Nice is a beautiful city on the Côte d’Azur. Known for its stunningly blue water and pebbled beaches, it’s the perfect gateway to the renowned resort towns of southern France. If you want to be as close as possible to the beach, we’d suggest staying in the Old Town of Nice, a busy, compact historic district with lots of charming restaurants, shops, and markets. If you want to experience Nice like a local, look for hotels or vacation rentals just outside of the Old Town. Either way, you can get to many places via train or car, making Nice a great base if you want to discover other cities like Monte Carlo, St Tropez, or Antibes.
The food options here are abundant. You’ll find French, Italian, Indian, Thai, Chinese, Mexican, and more. If you love organic and natural wines, you’re in luck as there are many restaurants and caves that serve natural wine in town. Try Lavomatique, Epiro Nice, or La Pesche a la Vigne for dinner and a glass of natural wine. Babel Babel has a good selection, as well as some on-tap cocktails. Try the strawberry smash.
Just down the street from Epiro, you’ll find La Gratta Keka. It’s a little food truck on the water where they sell the best can bagnats, a local specialty consisting of a nicoise salad on bread with eggs, tuna and plenty of olive oil. You can find them all over town and we plan to go back and try a few more. Plus we want to attempt to make these at home – they’re so good!
For Indian food, head to the Indian Lounge or Delhi Belhi. Just next door to the Indian Lounge, is Le Banthai. Sit in the street for people watching and eat some fantastic thai food. Many people will take food down to the beach and sit on the rocks with pads and blankets at night, so an after dinner walk is a must!
For a true Nice institution, don’t miss Grand Café de Turin. Opened in 1908, this 100 year old family owned oyster bar on a historic square not only has great seafood, but also great people watching. It’s very casual (the menu is printed on paper placements), service is quick, and the seafood is as fresh as it gets. Their oysters are all on the medium to large side.
If you love to visit markets like we do, check out Marché aux Fleurs Cours Saleya which is the flower market that runs almost every day but Mondays. If you are looking for antiques, go there on monday for their brocante market filled with jewelry, furniture, silver, and glassware. This market is more touristy but full of great finds.
We loved the Marché aux fruits et légumes de la Libération even more. It’s filled with locals, and it’s huge, with tons of fruit and vegetable vendors plus a whole street lined with fishmongers. If you buy fish, look for the booths with the lines as you can’t be sure their catch is the locals’ choice.
