We only had 24 hours in Nice, and I would go back for the food!! I really didn’t know what to expect in Nice. It kind of felt like a party town, but also relaxing and lowkey. The main beach is rocky, not sandy, so if you want to lay out, I’d recommend booking a beach chair from one of the beach clubs. While Lyon is the gastronomic capital of France, we had our best meals in Nice because we went to Michelin Bib Gourmand restaurants. They don’t have Michelin stars, but it’s wonderful food at an affordable price point (sometimes 25 euros per person instead of 250 euros).
HOW LONG SHOULD YOU STAY IN NICE?
We only had 24 hours in Nice, and I don’t think it was enough. While we didn’t really relax, Nice is a beach town, so I’d recommend at least 2 days: one for sightseeing and one for sitting at the beach. There were a few museums more inland (Marc Chagall and Henri Matisse), but we didn’t go. Nice is close to a few other French coastal towns like Cannes, Antibes, and Èze, and a 25-minute train ride from Monaco.
WHERE SHOULD YOU STAY IN NICE?
We stayed in an Airbnb closer to the port, which was like a 20-minute walk to Old Nice and 30 30-minute walk to the beach. I would stay closer to Old Nice if possible, but the town is pretty small, so most things are walkable. I didn’t check, but I’m sure the hotels right by the beach are more expensive. You can see a map of everywhere we went below.
PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION IN NICE
You can buy bus/tram/metro tickets from a kiosk at the train station or from most tobacco shops, as the buses didn’t accept Apple Pay (June 2023). We purchased a 10-trip pass that we could use for two people. To use it, we just needed to dip the card twice in the ticket machine when we entered the bus/tram/metro, which put a time stamp and bus information and let us know how many trips we had left. You get free transfers for 74 minutes, not including round trip. Out of everywhere we went, this was the only city where we saw people checking tickets. We were on a bus by the main beach promenade and three uniformed men came on and asked to see everyone’s tickets. A few people didn’t have them and they were escorted off the bus. When I studied abroad in Prague, there were several instances where people checked tickets (I remember Warsaw, Prague, and Budapest in particular), so I usually buy transport tickets when I can.
IMPORTANT FRENCH VOCABULARY:
English was less common in Nice than in Paris, but you’d still get by in restaurants.
- Anglais = English language
- La note = the bill at a restaurant
- Le ticket = the receipt at a store
- Les toilettes = the bathroom
- Carte banquaire (abbreviated to C.B.) = credit card, can have a minimum purchase amount to use at small convenience stores, but not usually at bakeries when you’re buying a croissant
- Carafe d’eau = carafe of tap water for the table
- L’eau plat = flat water, non-sparkling
- L’eau gazeuse = sparkling water
DAY 1: TUESDAY, JUNE 6
Taking the train from Marseille to Nice
We left our Airbnb in Marseille a little before 7:30am and took the metro to the train station since walking would have been all uphill. There weren’t a ton of food options here, so Sarah and I just ate a granola bar that I brought. We didn’t get to the train station too early, all went well, and we took the 8:28am train to Nice.
We arrived at the Nice-Ville station, bought a bus ticket and tried to figure out the bus situation. There were several stops and we were kind of confused, but finally figured out the correct one was across the street down the hill. We met our Airbnb hosts and were able to drop off our bags early.
Then, it was time for lunch, where we had one of the best meals of our trip. I had researched what I had thought were Michelin star restaurants, and as previously mentioned, they were actually Michelin Bib Gourmand restaurants, so restaurants with good food but at a lower price. In this case, we had three three-course prix fixe lunch for 20 euros at Peixes.
The restaurant (Bonaparte location, not in Vieux Nice) was very cute and coastal, rivaling any aesthetic restaurant in Los Angeles. We sat at a table outside with a shade cover and a lot of pillows. The “complimentary bread” were delicious these flaky pastries with seaweed in them. The first course was ceviche, followed by a vegetable course, then dessert. The food was absolutely stunning, and we were very content after our mediocre meals in Marseille.
Near Peixes, we saw a plaque that said Napoleon I lived there. Next, we walked to old town, called Vieux Nice. I loved all the colorful buildings, everything was so vibrant and the narrow streets felt like a bustling market. The streets were made of cobblestone and pretty narrow. There were a ton of shops and restaurants, and I wish I had more space in my stomach to try them all. We made it to Cours Saleya where they have a flower market Tuesday through Sunday, but they were mostly already packing up. Then, we walked to the main square, Place Massena with the big fountain called Fontaine du Soleil.
From there, we walked out to see the ocean for the first time and walked along the main pedestrian walkway along the beach, called Promenade des Anglais. We walked down to the famous Negresco hotel and wanted to go inside, but they had fancy doormen and it just looked like us muggles wouldn’t be able to get in.
