thinking of staying at the Windsor hotel in Nice in Oct.Anyone know it? any other suggestions? Also, for three days do we need a car (we'll have a car in Provence before that). Helen

Helen, my husband and I stayed at the Windsor in April. We enjoyed our stay there. The staff was extremely helpful, the gardens were lovely. You can have your breakfst in the garden, and they also serve dinner (we did not have dinner here). The hotel also had a bar, which was a nice place to have a nightcap (and they served in the garden). The best part - they offered an hour massage for 40 euros - which was one of the best I ever had!!!!! the only down side was there was some construction going on across the street that tended to be on the noisy side if you kept the windows open. With the windows closed it was no problem. You can walk everywhere from the hotel. I would not recommend a car while in Nice, there is excellent bus and train service to everyplace on the Riviera. Enjoy.

Helen, we also stayed at the Windsor a few years ago with 8 people (in 4 rooms). Overall the hotel itself was great - our room was rather noisy on the first floor, but other rooms were not. The garden breakfast is great. We did have cars for day trips to Eze (my favorite), St Paul du Vence, Cabris and Grasse, but if you plan on staying in Nice you don't need a car there. You can walk to the old town and the water in a few minutes, but not be in the hectic part. The bus service within Nice itself is also good. And trains to other places as suggested. Highly recomment the Windsor.

We stayed for three nights at the Windsor and weren't as crazy about it as the many people who recommended it to us. The staff was indeed very nice and friendly. The breakfast in the gardens was nice.<BR>But we arranged to park a car in their <BR>garage/carport, and when we tried to leave we were blocked in. It took a couple of hours for them to find out who owned the car blocking us. This actually happened two mornings -- messing up our plans for the day.<BR>And we had to call downstairs to have light bulbs put in -- only one in the room worked; our toilet needed fixed as it ran continually; and a door was off the hinges. They fixed all of these but it didn't speak very well of their general housekeeping procedures. They also did not make up our room until we returned about 5 PM and complained.<BR><BR>To answer your question about a car -- it depends. You can easily get around Nice or even to nearby towns by public transportation, so I would doubt that you need one. It is a pretty good walk from the Windsor to many things -- particulary Old Nice, but a pleasant walk.

I stayed in Nice for a week a couple of years ago, driving down from Avignon where I picked it up, and keeping it for the whole time I was there to do day excursions. But I needed it primarily because I was with my mother who is severely arthritic and for whom public transportation would have been less than satisfactory. If you are fit then I would recommend you forego the car and use the excellent local bus services that will take you to the towns and villages in the area you are likely to want to visit. It is easier, and to be frank much cheaper too. <BR><BR>It you do as we did, and stay on the Promenade des Anglaises, you will find not all hotels have their own parking lots, and even if they do they may charge you the earth to use it. We stayed at the Hotel Westend -- a Best Western hotel and one I very much enjoy for its location and Riviera view balconies, and they do not have their own lot. Nice is congested, on street parking such as it is, is restricted to persons living there year round who have permits to do so, and otherwise there is limited metered parking for an hour or two and not for long periods of time. So you must rely on the parking lots that are located at various areas in the downtown in which to park your car. There was one a block or so from my hotel that I parked in and it was ridiculously expensive -- about $35 a day. And if you did something dumb like actually take your car out in the morning, then come back in the afternoon and then go out again, well you didn't pay a 24 hour rate, you ended up paying new rates all over again so that even a brief excursion became painfully costly. The other noteworthy aspect of the parking lots is they are not designed like ones in North America with substantial spacing between one car's space and the other so that people can swing their huge cars and trucks into them. Every inch is premium space so I swear the individual car space is just enough for you to get the car into the space by very careful manoeuvering so you don't hit the car on either side of you, and then once parked you will find you can open your door about 4 inches or so, all the room you will get to manoeuver your body sideways out of the car. <BR><BR>I would pass on the car unless you have ambitious driving plans that cannot be covered by the excellent regional public transportation system in Nice.<BR><BR><BR>

The windsor is where we are staying this year, stayed at the Gounod last year and it was great, but my boss has always stayed at the Windsor and she just loves it. The Garden is the main reason we are staying there this year, a balcony overlooking it will be what we wake to everyday. Also I have been told that the staff is wonderful.<BR><BR>The cost is $120EU for a night for the balcony rooms, and at the Gounod the cost was about $85EU. The Gounod has a very nice little breakfast buffet, and the staff was great, but there was no courtyard or view. They are both within a couple blocks of each other, so you may want to look into this if you don't need the view, and want to save a little dough.

Good luck, jjj. We also had been "confirmed" a balcony room overlooking the garden, but when we arrived -- just after noon they told us that there were none of those rooms available. They were sorry. Our third and final day, they offered to move us to a vacated room with balcony, but we decided it wasn't worth it to move at that point.

Patrick:<BR><BR>Did you book through a travel agent or directly with the hotel? Our agent has booked & confirmed the balcony room, so I would hope that if one is not available we would have a little extra recourse in the matter.<BR>