The capital of the Riviera and fifth largest city in France,
NICE
scarcely deserves its glittering reputation. Living off inflated property values and fat business accounts, its ruling class has hardly evolved from the eighteenth-century Russian and English aristocrats who first built their mansions here; today it's the rentiers and retired people of various nationalities whose dividends and pensions give the city its startlingly high ratio of per capita income to economic activity.
Arriving by
air
, you can get different buses into town: bus #23 to the gare SNCF (8.50F/?1.30); a speedy navette (taking 15min; 26F/?3.97); or a bus (every 20min, 23F/?3.51) from outside the end door of Terminal 1 to the junction of avenue Gustav V and the promenade des Anglais, or on to the
gare routière
, which for once is very central, close to the old town beneath the promenade du Paillon on boulevard Jean-Jaurès (tel 04.93.85.61.81). The
gare SNCF
is a little further out, a couple of blocks west of the top end of avenue Jean-Médecin (bus #12 to place Masséna). Both the bus and train stations have left-luggage counters. More Nice information...
SEAFRONT, CITY CENTER / NICE Built in 1912, overlooking the famous Bay of Angels, and classified as a National Historic Monument in 1974, the Hotel Negresco is one of the few remaining privately owned palaces still existing the w
CITY CENTER / BEACH FRONT / NICE The Le Me'ridien Nice occupies a privileged position in the heart of the city, facing the Mediterranean Sea and is only 10 minutes from Nice Cote d'Azur International Airport.
NEAR PROMENADE DES ANGLAIS / NICE Ideally located in the heart of Nice, France, the Plaza Hotel faces the beach and is close to the Promenade des Anglais.