs, whether this is beautifully prepared tapenade, special basil flavoured olive oil, or lavender sachets and kitchen accessories in brightly coloured Provence designs.

Forty eight hours in Nice is never enough time, explore car hire Nice options to maximise your time and efficiency. If you don’t manage to see and do everything, don’t worry it’s so easy to back get to Nice that you’ll want to go back time and time again.

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Tags: baie des anges, cool place, eye view, flavours, hour and a half, italian ice cream, local produce, lunchtime, mont boron, narrow streets, paces, promenade des anglais, rollerblades, souvenir shops, sunday afternoons, tour buses, vielle

Category: Cities, Cities