Review: Nice, France

Biggins

Stayed in Nice while travelling around it and Monte Carlo.

First, a review of the hotel I (and wife) stayed in:
The Ibis Nice Centre Gare Hotel

As an English speaking people, the reception staff were very, very helpful and understood my wife and myself. The room was basic. A bed, shower, sink, tv, etc. The room as a place to rest your head was fine but thats about it.

One thing that did surprise us was that there was no satellite TV stations - just 12 French stations except for one BBC world news channel (11) which repeats everything every 15 minutes. Unless you spoke French you were totally stuck to find anything that you could watch. As such the TV in your room is as useful as a flower vase and might as well be not there if your not able to translate French. For such a big company hotel, you think they could afford to get satellite stations tuned in. No such luck! We were really annoyed with that. The side bed lights are desperate. You might as well use the big light in the room. I wanted to read due to lack of tiredness. Couldn't use the TV so when I switched on my bed light to read instead, it lit up the whole room entirely. Far, far too bright so that kept the wife awake! I had to abandon the idea of reading so I was left with staring at the ceiling with boredom till eventually I dropped off to sleep, she like-wise other nights.
No one used the pool. It was dirty, very plain, uninviting and not made usable by signs or clearer indicators to where it was or how to get to it. You were just told when you booked in "O' there is a pool on part of our lower roofs" and that was that.

The breakfasts sucked big time. We went down to the breakfast the first morning deliberately early and tried to find a cup for each of us - there was none! We tried to get a bowl of cereal (empty) and there was also no milk. We had to wait five minutes before someone from the kitchen actually came out. When he did (and he played with the till), we asked him if we could have milk - he immediately bit our heads off and told us to "wait a minute will you?" rudely. Besides having to try and find every little thing including counter staff, bread, milk, sugar, cups, being frustrated at having to scrounge around for even the basics and then getting our heads bitten off on our first morning - we said to ourselves "stuff that" downed trays and walked out of the breakfast area. We were not paying to go on a morning hunt and then also paying to be insulted. We avoided the area every morning after.
*** Moral of the story *** If you want a decent breakfast, go elsewhere. 8 Euro is definitely not worth it - even if you manage to find the breakfast staff - eventually...

Location-wise its ideal to the train station which was two minutes walk away. To the beach front, it's 15/30 minutes depending on your pace. Walk and you get to see the sights more so. Get the bus/tram and you miss out on a lot. Location to the main street too was ok. Five minutes walk away from the top of the main street was good.
On our last morning we were woke at just before nine by the cleaning maid banging our door for some reason. I think it was a clear hint to tell us to get out. We were in bed at the time and she woke us. A reception staff member when booking out then forgot to give me back my credit card - two hours later after frantic searching on our last day, we had to eventually return to the hotel to find out it was them that still had it!

Over all what we liked was that the reception staff understood us and when asked, was indeed helpful. The downside was the TV channels, bedside lights and breakfast service big time.

Would we recommend the hotel to someone? No. For the same money, similar distance to the sea front (or nearer), better morning service, you will find much better in price, room abilities and actual present kitchen staff. Overpriced for the quality you get.

***************

Nice - The City:



Beautiful city, that cannot be said enough. Bloomin' breathtaking at times.
If your into one of the following then you will be in heaven: walks, seaside's, cultural surroundings, history, shopping, food, smells/scents and much, much more.



Nice was an ancient Roman town with forts included. The old French section absolutely reeks of monuments, buildings and much, much more. You could spend absolutely days going around the old sections and just when you think you know all the passageways, you still manage to discover that there is something/somewhere that you missed! All places steeped in deep history. Its no coincident alone that the city has Europe's biggest Museum on Matisse paintings to begin with. If your into history in a number of areas, you will love this place big, big time (12/15 actual Museum's in the city to get you started!). The churches and even the every day buildings are astounding to look at. I could say loads on this topic alone...



Walking around the MANY scents of the places waffes about your nose not heavy so but lightly enough for you to appreciate them all. Every corner you take you are invited to discover more sensual ones. Be they from perfume stores/stalls to food cafe's and many more...
The daily morning huge flower market is just a joy just to experience and see/smell just once in a life time. We returned at least once, twice also if we had the time - per day.



Shopping-wise, you have the loads of modern streets (and off-shoots) in Nice besides hundreds of stalls in the old French section as well. Its as easy to shop around for the cheap items as it is to find the expensive exclusive stuff. That siad, even at the very lowest prices, you will find unique items and shoe/clothes wear to buy. The variety and beauty of the range of items available was unquestionably huge (we had to but an extra carry-on bag to get stuff home lol).
Again, in the old French section alone, there is many side stalls/shops to keep one busy for a week on your own. If shopping is your poison and just browsing, you will die happy here from a tremendous overdose of choice.



Food! Gosh, where does one start! There has to be over a thousand cafe's, restaurants open during the day. Then comes the night! Half as many again open up. Dark side alleys that you passed by earlier suddenly later become outside meeting and eating places, its mad! Both in the old and new areas of Nice, your absolutely spoilt for food and the tastes not just of the French but of nearly every country on the planet.
DON'T expect to keep to a diet if your on one arriving here. The foods will draw you in like a female mermaid siren singing on ship wrecking rocks.



