Vieux Nice - The Old Town

There are lots of different parts of Nice, as you would expect from France’s 5th largest city, from the pedestrian zoned designer boutique style main streets through to large boulevards featuring many stunning art deco and belle époque buildings.

Nice by Window

However, for us, we feel that you haven’t really experienced Nice until you have absorbed yourself within the old town – vieux Nice.  Tiny little winding streets with buildings of varying provencal colours and tiled roofs sit alongside extremely fashionable and individual clothes shops, jazz clubs, artists studios and fabulous restaurants.



Nice Cours Saleya Market

The old town is also home to some of the most famous places in the city,  including Palais Lascaris, the Opera House, and the world renowned Cours Saleya or flower market.  This main thoroughfare of the old town, directly behind the end of the Promenade des Anglais and beach, has a huge amount of flower, fruit and vegetable stalls as well as turning into a giant antiques market on Mondays.  The stalls are flagged, on each side by restaurant upon restaurant, all busy with visitors from all over the world, sitting, eating and chatting as various street entertainers keep the atmosphere electrifying. 

There are two main arteries from the place Massena – a large pedestrianised area with seats and water fountains – through to the old town.  Rue de la Prefecture is one of these.  It is ideally placed, being a few hundred yards from the main bus station in Nice (from where you can get the airport bus), the Cours Saleya, the beach, Opera House, promenade des anglais and close to the main larger shopping streets of Jean Medecin, Victor Hugo and musicians quarter.

Look at www.coteazur.org for all information on the area and city.

Nice Harbour

For those wanting to chill out (or fry!) on the beach, it will take around 2 mins to walk to the nearest and most contemporary private bech – Castel plage.  With its contemporary sun loungers, fantastic showers and changing facilities and possibly the best beach restaurant in Nice, this is an experience not to be missed.  Cool, relaxing tunes are played for most of the day and life does not get much better than this!