At the end of October, I spent a weekend in Nice in the South of France. We were very lucky with weather, as it was really warm and sunny, even though it was almost November. For me, it was my first time in Nice, and I found the city to be very beautiful and vibrant. Also, Nice is a great city to visit if you are travelling on a budget, because there are many great attractions that are free or low-cost, and located close to each other. Here are some that I would definitely recommend!
Place Masséna & Avenue Jean Médecin
Place Masséna is the main square of the city, and it’s located between the old town and the Avenue Jean Médecin, and close to the Promenade des Anglais. In the daytime, we could hardly notice the statues that light up in different colors at night, and our attention was drawn to the beautiful red buildings bordering the square. Our hostel was near the Avenue Jean Médecin, the city’s major shopping street that runs from the Place Masséna. Even if you don’t plan on shopping, you can still have a stroll down the avenue that is beautifully lit at nighttime.
Castle Hill (Colline du Chateau)
The Castle Hill (or the Castle Park) is where you can find the ruins of the former castle Chateau de Nice. It’s a long way up the hill, but while climbing the stairs you can enjoy the beautiful, green surroundings, as well as the views that open up the higher you climb. From a viewpoint at the top, we had a great view of the Mediterranean and the Promenade des Anglais alongside it.
Promenade des Anglais & the beachfront
Promenade des Anglais is the beautiful promenade along the seashore, with lots of palm trees lining it. On the promenade as well as elsewhere in the city, we saw signs of remembrance for the victims of the Bastille Day attack on July 14th, and due to the state of emergency in France, there were also a few soldiers on the promenade, and other busy streets. All the same, the promenade and the beach next to it were full of people enjoying the sunshine and warm weather, and we spent a lot of time just walking and relaxing by the sea.
The Old Town
In the old part of the city there are lots of really nice shops, restaurants, bars and cafés. On Saturday evening we had a dinner of Moules et frites (mussels and fries) at a seafood restaurant that was very affordable for the amount of food we got, and the food was very tasty. On Sunday morning there was a lovely flower market that also sold food and other goods – I found it to be a really good place to buy souvenirs for my friends and family.
A few addtional tips:
- If the weather is nice, a great alternative for eating in a restaurant is having a picnic on the beach or in one of the many lovely parks in the city. If you don’t have cooking facilities at your accommodation, you can find for example tasty, filling salads in a supermarket for only a few euros.
- Our hostel didn’t have breakfast included in the price, and one morning we had breakfast in a café that sold a pastry and a hot drink for less than 3 euros. Of course there are also more expensive cafés, but some places may have breakfast deals such as this one. This particular café was a Brioche Dorée (which is a French chain of bakery/café restaurants).
- Accommodation can of course be expensive, but there are many hostels with dorm rooms that are naturally a lot cheaper than private rooms – if however you prefer a private room, I could recommend the Nice Art Hôtel where we stayed. The room was small and very plain, but tidy and a lot cheaper than private rooms in many other places, and we were a walking distance away from everywhere we went in the city.