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France
Velo Blue (Blue Bike) is a public bike rental scheme where you can, after pre-registering with your credit or debit card, just turn up at one of over 90 bike stations all over the city of Nice and pick up a bike using your mobile phone to release the padlock. You then just drop it back at any station when your done and you are charged just for the time you use it. I understand there are similar schemes popping up in other city's all over Europe.
Telephone: +33 (0)4 30 00 30 01 (Press option 2 for English)
www.velobleu.org
Online Information in French www.velobleu.org
Online information in English
www.stayintheheartofnice.com/content/view/34/41/
Station locations all over Nice City Centre (map on websites).
Successfully avoided the car hire shortage by booking in advance online. Easycar website - easy to use - car ready and waiting on arrival at Nice Airport. Tres bien!
The new tram has finally arrived in Nice. It runs eight km from Las Planas to Pont Michel, stopping in between at Gare Thiers, Jean Medicin, Place Massena and up to Place Garibaldi.
The cost per journey is a standard fare of 1.30 euros. You can also get a day pass for four euros entitling you to unlimited travel for the day. You can buy tickets at any of the self-service stations where you catch the tram.
The journey from Place Massena to Pont Michel takes approx 16 minutes and there is a tram every four minutes during peak times and every eight minutes off-peak. Trams run from 4 am until 2.30 am the next morning.
For more information go to:
www.tramway-nice.org
www.lignedazur.com
Make sure that you know a certain amount of French and where your destination is because you will have to fend for yourself. Be very exact because certain places have similar names. Don't get tricked by taxi drivers.
Also, if you decide to go to Monaco, or any other city for that fact, please take the train because I took a very scenic six-hour walk there and my feet didn't thank me. Besides, you will see more than I did because I was on a tight schedule, but I still managed to see a reasonable amount.
For people who follow F1, if you want to visit David Coulthard's restaurant, it is called Knights of The Round Table at the Columbus Hotel. The Food is wonderfully exquisite and the prices are very very reasonable.
The CF de Provence is the last mainline narrow gauge railway in France. It runs daily from Nice to Digne leaving at 9am and arriving just in time for a memorable lunch in the station buffet at Digne.
Don't worry about missing the train back, the driver is in there too! It gets back to Nice at 5pm. The scenery is spectacular and the trains and stations enchanting. It's cheap and if you're over 55 or a student (or une famille nombreuse) you will get a big discount.
Go in February when you can leave a spring-like Nice and be in the depths of winter in 30 minutes with giant icicles and snow fields. August is lavender festival time.
The new neat station is in the rue Alfred Binet in Nice, just behind the original (now abandoned) art nouveau station which is being converted into a new town hall for Nice, but judging by how long they are taking to finish the trams, don't hold your breath.
For €1.30, single, you can travel all round Nice as far as Cannes, Monte Carlo and Menton.
Buses are frequent and run to timetables.
Main bus station in Nice
Map: tinyurl.com/3x6f3v
Take the train everywhere! They always seemed reliable and they go right along the coastline by the beaches and sea - some of the views are amazing. Watch out in particular for Beausoliel and Villefranche. The trains might not be the nicest sometimes and you might get a bit hot and sticky, but I think it's well worth it.
You do not need any season tickets for the buses on the Cote d'Azur. They are already absurdly cheap to us folk living in rip-off Britain. It costs just 1 euro 30 cents to take the 2 hour bus journey from Nice to Cannes, with lots of wonderful stops en route (including Graham Greene's Antibes). For 90 pence you cannot go much further than 5 stops in Britain, but for the same 90 pence you can go from Nice all the way through Monte Carlo (the bus stops just yards from the harbour with all the millionaires' yachts) and on to Menton just a mile short of the Italian border.
Visit the Roman arena in Cimiez in spring and see the wild orchids growing among the remains of a villa.
Take the "train des merveilles" to Tende passing across perilous viaducts and through helicoidal tunnels, and visit this very unspoilt village way up in the mountains near the Italian border.
Avoid going to Nice before 2008 - all the main street (Avenue Jean Medecin) and the Place Masséna are in chaos - works for the future tramway - with dust everywhere, traffic problems, uneven footpaths etc.
If you're a woman, then Nice is definitely a place to watch your back. Wearing a skirt at night can lead to all sorts of hassle, especially on the seafront as this is Nice's red-light district. All sorts of undesirables are hanging around ready to (sorry for this) either rob you or rape you ... My advice is to stay away from the seafront at night and if you do have to go, take a man with you!
I wouldn't recommend taking one of the late-night buses either, as they're pretty frightening too (I used to call it the "bus to hell"). Taxis are very expensive but they're the safest way to go home.
All over Nice!
St Paul de Vence is a medieval hilltop town, little changed, which is a haven for real art and local crafts.
It has a great feel and there is a brilliant old-fashioned bar at the entrance to the town surrounded by a boules rink.
St Paul de Vence is about 10km (35 mins) away from Nice - you can hire a motorbike and scoot your way west towards Antibe and Cannes - although you turn north before you get there at a place called Cagnes-sur-Mer.
Motorbike hire from Nicea Location Rent just near the railway station (Gare Nice Ville) in Rue de Belgique.
The area covered by the local bus services run by Ligne D'Azur has been extended. Collect a free route map from the airport or elsewhere.
The seven-day passes are great value and allow journeys to such places as Vence, Eze and some distance inland.
Le Train des Pignes is a classic rail journey through increasingly spectacular scenery from the heart of Nice on the narrow gauge line to Digne les Bains (just over three hours) - or stop at one of the remote and beautiful villages en route.
Either side of the train offers great views.
There are also links to the ski resort of Plan-du-Var.
Gare de Nice CP, rue Alfred Binet
(near the SNCF rail station)
www.trainprovence.com
If you've got a car and need to go along the N98 road towards Nice - try and aim to arrive for dusk. The place looks absolutely magical from there at that time.
Is this your business?Search Been there
