Need help! Travel to Nice with 2 small kids and no idea what to do!

Hi pignolia,

Try Nicepebbles.com for a rental in Nice. I would suggest getting in touch with them ASAP, since end of June is very busy in Nice, and you may find extremely limited availability.

A high end hotel that we've enjoyed is: Palais de la Mediterrannee, a renovated art deco mansion that is across the street from the Mediterranean. The hotel is very pricey, but offers great service,( teeny pool and small health club on site) nice rooms, and an excellent location very central to Old Nice and good restaurants.

Again, I'd highly recommend making reservations or rental plans ASAP.

Train service is very good along the coast, so you could easily do a day trip to Monaco.( It's about a 20 min. train ride.) Monaco is not my favorite place at all, but it does have an aquarium that the kids might enjoy, and the changing of the guard at the palace might be of interest, too.

You could also take a day trip by bus or taxi to St. Jean Cap de Ferrat. It's a beautiful fishing village that has a long promenade hugging the sea. Might be a great place to walk with the kids. Town has some interesting art galleries, shops, and down at the dock, wonderful food ( steaming bowls of mussels and great frites and wine!) at LE SLOOP.

One of my favorite restaurants in the area is LA CHAUMIERE, which is about six miles from Nice on rue Observatoire. You have to make reservations in advance, and I think it's the kind of place that you might appreciate more as a couple than with young kids. The food is absolutely out of this world- delicious crudites fresh from the restaurant's garden served with homemade dips, beautiful cheeses, olives, and main dishes grilled in the restaurant's fireplaces, homemade whipped cream, gorgeous tarts for dessert, all accompanied by the most delicious wines. Anyway, maybe a place to keep in mind for a solo trip to France?

In Nice itself, a very kid-friendly place is LA BARRACUDA on rue Meyerbeer, which is just off Le Promenade des Anglais. Excellent thin crust pizzas, and very good pasta dishes.

As for culture, you probably know that Nice has tons of museums. One of my absolute favorites is The Chagall Museum in Cimiez, a suburb of Nice. It's easy to get there on the bus or by taxi from a hotel- about 15-20 minutes, depending on traffic.

Have a great time!

pignolia

I am travelling with a toddler now in France so can tell you from experience the following:-

1. Get an apartment or house, a hotel suite just won't do, you need a kitchen and laundry facilities. Try holiday-rentals.co.uk to view suitable properties;

2. Definitely rent a car and request for car seats. Forget public transport, just imagine getting the kids on and off trains/buses with strollers, day packs etc. If you are travelling for more than 3 weeks, should consider leasing a car through Peugeot or Renault. But with leasing, they don't rent you car seats, you'll have to buy from them or bring your own. Baby car seats are mandatory in France (I just reread your post, you are only in Nice for 8 days, so my suggestion of car leasing is just for your reference);

3. Instead of staying in Nice, consider somewhere slightly out of town such as Villefranche-sur-Mer and St Jean Cap Ferrat.

End of June is not far off, if I were you, I would start searching for accommodation now.

Good luck and happy travels!

s

travellingwithkids.com is an excellent resource for products to make travelling easier. I have purchased things to make trips easier and I have been happy. Also, as the mother of 3 girls,I can say that while your duaghter likely won't remember the trip, you will never forget it. Dont worry about the small stuff, don't expect to get in a lot of relaxing unless you are bringing a nanny, and I am totally anti-Disney vacations, however don't forget about Disney Paris.

I posted a reply to this, but now it's gone. what's up with that?

I would stay in Nice the entire 8 days; there's plenty to see and do, and moving is just a hassle with small children.

There is a small zoo in Cap Ferrat that your 3-year old will enjoy. You could visit the Villa Rothschild while you're there as well.

When my kids were small they liked Marineland in Antibes/Biot (though not to compare to a place like Seaworld). The glass factories in Biot are nearby as well.

The Aquarium in Monte Carlo, as mentioned, is good too.

You say you are foodies, but with children that age, it's going to be difficult to go to the top restaurants in the evening; lunch would be a better option. In my experience, expensive restaurants on the Cote d'Azur are not exactly welcoming for small children. Dinner starts late, 19.30 at the earliest, and after a day of sightseeing, your kids will be tired. Maybe better to have a good lunch, and pick up some things from the market for the evening. There are some great food shops in Vieux Nice, as well as the market on Cours Saleya.


Rent a car seat with your rental car (much easier than public transport), and take two light strollers with you; you will want to use those at the airport anyway.

Bring a few 1Euro coins with you, you'll need them for deposit for baggage trolleys at Nice airport.

s

You might consider the Citadines Promenade serviced apartments in Nice. They're not exactly high end, but they should work for you. You'll have to scurry to find accommodations by the end of next month--don't wait to get something booked.

I hope this isn't too much information. I've pasted below my trip report to Nice with my college-age daughter. We loved Nice. So many day-trips from there. Good restaurants and a lovely city. My report includes details on transportation and some good restaurants in old Nice. I highly recommend our hotel, too:

"Our Hotel le Grimaldi (http://www.le-grimaldi.com/) was a short cab ride from the train station. It was 10EUR for myself, my daughter, my gargantuan bag, and her two small ones. We were greeted graciously at the hotel, which immediately struck us as a good find.

