crazyfamilyof4

Hi,

I have been offered accommodation here

https://www.rivierapebbles.com/scrip...roperty_id=222
ut I am not sure about the location. Is this a good location? We thought about staying with a sea view room so that we could just go across the road to the beach. WOuld this be better?

Also as I am from Australia i am not familiar with private beaches. I assume you pay to go there but how much are we talking?

I saw a place called "Blue Beach" and there is a hotel across the road from that beach and they can offer a sea view room but yes the price is high.

Anyway look forward to hearing from you all

Cathinjoetown

This flat is in is a good location. I forget when you are going to be there, but July and August prices are usually high. The center of Nice is very "walkable".

Here's a list of private beaches, the cost is between 12-25€ per day:

http://www.nice-tourism.com/en/nice-...s-in-nice.html

The public beach is almost right in the center of the Promenade des Anglais.

crazyfamilyof4

thanks

thursdaysd

Only you can decide whether you would rather be across from the beach and needing to take a bus into the center, or IN the center and walking distance from the bus and train stations, the old town, and lots of restaurants. Nice has excellent, cheap (buy a transport pass) public transport, but even in the off-season the buses and trams are packed.

Are you going to Nice for the beach (likely to be disappointing for Australians I would have thought - note "pebbles" in the apartment name) or as a base for visiting other places nearby? There are a few places that are both across from the beach and near the center, but they will be very expensive and the beach even more crowded. (I am defining "center" as Place Massena.)

crazyfamilyof4

so do you think

https://www.rivierapebbles.com/scrip...roperty_id=222

is a good location then thursdayd? My other thought is the hotel

https://www.rivierapebbles.com/scrip...roperty_id=222

since the view os great and it has the pool.

I guess we are staying a week so we need to be able to get to places easily and even do a day trip.

I had a feeling that the beach might be disappointing in comparison to what I am used to and paying $100 seems a little ridiculous.

Thanks for your help!

thursdaysd

Not bad. I stay on Rue de France one block further east. Put the address (or nearest crossing streets) into google maps, ask for walking directions to Place Massena / bus station / Cours Saleya, OK with that?

Look, you know the cliche "the best is the enemy of the good"? If you keep stressing over finding the "best" for all of a multi-month trip, instead of settling for "good", you'll be a nervous wreck before you even leave. Beach or center? If center, take this apartment and move on.

BTW, there are MANY good day or half-day trips from Nice. Did you read my TR? (Click on my name.) Since then I've been back for another week and still have lots I haven't done yet. I especially enjoyed the hike around Cap Ferrat, but perhaps not with small kids. What guide books are you using?

crazyfamilyof4

thanks thursdaysd .. haven't read your tr yet but will. I know what you mean . . it os such a hard choice o make though. The hotel might be nice as they have a shuttleinto old town and the pool and luxury of a hotel with the kids etc but then the apartment would also be great for the whole experience. I might sleep on it and see what my mother wants. The guide books are google and lonely planet and then what I have from the travel agents. Limited I know!

thursdaysd

Don't know where you live in OZ, but if it's a city doesn't it have bookshops? A library? You would really find it helpful to spend time with some good guidebooks! I like the glossy ones with pictures for planning where to go, and then the ones with lots of text for logistics (I know this is Fodors, but I find Lonely Planet better for logistics, especially maps, if you're on foot). With a good guidebook you'd know where the center of Nice was, and about the transport passes, and the day trips...

BTW, shuttles are a pain. I once stayed in a hotel outside Sorrento with a shuttle and it never matched up with the train times and didn't run at all in the middle of the day. Only time I rely on them is at airport hotels, otherwise the existence of the shuttle tells me the place is too far from the action.

crazyfamilyof4

thanks thursdaysd! Good advice!

Cathinjoetown

"a short walk, two blocks or streets, will get you on to the Promenade des Anglais." This is a statement from the apartment description in your first post. It means you are just two blocks in from the beach.

The description also states clearly that it is very close to the pedestrian center. I have stayed much further west on the rue de France and while a long walk for my battered knee, was doable.

There are NO hotels in the center of Nice which open directly on to the beach. From every hotel or apartment in the center you must cross the four (at least) car lanes and the wide pedestrian walkway that comprise the Promenade des Anglais.

To echo Christina but in Midwest USA vernacular, it's "time to fish or cut bait."

klondike

If you aren't sure about the private beaches--cost and whether they're worth the money, as a general rule many have a reduced fee after a certain time in the afternoon. This suited us just fine as we don't like spending hours laying in the sun doing nothing. We did enjoy our few hours there, though (sorry can't remember the price)

crazyfamilyof4

We are going to book the apartment close to walk to everywhere over the hotel. I figure we would enjoy the space and from what I see it's a good location, good price and has good reviews. Can't ask for much more!

Cathinjoetown

Good!

Rubicund

It's very easy to overplan every single step of a holiday. It takes out the spontaneity of the whole thing and a lot of the joy of seeing other places. Go with the flow a bit.

thursdaysd

Rubicund - check!

crazy - I don't know how much travel you've done, and I may be teaching my grandmother to suck eggs, but the one thing you can count on with a trip like this is that sh** happens. From the time you walk out your front door to the time you walk back in ***<i>you are not in control.</i>*** It may be serious enough you need a Plan B, or even a Plan C, it may just be an inconvenience, it may even have a serendipitous outcome where Plan B is better than Plan A, or getting lost means you find a beautiful plaza you didn't know about, but things <i>will not</i> all go according to plan.

You need to decide up-front that you are at least OK with things happening not according to plan, that you can go with the flow, better yet, accept that dealing with problems is part of the learning side of travel.

For instance: you miss a connecting flight; the airline loses your luggage; a massive traffic jam ruins your schedule (highly likely given where and when you're traveling); the museum/attraction you really want to see is closed/partly closed for renovation (I had one trip where that happened in almost every town); the weather is too hot/cold/wet for your outdoor activity; the town is dead on a Sunday; the apartment is nothing like the photos; the beds are too hard/soft; you can't get the water heater to work, etc. etc.

HappyTrvlr

This is an excellent location, on Dalpozzo,, near grocery stores, dining and the beach. I wouldn't want to be on the oceanfront with all the traffic going by on Promenade de Anglais.Nice is small and you can walk or jump on a bus to most places.All bus rides are 1Euro.
In Europe many beaches are private, sometimes called "organized.". You pay a fee and get a sunbed and umbrella, use of bathrooms. Nice also has public beaches. If you have water shoes bring them since the beach is made of pebbles.On our first visit there our hotel had water views and a private beach. We still had to pay for the beach. You don't have to lug a lot of stuff to the beach which is good.

PeaceOut

I think the apartment is in a good location, too, plus it looks very nice. We were in Nice three nights, and we stayed very close to there, at the Hotel Le Grimaldi. It is a nice area, close to stroll the Promenade and go into old town. Also there are markets and banks easy to find there.

I will find my Nice trip notes and post them. We loved it there. Took a day trip by to Antibes which was gorgeous. We did not have a car, and did not need one.

PeaceOut

Here you are:

Notes from our three nights in Nice, May 2006

We arrived in Nice in the early afternoon on Friday, via train from Santa Margherita Ligure.   

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.

Iwan2go

Bookmarking, thanks.