Parts of Nice you should know are for the very rich. Thankfully those areas are all the other side of the city in the small luxury harbour area where all the super rich dock their over-priced boats (which probably sometimes matches their over inflated egos). The rest of the town on the main side of the high rise fort in the centre is seriously more than adequate enough for the rest of the world to keep us all happy. Even still, take a trip to the mega-rich side. Its an experience in itself.



There is much much more to Nice including the great weather - bring loads of sunblock! If your staying one week or two, there is loads to see and view. One thing is for sure... you will be back. Trust me!

mikedragon32

Great review, Biggins. Sorry about your hotel. I guess the wisdom is that you don't bother with hotel brekkies and get yourself to a boulangerie where a pastry and a coffee will set you back about €3.

I travel to Nice a lot with my wife. Her parents own a house (which is just out of shot on the bottom right in your third pic, incidentally), directly opposite Castel Plage.

I'd agree with just about everything you've said. The old town is buzzing, day and night and there is a huge selection of places to eat and drink to suit all pockets. Personally I stay away from anywhere directly on Cours Salaya. Only one or two are actually any good and all of them are expensive for what you get. Off the square you'll find plenty of good restaurants that don't charge too much at all. One of our favourite restaurants is La Voglia, just at the end of the Marche aux Fleurs (the end of Cours Salaya) and most mains come in at €12 - €16 with the only expensive main being the veal at €26. Don't bother with starters as the portions are HUGE! Try to leave room for the amazing desserts too...

There are good restaurants too near to the Opera and also on Rue de la Prefecture (Le Tire Bouchon especially).

Bars I particularly like are Les Distilleries Idealees (just behind Cours Salaya, go up the lane between Les Civettes du Cours and Les Ponchettes), which is a great pub with plenty of local trade (and a happy hour) and also Ma Nolan's on Marche aux Fleurs (not the ubiquitous Oirish pub at all, it's one of the best bars in Nice, evidenced by the large number of locals who drink there).

The harbour does give a glimpse of the lifestyles of the rich and famous, but if you really want to experience it, have a walk along the shops opposite Place Albert 1er (the street that leads from Place Messena to Le Meridien) for something resembling Rodeo Drive in terms of the selection of shops. Alternatively jump onto Bus route 100 from Gare Routier and jump off at Casino Square in Monaco and walk back down to Port Hercule from there. Here the boats make those in Nice port look like dinghies!

I just returned last night and the weather was terrible for the last two days (and again today, I believe). I guess, we'll just have to go back again!

Biggins

mikedragon32 wrote: »

...also Ma Nolan's on Marche aux Fleurs (not the ubiquitous Oirish pub at all, it's one of the best bars in Nice, evidenced by the large number of locals who drink there).

Checked out there too a number of times. We actually might have crossed paths! (That would be funny)

A couple more images of Nice, a few of Ma's too.


Your average Beach Babe there!


The Opera House Beside Ma Nolans (www.ma-nolans.com)


Entrance to Ma Nolans


Entertainment for all.


Inside Ma's


Market stall


Paintings for sale
(€30 for large one - €15 for smaller. We bought three, one large and two small)


Ice-cream shop
(We tried them out. Bloomin' lovely they were too)


Poultry shop (that I first posted wrong as the ice cream shop DOH!!!)


Clothes shopping
Bought two shirts and pants here alone.

In total, I took about 1,300 pictures.

mikedragon32

1300 pics??? :eek: I don't know how many times I've been but I doubt all the photos I've taken add up to that!

BTW that's the poultry shop in one of those pics, not the ice cream shop! The ice cream place is around the corner. It's a great place to buy rotisserie chicken though!

Biggins

opps wrong pic lol - dippy me LOL

Corrected.

I take a lot of pics. Some multiple shots of the same thing in case one shot is off in some way or light effected previous shot, etc.
Aye, I have a crap loaf of 4 gig SD cards/4 backup batteries and a grand digital camera.

Tre4

I'm in that area at the moment. Taken the plunge and just bought a caravan (gee I must be getting old!)

Stayin in a beautiful village called Le Bar sur loup. It's about half hour from Nice or Anibes so you can quickly drive to the beach but don't have to deal with the commercial drawl of the busy coastal towns

zodiak

i was there last year its a great spot but can be expensive if you go to the wrong places.. the beaches are great but if your feling flush with cash jean les paix about 20 minutes away from nice on the train is great but there all private beaches 20 euro a day but dont buy the food on the beaches 44 euro for 2 pastas no tanxs... as for drink we usually had a nagin in our bags just kept getting fresh ice there is also a market about 45 mins away on the train it ok if your up for that type of thing.. it can be quite sumtimes if your going for the night life it wouldnt really be as mad as a resort in spain but i would go again

Biggins

We seriously liked the place and are definitely going back again.
Giving thought (serious thought) to moving there. Second trip will help decide for us.