Nice is my favorite place. I have many favorite places but this one’s in my top 3. Every year, at the beginning of June, I fly out for a three-day beach trip. Easy, it’s a short flight and if you do it right you take off at seven thirty so you’ll be laying on the beach by ten. Another perk is that getting to the city or the beach will take you no more than eight minutes by car.

Let me take you to Nice for the weekend. I’ll tell you where to eat, drink, dance and sleep. But only if the sun is shining, that’s a must.

Sleep

Last year my five friends and I rented a house with Airbnb. There are so many great places for rent, some even have a pool and stuff. It’s cozier and cheaper than staying in a hotel. We had a wonderful large apartment in the harbor very near the station. Conveniently a little train takes you along the coast stopping at all the cute beaches. We took the train when we felt like a change of scenery something different from the pebbled beach in Nice.

Hotel Negresco is a very luxurious but curiously bizarre hotel. Idiotic art on the walls, a breakfast room that looks like a children’s merry-go-round and the outside is pink making it very suitable for the Disneyland location in Paris. Yet it’s special and has the beach on its doorstep. The piccolos are very nice and dressed in shorts and high socks. I think it’s the best hotel on the boulevard. You’ll have to save up though, but you probably guessed that already.

More affordable but just as much fun is hotel Ambassador, also located on the boulevard; you can almost dip one foot in the ocean. Asking for a room with sea view is a good idea.

Beach

The beach in Nice doesn’t have sand, it has pebbles. Diehards can be found on plage principal laying on a mat and a towel, it’s free. There are also a few good beach clubs with beds. You have to rent these of course but then you get the additional water courier. To be clear, you pay a hefty sum for everything here. Blue Beach is really my favorite. Or Beau Rivage, they have the most comfortable beds and nice staff. When I’m in Nice for a few days I go for a bed. When I was younger I lived here for a while and my friends and I would just lie on the rocks. I’m still such an ordinary gal.

Food

Nice has many delicious restaurants. We’re close to Italy (only half an hour by train) so they do a very good pasta. There’s a long street where most of the restaurants and terraces are located. I call it: The Strip. You can’t miss it. It sounds a little touristy and well it is. Sorry.

At the beginning of The Strip you’ll find Favola. I always call it the restaurant with the bog plates. Seriously, those plates are huge. On them they drape delicious squid, a pasty or the burrata. Go for the burrata. It’s a starter but it’s more than enough for a main. Or just share.

Right at the end of the Strip is a large fun café. A TV on every wall as the French broadcast a lot of soccer. I often find that annoying (it makes talking to a man more difficult) but here it’s not a problem. It’s an enjoyable place to drink a glass of beer or wine. Order a socca with that. They’re little pancakes made out of chickpeas. A super snack. Silly me, I forgot the name and couldn’t find it on Google, stupid, but you’ll spot it right away.

One more thing about The Stip: to tell you the truth, it’s all good. Seriously they know how to cook over there.

Terres de Truffes. This is the cutest little restaurant. Everything and I mean everything on the menu is made with truffles. So you have to be a massive fan. I advice you to just order one course here, okay maybe two, otherwise it will just be too much, but then it’s divinely delicious, all of it.

Dancing

When I used to live here (my hotel school period) we always went dancing at Wayne’s Bar. I think it’s actually an English pub but at around midnight a dj appears or a band shows up. Hardly anyone is standing on the dance floor, they’re all on the tables, it’s sort of a thing there; you just have to. So much fun!