Nice is my favorite place. I have many favorite places, but this one is definitely in my top 3. Every year at the beginning of June, I fly there for three days of beach. That’s possible because it’s a short flight, so if you do it right and take off at half past seven, you’ll be lying on the beach around 10 o'clock. Also nice is that it’s only an eight-minute drive by car and you’re already in the city or at the beach.

I’ll take you to Nice for a weekend and tell you where you can eat, drink, dance, and sleep. If the sun is shining, that is.

Sleeping

Last year, I rented a house via Airbnb with five friends. Seriously, there are so many beautiful places for rent, even with a pool and all. More fun and cheaper than a hotel. We had a lovely large apartment in the harbor and close to the station. That’s handy because there’s a little train that runs along the coast past all sorts of cute beaches. We took that too when we wanted something different than the pebbles on Nice beach.

Hotel Negresco is super luxurious, but also a bizarrely quirky hotel. Idiotic art on the walls, a breakfast room that feels like you’re in Efteling with a kind of carousel, and the outside looks like it’s for a pink hotel in Disneyland Paris. But still, it has its charm and it’s really right on the beach. The little waiters look so funny in their shorts and high socks, but they are very nice. I think it’s the best hotel on the boulevard. Just save up a bit for it. But you probably figured that out.

More affordable but just as nice is Hotel Ambassador, also on the boulevard, so you’re almost standing with one foot in the sea. Asking for a sea view room would be really nice.

Beach

The beach in Nice doesn’t have sand, but pebbles. The diehards lie with a mat and a towel on plage principal, where you can just lie for free, but there are also a few good beach clubs with loungers. Of course, you have to rent those, but then there’s a little guy running around all day to get you water. Just to be clear: everything is of course paid for quite a bit. Blue Beach is actually my favorite. Or Beau Rivage, they also have lovely beds and nice staff. Look, when I’m in Nice for a few days, I go for a lounger. I used to live there for a while and just lay on the stones with my friends. I’ve also remained so normal.

Eating

Nice is full of lovely restaurants. We’re close to Italy (really just half an hour by train), so they’re also extremely good at making a plate of pasta. There’s a kind of long street where most of the restaurants with terraces are. I always call that The Strip. You really can’t miss it. It sounds a bit touristy and it actually is. Sorry. But there are actually few Dutch people there, and I always think that’s good news.

At the beginning of The Strip is La Favola. I always call that the restaurant with the big plates. Seriously, you really get huuuuge plates. On it, the tastiest octopus, a little pasta, or the burrata, you have to get the burrata. It’s an appetizer, but more than enough for one dish. Or you share it.

All the way at the end of The Strip is a nice big café. There are televisions everywhere and often football is broadcast. I often find that annoying (having a conversation with a man becomes less easy), but here it doesn’t bother me at all. It’s really nice to have a starter beer or a glass of wine here. Order socca with it. Those are small pancakes made from chickpeas. A super snack. So I forgot the name and can’t find it well on Google, silly, but you’ll probably see it right away.

One more thing about The Strip, everything there is actually nice. Seriously, they can cook so well there.

Terres de Truffes. Oh, this is such a cute little restaurant. Everything, and I mean everything on the menu is with truffle. So you really have to be a huge fan of that. I advise you to just take one dish here, okay two then, because otherwise it’s too much, but it’s all so incredibly delicious.

Dancing

When I lived there (during my Hotel School time), we always went dancing at Wayne’s Bar. That’s actually an English pub, I think, but around twelve o'clock the DJ comes out or there’s a band playing. Almost no one is standing on the ground anymore, but on the tables, that’s kind of mandatory there. Oh, it’s so much fun there.