The hotel is actually two Belle Epoque buildings back-to-back. One side is much prettier to enter, as it faces a nice church. The other side is fine, too, but a bit boring. I think the side on rue Grimaldi is the plain one, and the other side on rue Maccarani is prettier.

The man at the front desk carried my bag to the room, and showed us around. There’s a business center on the ground floor, with free internet use on their two computers, and a free printer to use. (Also wireless in the lobby, I think for a fee.)

Our room was a ‘classic’, twin-bedded room, which was large enough, had a little balcony, a sparkling tile bath with fluffy bright yellow towels, and nice toiletries. It was 150EUR, plus tax and 10EUR per person if we opted for the hot/cold breakfast buffet. They suggested we check out the buffet (served till 10:30a.m.), and if we were interested the next morning, we could sign on for it. Their deal is that you have to buy it everyday to get the 10EUR rate. Otherwise, per day, it’s 15EUR.

So the next morning, we were happy to find hot eggs, proscuitto, yoghurts, cereals, cappuccino, assorted croissants, juices, etc. We thought it a good deal and quite convenient, so we enjoyed it each morning.

For our first dinner, I had brought the name of a restaurant I’d found on Travel Talk, and the front desk agreed it was a good one, a local favorite in old Nice. It’s called Acchiardo, at 38 rue Droite in Vieux Nice. We headed over for their opening at 7p.m., and were very happy with it. Really friendly and attentive service, very quaint and casual atmosphere, with a good menu. I had a steak dinner, which actually included vegetables on the side. My daughter had two different salads. We had bottled water and a half-liter of house red wine. When the bill arrived for 28.50EUR, I thought they’d made a mistake because it was so much less than I’d been accustomed to paying in Venice, Florence and Rome. But, no, it was correct. (We would have maybe eaten there another night, but found out it closes on weekend nights, believe it or not.)

We walked all over old Nice, then through the pedestian area to the promenade and took that way back to the hotel. It’s such a beautiful walk at night. The Chateau hillside is all lit up, the palm trees are lit, and the waves look so pleasant. It was how we ended each of our Nice nights, with that walk back to the hotel.

The next day we decided to take the short bus ride on the #81, to visit the Villa and Jardins Ephrussi de Rothschild, near Saint Jean Cap Ferrat. (The bus is just 1.30EUR each direction, which you pay in exact change on the bus.)

It was a nice visit, especially to see the views of the sea down below on both sides of the hillside. I thought the price was a bit steep, at 9.50EUR for an adult, because the Villa isn’t really all that interesting (sorry!), but the gardens are pretty. There’s also a nice little café there, for a light snack or drink or meal, which was a welcome break from all our walking.

While we were there, a very strong wind came up, which caused quite a bit of white caps in the water below, and chased everyone in from the patio tables. The wind stayed with us for the rest of the day, but wasn’t terribly annoying.

From the Villa, we did the easy walk down to the port of St. Jean to walk around and check it out. There are nice boats in the little harbor, with cute restaurants and shops. It’s very tiny, so doesn’t take long to walk from end to end of St. Jean. We spent just about an hour and a half there, then caught the #81 back to Nice.

That evening, we returned to old Nice for dinner. We loved that neighborhood’s little streets, overall atmosphere, and cute shops. We found the Restaurant la Tapenada, 6 rue St. Reparate and had a very nice dinner. It was probably about 60EUR for the two of us, on their fixed price menu, with a bottle of house wine. Very nice little place, with friendly and attentive service. They even let my daughter trade her dessert for a salad. So she had two salads to start, one after the other, and they timed the arrival of our main courses perfectly. We were perfectly happy with our meal there.

The next day we decided we’d stick to the coast and see Antibes, which is a short 20-minute train ride from Nice. We were glad we’d chosen Antibes, as it’s beautiful. The sea wall makes a nice walk, and the Centre Ville is very charming.

We wandered its streets, shopped in a tiny clothing boutique, found a little place for omelettes (nothing special, but nice enough), then headed back to Nice by train after about 4 hours total. It was a good choice for a quick day-trip.

That evening we weren’t very hungry, so opted for the simple Pasta Basta, once again in old Nice. It was a nice meal, although not extraordinary. Good prices and decent service.

All in all, we were very impressed with Nice and the surrounding area. It’s a very pretty city, with a friendly attitude, sitting on a lovely shore. There are many options for things to do near Nice. We’d considered St. Paul de Vence and Digne, but with the beautiful clear weather, we were drawn to stay at the seaside, and were glad we did."

Wow,
Thanks to everyone for your replies.
We are still waiting to hear from my husband's companhy as to whether or not we are going. I can't make any plans till I get the go-ahead... so frustrating!

I am sure I will bother you all again if we end up going.
Thanks!!!!!

Here's a suggestion for a reasonably priced, centrally located, family friendly restaurant in Nice: Le Savanna, 6 passage Emile Negrin, Tel: 04 93 87 55 74.

Passage Emile Negrin runs between Rue Massena and Rue de la Liberte in the pedestrian zone.