Nice travel info

Every time a wave pulls back, the beach makes a long rattling hiss. These aren't sand beaches but fist-sized pebbles, painful underfoot, and nobody stretched out on a towel seems to care. Sit on one of the blue chairs facing the sea and watch the Promenade des Anglais run on for about 7 km while bikes, rollerbladers and pushchairs stream past. The water really is postcard turquoise.

Right behind the beach, the old town (Vieux Nice) is a knot of narrow lanes with ochre and orange walls and green shutters, and in the mornings the Cours Saleya market sells flowers and vegetables. Grab a paper cone of socca, a chickpea pancake straight off a hot griddle, climb Castle Hill and the whole curve of the Baie des Anges opens up below you. Italy is 30 km away, and the food and the accent lean halfway there.

Nice also works as base camp for the Côte d'Azur. Monaco is a little over 20 minutes by coastal train, and Èze, Villefranche, Antibes, Cannes and Menton are all easy day trips. The airport has long-haul connections through Paris, Istanbul, Dubai and other hubs, and the tram gets you from the airport to the centre in about half an hour.

Nice Côte d'Azur Airport (NCE)