Nice, France hotel
 

Planning Sept. vacation to Nice, France and surrounds, looking for 3-4 star hotel. Is the Negresco worth the cost? Also considering the Splendid. All recommendations welcome!

We love Le Grimaldi. It's a small hotel with a very friendly helpful staff. The rooms are quite pleasant and spacious. The location is good in that one can walk to most of the desirable areas but it's in a quiet area.

We also liked the Hoter le Grimaldi. Here are my notes about it:

"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."

Entire Nice trip report is:
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34810691
:)>-

Thanks for your suggestions!

The Negresco is worth the price if you want to stay in a historic hotel, but the best rooms are very costly. As an alternative, check out the Palais de la Méditeranée.

The Mercure Promenade des Anglais is a lower-cost hotel with rooms renovated just a year ago. We really enjoyed our stay there in a sea-view room, and the hotel is just a short walk from Vieux Nice and a big shopping district. Rooms are well insulated from the traffic noise along the Promenade; you hear it only with the balcony doors (two sets) open.

Looks like the Grimaldi is booked for when I want to go, so will check out these new suggestions--thanks!

ttt

Expedia has deal at SASRadisson, sea view for $333/nt. Any experience re this spot? .5 miles from airport, would we hear a lot of plane noise?

SAS Radisson is only a few minutes drive from the airport. Pretty much on the outskirts of town. I wouldn't stay there if at all possible since it will take you about 30 minutes to walk to the center of Nice, and taxis are quite expensive. Also, as I remember, there are few restaurants in that area around the hotel, so you'd be stuck eating at the hotel.

On another note, I don't think The Negresco is worth the money. We've stayed there twice, once many years ago, and once more recently,but now would never go back. The lobby is fabulous, but guests don't stay in it! The rooms vary widely according to your rate, and our supposed "seaview", which we splurged for, had only a slice of anything worth looking at. And some of the staff had such a pretentious attitude, we could have sworn we were in St. Tropez!

We stayed at Le Palais de la Mediterranee two years ago, and thought it was wonderful, with great service, and a fabulous location close to everything.

And for many years before extensive renovations got underway, we stayed at The Hotel Westminster. The upper floor jr. suites with seaview are worth the money; some of the others are not. The location, however, is pretty much the same aS that of Le Palais de la Mediterannee, only about two blocks away, and the seaview, which is unobstructed by railings, is better than that at Le Palais. So maybe you want to check into that one, too.

One other possibility is THe West End Hotel, which has gotten good reviews here on the forum.

Have a great time!

SAS Radisson is only a few minutes drive from the airport. Pretty much on the outskirts of town. I wouldn't stay there if at all possible since it will take you about 30 minutes to walk to the center of Nice, and taxis are quite expensive. Also, as I remember, there are few restaurants in that area around the hotel, so you'd be stuck eating at the hotel.

On another note, I don't think The Negresco is worth the money. We've stayed there twice, once many years ago, and once more recently,but now would never go back. The lobby is fabulous, but guests don't stay in it! The rooms vary widely according to your rate, and our supposed "seaview", which we splurged for, had only a slice of anything worth looking at. And some of the staff had such a pretentious attitude, we could have sworn we were in St. Tropez!

We stayed at Le Palais de la Mediterranee two years ago, and thought it was wonderful, with great service, and a fabulous location close to everything.

And for many years before extensive renovations got underway, we stayed at The Hotel Westminster. The upper floor jr. suites with seaview are worth the money; some of the others are not. The location, however, is pretty much the same aS that of Le Palais de la Mediterannee, only about two blocks away, and the seaview, which is unobstructed by railings, is better than that at Le Palais. So maybe you want to check into that one, too.

One other possibility is THe West End Hotel, which has gotten good reviews here on the forum.

You asked also about The Splendid. It's a few blocks away from the Promenade des ANglais and the beach, and I've heard that its rooms are small, but have never stayed there.

Sorry for the double post! Having trouble posting today.

Thanks Weadles. Le Palais de M. is booked for the dates I hope to travel. Have you heard anything about the Splendid?

woops, Weadles just read the last sentence of your post!!

Purely based on location, I would choose HOTEL WESTMINSTER or THE WEST END over THE SPLENDID, which is four or five blocks away from Promenade des Anglais and the sea. But if you book THE WESTMINSTER, definitely reserve a seaview room, preferably jr. suite on the 5th floor. Some of the other rooms were a bit rundown a few years ago, although the hotel was undergoing extensive renovations.

You can also look at HOTEL WINDSOR and HOTEL SUISSE, both of which have excellent locations.

One last piece of advice: If you decide to book at THE WESTMINSTER, make sure you get a renovated room. I just read that some of the rooms on the second floor have been beautifully redone, while others on the 3rd have not. The rooms that we used to book were jr. suites I think on the 5th floor and the were really spacious with amazing views!

One final recommendation: the 4* La Pérouse, down by the château and only a block from the Cours Saléya. However, you need to pop for a deluxe room; the superiors and standards are small and a bit shabby. The hotel has a pool, and the views from the upper floors are fabulous. There's a small exercise room up on the large rooftop sunning area.