Private Beaches in Nice There are 15 private beaches in Nice. Unsurprisingly, they are the best sunbathing venues in the capital of the French Riviera. It’s true the cost of spending a day on one of these beaches can amount to several tens of euros (per person), depending on what facilities one needs to resort to in order to make the best of their moment at the beach. Besides the admission price, tourists must pay for the lounge chairs, sunshades, lockers and all the other amenities they intend to use. Moreover, bringing food on the private beaches of Nice is not allowed, since the authorities who manage the respective venues expect visitors to buy or have their meals at the eateries set up on the beach. In fact, all of the private beaches in Nice pertain to certain restaurants or hotels, and that is what renders the said policy understandable. It is widely ascertained the private beaches of Nice are worth exploring, since the comfort is considerably enhanced as compared with the more basic facilities the public beaches are endowed with.
The private beaches can be easily spotted, since they are fenced and clearly delimited from the public beaches. Access is, on the other hand, granted for people who simply want to cross the beach, provided they do not linger too much and that they walk close to the shore. The Neptune Beach (Neptune Plage) is one of the most popular private beaches in Nice. It is located in front of Hotel Le Negresco and it is fitted with a kids’ playground. The Neptune Beach Restaurant, which opens all the year round, is located here. The beach also makes available subscriptions (carte d’abonne) with various validity periods. The name of the Castle Beach comes from its being located at the foot of the Castle Hill in Vieux Nice. It is one of the most crowded beaches in Nice, a profile which doesn’t always accommodate with certain tourists’ way of understanding a day at the beach. Indeed, some complain about the Castle Beach, others are crazy about its continuous seasonal buzz, considering it the best beach in Nice.
Castel Plage is also the backdrop of a restaurant said to serve delicious meals, and it mainly draws the young crowd. The set is pegged out by palm trees and art nouveau decorations. Blue Beach enjoys being located, it too, in front of Hotel Le Negresco, a landmark of the luxury accommodation solutions in Nice. The all-season Blue Beach Restaurant boasts about its wonderful menu and shaded terrace. The beach is fitted, on top of the basic facilities, with a kids’ swimming pool. Visitors can also delight in practicing sundry sports activities. The Ponchettes Beach neighbors on the Castle Beach, and it stands out by being one of the several beaches provided with a lifeguard post. Also, unlike most of its Nicois counterparts, it is fitted with a fenced sand area where visitors can platy beach volley. Florida Beach is one of the most fashionable private beaches in Nice. It maintains and exotic air by means of the decorative motifs which embellish the namesake restaurant and terrace. It is also fitted with a Jacuzzi and offers the possibility to make subscriptions.
The Beau Rivage Beach is the private beach which pertains to the 4-star Hotel Beau Rivage. Anyone can spend wonderful moments here, regardless of whether they stay at the hotel or not, provided they pay the amount necessary for entering and using the beach facilities. The hotel also keeps a lounge terrace and a restaurant on the beach. The beach is supervised by lifeguards. The Beau Rivage private beach neighbors on the namesake public beach. Lido Beach is one of the top private beaches in Nice. It is located in front of Palais de la Mediterranee, and the stylish backdrop for a refined restaurant specialized in Provencal cuisine and seafood dishes. Visitors can delight in parascending and practicing sundry water sports or they can relax on the terrace. A lifeguard post is also located here. Laid out in 1920, Ruhl Plage nestles between Promenade des Anglais and the wonderful scenery of Baie des Anges. Highlights in terms of amenities refer to a kids’ swimming pool filled with sea water and to 80 private bathing boxes.
The waiters serving at the namesake gourmet restaurant and at the lounge terrace also cater on the beach. Enjoying the same backdrop as most of the beaches in Nice, the Sporting Beach is bordered on one side by Promenade des Anglais. Some tend to believe both the beach and the namesake restaurant overprice their offers, whereas others believe Sporting Plage is one of the best venues where visitors can spend a day at the beach. Visitors can have their meals directly on the beach. The Opera Beach is not necessarily one of the top private beaches in Nice, yet it is one of the least expensive. It neighbors on Opera de Nice, a location which has inspired the naming of the beach, and it benefits from the proximity to all the specific attractions that can be spotted in Vieux Nice. A namesake restaurant can be spotted on Plage Opera. Hi Beach is, without a doubt, one of the most complete bathing venues in Nice. In fact, the beach as such is part of a larger leisure complex which also comprises a restaurant, a hotel and a yoga and relaxation center.
