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Nice Tourist Traps

Petit train touristique - Nice
Petit train touristique
by NiceLife
Tips and photos of Nice tourist attractions and tourist traps, posted by real travelers and Nice locals.
Local Time 9:17 am Saturday, May 17, 2008
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Popular Tourist Traps | Miscellaneous Tourist Traps Tips | All Tips (36)
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Nice Terminal 2
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  • Updated By NiceLife on February 17, 2007
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  • Nice Terminal 2 is a glorious architectural project based on passenger projections to 2010. Unfortunately this is still 2007. The selection of shops available in Terminal 2 is based on the flawed premise that budget-conscious low-cost airline passengers are queing to buy a $10,000 Cartier wristwatch, which they are not. The luxury goods boutique staff outnumber even casual browsers three to one. They look bored to tears. In the meantime, the staple airport commodities like wine, spirits and tobacco are hugely overpriced. Forget buying at the airport - buy anywhere but. Everything in the airport shops is dearer than you will pay at home, let alone the French High Street. There is now a small Relay shop for newspapers and magazines after you have been through security, but after passport control there is actually very little to occupy your time. You can get a coffee in a paper cup from the overpriced Bar du Monde, browse the Air France glossy magazine, and watch your fellow passengers fidget.

    Traveling to Nice ? In normal hours don't pay for a taxi to town - at nearly 30 euro it is the best known rip-off in Nice. Use the airport- town bus services Route 98 or 99 instead. 99 goes to the Gare SNCF railway Station while its alternate 98 goes along the Promenade des Anglais past all the main hotels on the front and on to the Gare Routiere bus station.Its usually about 15 minutes wait between one or the other and costs only 4 euro. If you are a total cheapskate or just take pleasure in "mastering the system" the public bus route 23 runs from Terminal 1 and will take you into the centre of Nice for exactly 1.30 euro. Thats what the Nicois do. The airport-town last bus is reasonably late - 23.30 in high season, but if for any reason your flight is severely delayed and you find yourself arriving after midnight, don't panic but be prepared for some stark choices. A few taxis hang about opportunistically and are expensive enough to Nice Centre, and a hell of a lot more if you are destined for Cannes or Monaco. Probably you have little choice but to pay up. But even the taxi drivers want a night's sleep and much beyond half past midnight the taxi rank can quickly become deserted. You may find yourself having to consider walking the five kilometres to town. If its a warm night, it's a safe if lengthy walk along the curve of the Baie to town, however you might just regret bringing that heavy suitcase. You will also probably chance on more than a few scantily-clad young ladies, waiting at bus stops, the buses having finished for the night several hours previously. Still, do not be concerned: there's no shortage of kindly gentlemen pulling up in their cars to offer them a lift.

    On arriving at T2, wait patiently for the next bus 98 or 99 to Nice Centre, ticket buy on board 4.00 Euro one way. On the way home, to get to the airport, board the bus to the airport from the Railway Station Gare SNCF or on the sea front at The Meridian/ Mercure Promenade des Anglais.The railway station is better as less traffic en route. Buy any alcohol to take home in a supermarket or wine store such as Nicholas before you travel. And cigarettes, you should have bought on your excursion to Italy, as the French have have vastly higher tax rates.

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    Dining out in the Cours
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  • The restaurants in the Cours Saleya provide a attractive atmosphere and picturesque setting but for generally very average food thats a little on the pricey side. Do it once if you must.

    Make the most of that atmosphere, sit outside rather than in , enjoy the wonderful sight of the Chateau all lit up and the vibrant setting. You won't mind being a tourist here.

    Check out the retaurant tips of other VT members, explore, be adventurous.

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    Taxi's & Shuttles
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  • Taxi's & Shuttles Are A Rip Off

    Be careful with the taxi's and shuttles, especially to/from the airport. MAKE SURE you negotiate the price before you get into the cab or shuttle .... ** Here Are Some Of Their rip off "surcharges" ** 10 Euro (approx. 13 USD) added between 1900 & 0700 ( that is between 7 PM and 7 AM ) Pick-up charge: Euro 2.40 Waiting time or slow driving per hour: Euro 24.30 Minimum fare: Euro 5 Surcharges They Don't Tell You Up Front: - Per suitcase: Euro 0.63 - Trunk usage or big package: Euro 1.15 - Animal (excluding guide dog): Euro 1.15 - Airport surcharge: Euro 1.29 - Surcharge for 4th passenger: Euro 1.26 - Surcharge for snow/ice: 10% - Plus motorway toll fees

    **Take The Bus To Your Hotel** The bus only costs 4 Euro per trip which is about 5 USD. Taxi or shuttle bus will cost you approx. 25-30 Euro for the same trip .... (about 35-40 USD) Taxi's and shuttles are a rip off, so if you don't mind a 10-15 minute walk, take the bus. We had no problem with our 4 suitcases at all. Check the bus schedule, because the buses DO NOT run 24/7 to the airport, and DO NOT start early in the morning. Our flight was at 6:20 AM, so we had to leave the hotel about 0515, meaning we had to take a taxi or shuttle. Taxi's and shuttles have a 10 Euro surcharge for their services after 1900 (7PM) and before 0700 (7AM) ... (about 13 USD)

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    At least, it was a Nice tourist trap.
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  • Quaint but not much else - Nice
    Quaint but not much else
    by cyndayco
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    By Cours Saleya in Vieux Nice, there are several cafes and brasseries to choose from, all of them overpriced. I had lunch here for only one reason--this was one of the few spots where I could thaw under the winter sun.

