Nad Adam

Well I'm going to Nice, France for a couple of weeks in june to visit a friend who lives there for a year. Since I'm the type who gets bored with beaches pretty quickly I thought some of you might have some advice for nice and/or original places in the area to visit, nice hikes, museums, locations, whatever. It would be apriciated + I might get some good photographs to share with you when I get back. (that is if I survive the week in Amsterdam right after)


And while I remember Happy Easter.

sailor

I have found THIS site to be a great help when looking for things like that. There tend to be many different people writing about it, so you can get lots of opinions, rather than the one you get in a travel book.

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Nad Adam

Wow, that seems like a great page, thanks.

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Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones. - Psalms 137:9

tacho

That's a great site Sailor! Could take a while to snoop around, so much there. Thanks heaps!

acostello

NCE is June is going to be quite crowded. Talking about beaches, remember;it is not like the carribean soft white sand beach - It is pebbly and hard.

Yes, you could drive over to Monte Carlo,Monaco - They have the famous Formula 1 car race around that time. There is Cannes, you could drive to Italy. There are some vineyards in the places nearby. Enjoy.

Charlatan

There are a ton of great places to visit all within a short hop of Nice (besides Nice itself)

Just remeber that almost everything is touristy in the south of France.

I would recommend you visit the following places:

Nice - Musée des Beaux-Arts, Musée International d'Art Naif Anatole-Jakovsky, Musée Matisse, Chagall Museum. I haven't spent a lot of time in Nice so I can say much more beyond the museums.

St. Tropez - beautiful and sunny.

Antibes - shopping and Picasso Museum

Grasse - for all your perfume needs. Many French perfumes were born of the flowers and scents of Grasse.

Biot - glass museum and just a charming little town.

Eze - hilltop walled town with plenty of charm

Saint-Paul de Vence - another hilltop walled town. Chagal is buried here. See La Fondation Maeght, a gallery with a lot of Miros. And if you have $$ eat at La Columbe D'Or. The walls are hung with original paintings by many famous artists who paid their bills with paintings. I spent a weekend in Saint-Paul de Vence a couple of weeks ago and while a tad touristy it is very nice. If you can stay there, try getting a room at Les Ramparts. It is in the walled city and not too expensive compared to the other places.

Mougins - great restaurants original Picassos in some.

Cannes - just to say you've been. It is a bit underwhelming. However, in the old port there is a restaurant called La Pizza and it serves the best pizza in the world. If you have money and want some suggestions for very good restaurants let me know and I can suggest a bunch. You can also visit the island of Abbaye De L'ile Saint-honorat, I hear it is nice.

Monaco is OK. It isn't my favourite place but it is nice. If you want to visit the Grand Casino you need a suit and bring your passport.

If you have a car or some time to take the train, Italy is very close as well. You can go to San Remo which is just past Monaco. There is a market there on Saturday mornings, I think. Generally speaking the Italian Cote d'Azure is very nice. You can also be in Tuscany in a few hours.

I hope you have good time.

kalashnikov

Watch out for pickpockets/scam artists...i had one guy distract me and another one steal some stuff. Just be careful and you'll be fine.
But there is nothing much to do in Nice besides relaxing.
And yeah, the beaches are not what you expect. Walking on hot rocks in bare feet is not too much fun.

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Charlatan

They truck in sand for the beach in Cannes...

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Schwan

Remember to check out Avignon - it's a great, old city. Also, when you'll be travelling through the riviera, ask your driver to take you on the sea side road, and not the higway. It has some of the most stunning sceneries in this part of the world.

happyraul

If you take the train along the coast from Nice towards Monaco, and get off at the Eze sur mere stop, you can hike up to the hilltop town from down at the coast. The hike isn't too long, I don't remember exactly, but I don't think it should take much more than an hour. From the train station, the path might be tricky to find, but you should be able to find it if you look around a bit. Anyway, I highly recommend the hike, it offers some of the best views, and you can stop at your leisure to soak them in or take pictures. Once at the top you can go around the picturesque town, and when you are done you can take a bus back down to the coast if you don't want to walk back down.