We took the bus back to Old Town, which is where we saw the transit police take people off the bus who didn’t have a transportation card. Then we walked up a staircase to the Colline du Chateau. There were quite a few staircases to get up there, but the view was pretty. We had seen a sort of waterfall from down below in Old Nice, and found it up by the castle, called the Cascade de Gairaut. It was a pretty big park area with places to sit and a few little food stalls. We walked around and got different views of the beach and the port side of Nice.
We walked down a different staircase from which we had ascended, which put us at the east end of the beach, near the #ILOVENICE sign. We took a photo, then we grabbed gelato at Fenocchio (6 rue de la Poissonerie location) and sat for a bit before walking to our happy hour destination.
I don’t remember how I found Le Plongeoire, but once I saw a photo of it, I knew we had to go. It’s a stunning restaurant right on and above the water I looked at the menu online and my heart sank because it was really expensive. Luckily, they had just re-opened their Le Vivier Lounge Bar on May 26, so we were able to just go and get a drink. We had to walk all the way around the port from Old Town, and it didn’t look like many tourists were in this area. As we were walking toward the restaurant, it didn’t look open, so I was very disappointed. However, once we were there, we realized the bar was downstairs only, so you couldn’t see the people from above. We walked down the staircase and were seated right above the water. The vibes were immaculate and even though I go to places near the water in LA, it just felt more casual and less like an Instagram influencer scene. We just got drinks (cocktail for Sarah and a mocktail for moi) so we didn’t spoil our dinner, which was indeed the right move.
After sitting and drinking our drinks, we took the bus to another Michelin Bib Gourmand restaurant called Rouge that had a bunch of small plates. Since we got there at an American time for dinner (6:15pm), there were plenty of open tables. We ordered 5 small plates and rice pudding for dessert. Everything was delicious, I am still thinking about the perfect piece of salmon and also the little puffed raviolis that were kind of like Cheez-its.
After dinner, we walked back to the Airbnb and stopped for some Orangina and water at a tobacco store. The Airbnb had a washing machine and I was out of socks, so I did laundry. There wasn’t a dryer, so I used the towel warmer to dry my stuff. We watched a movie and went to bed.
DAY 2: WEDNESDAY, JUNE 7
In planning our trip, I didn’t really realize that we’d only have about 24 hours in Nice, so we didn’t do a whole lot the next day. We took the bus to Cathédrale Saint Nicolas de Nice, a Russian Orthodox church. We quickly stopped at Boulangerie Patisserie Traiteur for a pastry and coffee and ate it in the garden outside the church. I took a few photos outside the church before going inside. There were a few rabbits on the grounds, not the brown little bunnies I’ve seen in Washington, they were big rabbits. It was free to enter the church and was smaller than expected inside. I think you could pay to walk up the tower, but we didn’t do that. You weren’t allowed to take photos and your shoulders and knees had to be covered.
Then, we took the bus back to the train station to buy a public transportation ticket for 6 rides. We walked back to Cours Saleya and got to see all the market vendors and flowers since we missed it the day prior. We walked back to the Airbnb to check out. We grabbed our suitcases and left the keys with our host, then took the tram to lunch.
We were a little late to our 12:30pm reservation for lunch at another Michelin Bib Gourmand restaurant called L’Alchimie. It started with a shot of melon puree, then I had a melon and feta salad, a zucchini risotto dish, and a raspberry tart. Sarah had a ravioli, a meat (seemingly pork?) dish, and crème brûlée.
We had some time to kill before our flight back to London to go back to the US, so we took the tram to the beach. We stopped at the Sainte-Hélène Tram Station, plenty far from the main touristy part of Nice, and walked a block to the water. We had our luggage, so we just sat on a bench on the Promenade des Anglais for an hour and soaked up the French sun. Then, we took the tram to the little Nice airport, saw another #ILOVENICE sign, and got dinner at the Pret.
Overall, we had a lovely 24 hours in Nice and it was a nice way to end our two weeks in Europe. We got some amazing views and had the best food. Sarah definitely would have liked some time to lay out on the beach, but we just didn’t have a lot of time for that and it is hard to predict the weather with summer storms. I think it would be fun to have a car and make some stops in Nice and other small coastal towns that are super close by like Villefranche-sur-Mer and Èze.
HIGHLIGHTS:
- All the food. Literally not one bad bite at Peixes, Rouge, and L’Alchimie
- Drinks at Le Plongeoire
- Walking through old town
WHAT I WOULD’VE CHANGED
- Maybe book a chair at a beach club
- Bought an unlimited 24-hour transport pass
- Take a bus to Le Plongeoire instead of walking around the whole marina
OTHER EUROPE 2023 BLOG POSTS:
3 Days in London
4th Timer’s Guide to Paris
2 Days in Lyon
2 Days in Marseille
Pin it! 24 Hours in Nice