    At 1 pm, when the market closes, so do most of the eateries. If you want to find some variety (in food and prices), come earlier.

    Have lunch outside of Vieux Nice, say Place Massena or the main avenue of Nice? Since only tourists go to Vieux Nice, everything is priced for tourists. Downtown, where the locals eat, is a safer bet.

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    A fruit juice at 30 euro?
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  • Updated By NiceLife on November 11, 2004
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  • Le Charlot Bar, Place de L'Opera - Nice
    Le Charlot Bar, Place de
    L'Opera
    by NiceLife
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    Welcome to Nices first clip joint, Le Charlot Bar, a few doors from the Opera House near the Cours Saleya. The prestige champagnes are listed at between 2,000 and 4,500 euros a bottle. A modest cocktail will set you back 40 euro. Its not double vision. There are actually drinks on the menu here that cost more than a months salary. Its always a good idea anywhere to take a look at the price list outside, which is required under French law.

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    Chuck your wallet in the sea
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  • THE PRIVATE BEACHES The private beaches in Nice are the most appalling value and 2004 has shown this to perfection with rows of empty sunloungers. The beaches are so expensive that only the rich or foolish can afford to use them and there is no reduction when they are empty. First a large sum of money is charged for the loungers and the parasol is extra! The next charge for the unwary is for the thin well worn scraps of material that the call towels, at 3 or 4 euros a go pretty poor value even if they were new. The loos are primitive and the changing facilities prehistoric rather like the campsites of 20 years ago. The restaurants serve pleasant but expensive food and this is usually in unbearable heat. Why don't the beaches adopt the easyJet system, cheap for the first-comers and getting more expensive as the loungers fill up? This year must have been terrible for the concessionaires who pay the city a lot for the space on the beach. There were occasions, even in the afternoon when there appeared to be about 20 people on the Castel Plage.

    If you must go to a private beach, take your own towel and eat at your lounger as the sandwiches are better value than the meals at the table. Take a tube of ibuprofen gel for massaging into the neck muscles which will be soon aching from craning round trying to catch the attention of a waiter.

    Scarborough has beautiful golden sands, and on a baking hot day there is no better place with cheap beer, fish and chips and donkeys. Keep an eye on the English weather and if it is good, get a flight from Nice and nip home for a few days of heaven in Scarborough.

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    SALE PERIOD
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  • Old town Nice.....you will loose money just by going through those narrow lovely gorgeos streets of the old town. In the summer time (july) there are sales all over, especially the leather (cuir) departments. Handle the prices......you might get them even better then they already are. The problem is that it's so hot that to try leather clothes, could be a little bit problematic...but it's worth.

    What to do not to fall into this trap.....just simply avoid going there.

    Here I spent some EURO.....but it was 50% off. TEXAS CITY, specialist in leather clothes (super dooper) 9, rue de la Boucherie - Vieux Nice Tel. 04 93 62 55 10

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    You came here to get away from this, no?
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  • The World according to Wayne's - Nice
    The World according to
    Wayne's
    by NiceLife
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    Waynes Bar, Rue de la Prefecture, British "pub entertainment". What's it to be - Quiz Night, or Bingo Madness?. (You can just see me at Bingo. "Excuse me love, could I borrow your card? Mine seems to be full") I could not imagine anything as awful as Pimps 'n' Ho's night ("Well, which is it to be tonight then? Right. Pimp. OK. What's in the bag, b i t c h?!") Well someone must like it. If you have come to the Cote d'Azur by mistake, or you're in Nice on a mate's stag night because the flights to Prague were fully booked, then there is always Waynes. A place in which you can while away a few hours and forget you are in the South of France.

    On arrival, sink several large tumblers of Absinthe. Then at least you won't remember how the "Pimps 'n' Ho's" evening ended with you taking the wrong woman back to your hotel. And why you've inexplicably run out of Euros.

    Choose from any of the hundreds of French bars around Vieux Nice.

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    Confiserie Florian isn't a sweet factory
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  • Confiserie Florian in Viex-Nice - Nice
    Confiserie Florian in
    Viex-Nice
    by Elainehead
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    They say they are a sweet factory but they actually only sell their gourmandises which are made somewhere else. ADDRESS: Confiserie Florian du Vieux Nice, 14, Quai Papacino (just across the harbor) 06 300 Nice Tél : 00 33 (0)4 93 55 43 50

    Drool!!!!!!

    I'm not a big fan of sweet, so I'd rather recommend you to go eat some Socca.

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    Thinking of driving to Nice? - You'll pay LARGE
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  • There are several parking garages or parking areas in Nice. BUT.. be prepared to pay quite a bit!! We stayed just over an 1 hr and payed just over 4 Euros at the under ground garage at Cours Saleya!!

    If you are tight for cash, try to use the public transportation instead of spending a good portion of the time searching for parking!

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    More Nice Tips
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