Nice Tourist Traps

Nice Terminal 2 is a glorious architectural project, and its handful of shops and luxury boutiques is mostly at odds with todays budget-conscious low-cost airline traveller's needs. Those used to airports as giant shopping malls with a small sideline in flying planes are in for an unwelcome suprise. The staple "duty-free" airport commodities like electrical goods and gagets, alcohol and tobacco are all 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 horribly 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 unless you are on "recoverable expenses". At around 35 euro it is a regulated fare, but in no way value for money, it should be said largely down to the airports extortionate concession fee the taxi-drivers have to pay to work the airport. Instead, use the airport- town express 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, costs only four euro, and the ticket doubles up as a free local bus and tram pass for the day (only local Lignes d'Azur, buses and not the TAM network which serves the main towns)

The airport-Nice Gare Routiere last bus is shortly before midnight, 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. They have introduced night buses from T1 - the N100 bound for Menton via Nice Villefranche and Monaco (23:30, 01:00 and 02:30) and N200 bound for Cannes (23:30, 01:00, 02:30 and 04:10). 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. But even the taxi drivers want a night's sleep

You may find yourself having to consider walking the six kilometres to town. If its a warm night, it's a safe if lengthy walk (hour and ten minutes) along the airport perimiter cycle route and then 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.

You can't take local alcohol through security due to the 100ml+ liquids ban, but for any smokers, cigarettes should be bought in nearby Italy, as the French have have vastly higher tax rates.

Nice Hotels

Nice Tourist Traps

Visiting Nice?

Visiting Nice?

Nice Hotels