A Few Questions on visiting Nice in April

Hi Jon, to answer question #2, you can just buy those at the tram stops. Instead of a 1-ride, just select the option for a 1-day ticket. When I was there in 2019, I think they were about €5.

Just a comment - all of your choices of activities are indoors. If you would also like to enjoy something outdoors, here’s a beautiful place: My second day, I rode a local bus (#15 from downtown) over to Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat to walk through the Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild villa & extraordinary gardens. An eccentric woman, Beatrice, with lots of money had this beautiful 1912 home and amazing gardens created. There were so many lovely areas in each of the garden sections – the Stone Garden, the Spanish Garden, the Rose Garden & more, and the scenery from the villa is also beautiful! The video in English on the second floor was excellent at explaining the villa & situation of Beatrice’s life. I finished with an espresso & dessert on the terrace.

Check websites of all sights you're interested in for April hours. They may be more limited than high-season hours. I've had issues getting accurate info on church hours online, but with luck you won't run into that problem.

I really don't care for Chagall's art and didn't like that museum at all. It's small and shows a modest number of large paintings, all by Chagall (unless there's something special going on). It was a mistake for me to go there. If you like Chagall, it will be important for you. I loved the Naive Art Museum and the Museum of Asian Art, but they're outside the center, in the direction of the airport, so maybe not a great idea when you have just one day in Nice.

The Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild is a very nice side trip. Since it involves a train ride (pickpockets like that train; don't let anyone get into your personal space) followed by a bus or walk, I think that's something that should be done earlyish so you have time to recover in case of a transportation problem.

I enjoy Nice and Monaco a lot and before covid went almost every February to get some sun. I didn't have problems with things being open, but maybe I was looking at different things.

A nice stroll around Cap Ferrat was always pleasant.

The Russian Orthodox church was much much smaller than I had imagined. I've never been back there. Good to see once.

Don't let it spoil your special meals but I always enjoy a piece of socca at the market.

Jean, Acraven, Nigel
Thank you for the information. I like the idea of outdoor places to visit. So long as the venues are open the hours posted on the various web sites--thanks for the reminder to search--we should be okay.

All of you clearly know Nice, may I ask if anyone would recommend a particular place, or even a particular street to walk along with various places to choose from, for lunch? Also, are there particular streets or quarters where we would find bar à vin, so we could have a DIY wine-tasting sometime during the afternoon. Before I identified the itinerary noted in my first post, we had attempted to join a Food and Wine tasting walking tour. Regrettably, the tour begins at 9:45 am and we won't arrive at the "Old Town" until 11:45 or so and wold miss half the tour. Since we have until 9:15 pm or thereabout before we have to head back to the ship, We'd like to spend as much time in Nice as possible, perhaps do the wine tasting in the early evening?
Thank you again for your information.
Jon

Hi Jon, yes, I did one of the excellent food tours but saw that you don’t arrive early enough to participate.

For streets, take the tram to Place Massena and walk across the black & white checkerboard open section towards the fountain of the sun. Walk towards Maison Auer Chocolaterie Confiserie Nice on Rue Saint-François de Paule and around toward Pl. Rossetti. This will get you into some of the main streets in the old center where there’s a lot to see and several restaurants.

When you walk back to the fountain of the sun, walk towards the water and take a short stroll down the Promenade des Anglais.

Depending on the weather, if it’s not a rainy day, I also really enjoyed my quick train ride over to Menton to wander in the upper Italian section of the town with the gorgeous yellows/golds/orange hued buildings - so beautiful and fun to explore. I have a canvas enlarged photo hanging in my office that I took while exploring. Look up pictures of Menton on-line ahead of time to see if that’s of interest.

I had planned to go to a couple of museums while I was in Nice for five days and ended up not going to any of them because there was so much to see outdoors, the food tour, etc. in the Nice area. So, I can’t give any reviews of the museums you’re planning.

Glad to see that you've decided to stay outdoors rather than a couple of museums and three churches in one day. If you follow Jean's suggestion into the old town, you can then continue in the same direction, and walk along the promenade. You'll come to the port area, eventually. There are restaurants around the port, too.
Next, going from Place Massena in the opposite direction, you take the pedestrian street, rue Massena to the end. You'll pass a lot of shops and restaurants. Just beyond the end of the street, but on the Promenade des anglais is the famous Hotel Negresco. You could go inside for a coffee or aperatif. It's expensive but lovely with interesting art work.
Be sure to spend time walking the Promenade des anglais.

The Plongeoir is well-known. I've heard good things about the setting from people I know who live in the area. They went to the bar, but it won't be open until May. If you do get seated there at their earliest dinner time, it will still be dicey to get back to your ship on time. You'll probably need a taxi or Uber.

I have never seen a cruise ship docked in Nice. Is there a new port area? Ships dock in Monaco, Villefranche, or Cannes and all three are tender ports. You would probably need to leave well before 9:15.

You are in Nice on a Sunday, so some shops might be closed, restaurant tables will fill quickly, particularly around the Old Town market place, so be ready to grab a table if you don't reserve. Jean's walk suggestion is the best for people watching during lunch.

In place of the food tour, you could see some videos made by France with Vero. In one, she goes to a Nicoise restaurant and tries local specialites: socca, etc. Maybe someone will come along and link the videos she made in Nice.