Open Door Travelers Nice

Nice, Cote d'Azur, in Provence on the southern coast of France and on the Mederterranian Sea is the largest city on the the French Riviera which essentially runs from the the tiny independant nation of Monaco to Marseille and includes resort towns like Cannes and Saint-Tropez. Nice is a fabulous jumping off point for exploration of Sourthern France and Northern Italy.

Since tourism is such a large part of the Nice economy, you may very well have more trouble practicing your French than finding someone who speaks English.

During our two month stay in Nice as a base for exploring Southern France and Northern Italy, these were the day trips and overnight excursions we were able to enjoy:

- Monaco

- Cannes & Antibe

- Rome

- Cinque Terre

- Eze

- Milan & Lake Como

- Avignon & Arles

- Geneva

- Tourettes-sur-Loup

We found Nice to be a wonderful place to base ourselves for two months. You can look through our web pages for more information and our Travel Blog for descriptions of our excursions. If you have specific questions, please feel free to email us at: info@opendoortravelers.com.

Getting to Nice

Getting to Nice is quite straightforward. Nice Cote d'Azur airport (NCE) is the third busiest airport in France with over a hundred flights daily, most of them being international from around Europe. It is also quite easy to take a high-speed cross-country train from Paris or Genoa if you choose to take an international flight to one of those cities and take the train from there.

Where to Stay in Nice

Over looking the Promenade des Anglais and the Mediterranean Sea. [Photo: Open Door Travelers]

Like many other big cities, Nice is easy to find a place to stay for any budget. There are inexpensive hostels, an active Airbnb community, and hotels that range from 3 star to 5 star. Generally speaking, the closer you stay to the Promenade des Anglais AND the closer you stay to the Castel hill (sometimes called Parc du Chateau) on the East side of the town, the closer you will be to the "Scenic" and "Charming" parts of Nice. As you look at a map, East of Le Meridien hotel and Albert 1st Gardens along the Promenade and Quai des Etats-Unis are good location bets.

Eating in Nice

There are literally hundreds of restaurants to choose from in Nice. These are some of the restaurants that we tried within walking distance of our apartment on Quai des Etats-Unis:

- Brasserie la Rotonde at Le Negresco Hotel

- Aqua E Farina

- La Terrace at Le Meridien Hotel

- Vin sur Vin

- Hard Rock Cafe, Nice

- Le Maquis

- Retaurant Le Panier

- Le Hussard

- Chez Fredy

- Cote Marais

- Ma Nolan's Irish Bar

- American Bar