I tagged along with my wife to a conference she was attending in Nice this past April.
Night flight from MSP to Paris, then on to Nice arriving at noon. Rented a cab to the hotel (cash only, ~$35). Yes there probably are cheaper ways to get into town but I am ready to go and I don’t want to wait around. I want to get to the hotel, drop off my stuff and get out and see the sights.
We stayed at the Goldstar Resort and it was very nice and a convenient location for getting to the beach (5 minutes) or train station (10 minutes). Rooftop pool nice for relaxing after a long day of walking around. Friendly and helpful staff. My wife’s conference was at the Acropolis which is a 25 minute walk. The room also had a kitchen so we could make meals in the room to save time and money. There is a Carrefour just a couple minutes away so it was easy to buy what we needed. We mistook the dishwasher for a stove so one night we wound up eating pan fried frozen pizza. We used the microwave to thaw it out and then fried it up. Really wasn’t bad and the crust was crispy. Down the street toward the beach is Iskender Kabob which was my favorite inexpensive sit down place to eat.
The weather was in the mid to upper 60’s and mostly sunny. It was so nice to walk around in short sleeves outside for the first time in six months. The water was cold, similar to what I have experienced swimming in Lake Superior and Lake Michigan, so if you can bear the first minute or two you will be fine for about 20 minutes before needing to get back to the beach to warm up. The beach in Nice is made up of smooth rocks so if not renting a setup at one of the bars along the beach (and why wouldn’t you unless you are cheap like me) then get a well-padded blanket/towel (~$35, not cheap so I sat on guidebooks, one for each cheek) and got water shoes sold at nearby souvenir shops.
We didn’t rent a car. It didn’t seem necessary since the train station was 10 minutes away and there is bus service to many of the places we wanted to see. Using the train to Monaco, Cannes, and Antibes worked fine but our bus experience to Cap Ferrat required more waiting than I care for which was about an hour for a bus line that is supposed to have 2 to 4 buses per hour. Didn’t care to try buses again to avoid more waiting and wondering when the bus would show up. I think using the trains to see as much as we could at the start of the trip and then renting a car for other sites later would have worked better for us.
Being a pack mule for many years carrying my kids and enough water to resolve California’s drought I no longer carry anything except my phone. If I feel inclined I’ll take pictures of maps or certain pages of guidebooks or I’ll just rely on my memory. Arriving by train in Monaco I just followed the peloton into town and for Cannes and Antibes I headed for the water. It all worked out fine. Either I’m getting lazy or I just don’t care if I have to wander around aimlessly for a while. You never know, you might find something interesting.
We had two spendy dinners at la Volga and Bistro d’ Antoine. The rest of the time it was restaurants or snack food along Cours Salay, Iskender Kabob or meals back at the room. Socca was just so-so. It was just chick peas after all so I wasn’t expecting an explosion of flavor. It is cheap, filling, and easy to eat while walking around. Instead I would recommend the flatbread sandwiches/pizza. For something sweet I really liked the fruit slices that were boiled in sugar water ten minutes a day for 45 days. I think the citrus fruit slices were the best.