It combines finesse, traditional elements and state-of-the-art guidelines into a wonderfully varied and comprehensive concept. Just like most of the other beach restaurants in Nice, the one located on Hi Beach is available for organizing sundry private or corporate events. A kids' playground is located on Bambou Beach, along with a restaurant which, in time, has received both critical and friendly ratings. Of course, the beach is fitted with basic facilities (toilets and showers), as well as with lockers.At the Cours Saleya market, the emphasis is on local products. The perfectly blue water of Nice's bay has been drawing tourists since the 19th century. A hundred years ago, bigwigs from London to Moscow began flocking south to the French Riviera and the sun-drenched city of Nice. They came to socialize, gamble, and escape the dreary weather at home, and ended up creating Europe's first tourist boom. Today, this classy resort town is a popular fun-in-the-sun destination that caters to everyone.
Those early English visitors wanted a place to stroll and admire Nice's perfect crescent bay without getting their shoes dirty. So they built the seaside Promenade des Anglais ("Walkway of the English") and studded it with palm trees. Today, this iconic pathway is a fun people scene, where the chicest of the chic and the cheapest of the cheap scramble for a spot in the sun. The beach has something for everyone: volleyball, table tennis, paddleboats, windsurfing. Tan lines, though, can be hard to find, as Europeans are relaxed about topless sunbathing. While some stretches of the beach are public, much of it is private. Anchor yourself in a beach chair to watch Europeans at play. It's about $35 to rent a spot for the day, complete with towel, mattress, lounge chair, and umbrella. But Nice is much more than the beach and the sea. With its fine palette of museums (most of which are free), good food, and ramble-worthy old town, Nice is the enjoyable big-city highlight of any Riviera visit.
The city is in the midst of reinventing its public spaces, creating green parkways and demolishing old eyesores. A modern, smooth-as-silk tramway running through the center of town makes it cheap and easy to get around. The old center itself is traffic-free. With its soft orange buildings and steep narrow streets, this part of town feels more Italian than French. It's not surprising, because until 1860 Nice was ruled by an Italian king. The fresh pasta shops (which you'll find nowhere else in France) and many gelaterias remind you how close Italy is. This mixed pedigree has left Nice with a likeable blend of French superiority and Italian informality. The plaza called Cours Saleya, a commotion of color, sights, smells, and people, has been old Nice's main market since the Middle Ages. Boisterous flower and produce stalls trumpet the season with strawberries, white asparagus, zucchini flowers, and more. Whatever's fresh gets top billing. Locally produced soaps, sachets, and spices are attractively packaged and make good souvenirs.
On Mondays, antique vendors take over the space. Any day of the week, this is a good place to sample socca — a thin chickpea crêpe seasoned with pepper and olive oil. I make a point of heading to a busy stand where the socca arrives by motorbike — hot out of the oven. This peasant staple predating tourism is still dear to local hearts. It's sold and gobbled up as quickly as it can be sliced. In this ideal Mediterranean climate, fragrant roses, lavender, and jasmine seem to grow effortlessly, and it's no wonder that perfume is a local industry. The Molinard family, for one, has been making perfume from Riviera flowers for a century. (You can experiment with mixing your own fragrances at their storefront museum near Nice's promenade.) Perfume makers like to say that scents are first distilled like cognac and then aged like wine. They aren't exaggerating: 660 pounds of lavender go into just one quart of pure essence. Besides tourists, Nice's sublime light and weather has attracted artists.
In the early 20th century, Henri Matisse and Marc Chagall were among the masters who came here, and the city has a museum devoted to each. The Chagall Museum is a delight, even for those who are suspicious of modern art. Chagall painted a cycle of canvases just for this museum, each a lighter-than-air collage of images inspired by his Russian-folk-village youth, his Jewish heritage, and biblical themes. The small Matisse Museum, housed in an elegant orange mansion, is a fine introduction to the man who wrote: "When I understood that every morning I would see again this light [in Nice], I could not believe how happy I was." As you tour the museum, look for his cheery motifs — fruit, flowers, sunny rooms, and curvaceous women. Matisse, the master of leaving things out, could suggest a woman's body with just a single curvy line. Some of those curves could have been inspired by the smooth arc of Nice's landmark bay. See for yourself by hiking up Castle Hill, the rocky promontory that moors one end of the beach.