With its gentle climate, abundant sunshine, and excellent food, Nice is a great place to visit. As the 5th largest city in France, Nice has a busy airport (NCE)—the principal airport for the entire French Riviera (Côte d'Azur)—plus direct TGV trains to/from Paris, and easy train, tram and bus connections to nearby towns.

It's at the center of Riviera transportation, and frequent train and bus service make it a good base for visiting such nearby attractions as Monaco, Cannes, Antibes, and the other coastal beach towns of the Riviera such as Beaulieu-sur-Mer, St-Jean-Cap-Ferrat and Villefranche-sur-Mer.

Nice itself is mostly a walkable city, but it also stretches for several kilometers along the Mediterranean shore. Trams and buses make it easy to get around when you want a break from walking.

Aéroport Nice-Côte d'Azur

Aéroport Nice-Côte d'Azur, the Riviera's major airport, serving both French domestic and international flights, is on the seashore 7 km (4.4 miles) southwest of the center of Nice; 27 km (17 miles) west of Monte Carlo, Monaco; and 28 km (17.3 miles) northeast of Cannes.

Tram to the City Center

Lignes d'Azur Tram Line 2 travels directly from the airport Terminals 1 & 2 to the center of Nice (Jean Médecin) near the Gare Nice-Thiers, terminating at Port Lympia (Vieux Port; 11.3 km/7 miles; 26 minutes). To travel from or to the airport, you need a special transit pass, the Aéro (10€). More...

Train

SNCF, the French National Railways, operates trains directly to/from Paris, from Marseille east along the Côte d'Azur, to other cities and towns in France, the Principality of Monaco, and to nearby Italy.

Regional TER trains pass near the Aéroport Nice-Côte d'Azur. If you're headed for a Côte d'Azur town beyond Nice, or to Italy, walk 10 minutes north to the Nice-Saint-Agustin-Aéroport SNCF station. For timetables, schedules and tickets, use the SNCF-Connect smartphone app.

Gare Nice-Ville(Gare-Thiers)

TGV high-speed trains zoom directly between Paris and Nice's main train station, the Gare Nice-Ville (also called Gare Nice-Thiers). Tram Line 1 (see below) can take you right to the city center from near the gare.

Nice has several other train stations, including Gare Saint-Augustin-Aéroport west of the city center near the airport, and Gare de Nice-Riquier northeast of the center.

TER Regional Trains

Besides the high-speed TGV and Ouigo trains, regional SNCF TER trains connect Nice with other cities and towns along the Côte d'Azur, from Marseille via Toulon and Cannes to the Italian frontier at Menton and Vintimille. More...

Chemins de Fer de Provence

Right next to the Gare Nice-Ville is the Gare CP for the Chemins de Fer de Provence train to Digne-les-Bains, part of the ZOU! regional transport network (see below).

Lignes d'Azur Tram & Bus

Lignes d'Azur is the public tram and bus organization that connects the 24 towns and cities along the Côte d'Azur. Their useful website has a version in English.

To encourage use of public transport, fares are low: 1.70€ per trip in most cases, with one-day and one-week passes available.

Local cities and towns, and the Principality of Monaco, also have their own municipal bus lines for local service.

Transit Apps

Load the useful Lignes d'Azur transit app and separate Lignes d' Azur Tickets app onto your smartphone.

—Android-based smartphone users can buy tickets and passes on their phones and use their phones as their tickets.

—iPhone users can buy tickets on their phones via the Lignes d' Azur Tickets app, but must then load them onto a plastic La Carte transit card (2€) available from ticket machines at major stations. To add more fares to your transit card, just hold the card at the top-back of your phone while accessing the Lignes d' Azur Tickets app.

The Lignes d'Azur transit card, 2€.

Tram

Lignes d'Azur operates three tramlines. Maps/plans of the lines are available here.

Line 1 - Henri Sappia—Hôpital Pasteur

This line comes from the northwest, passes near the Gare de Nice-Thiers (main train station) and continues to Place Garibaldi in the city center before heading northeast. It's useful for traveling between the main train station and the city center where you can transfer to tram Line 2.

Line 2 - Aéroport—Port Lympia

This line takes you from the Aéroport Nice-Côte d'Azur along the coast, then underground beneath the city center to Place Garibaldi and finally to Port Lympia (Vieux Port) in the heart of Vieux Nice (the historic city).

Line 3 - Aéroport—Saint Isidore

This inland line goes from the airport north (inland) to Saint Isidore and the Gare CP for the Chemins de Fer de Provence train to Digne-les-Bains.

Fares

Single tickets (1.70€) are sold by machines at major transit points including the Aéroport Nice-Côte d'Azur, Gare de Nice-Ville (Thiers), Place Garibaldi, and Port Lympia. Buy a plastic transit card (2€), then put value on it for as many trips as you want.

Validation

You are required to validate your ticket or pass each time you enter a tram or bus. Tap your transit pass or smartphone on the target-like Validation machine inside each tram car and bus.

Bus

Lignes d'Azur also operates bus lines connecting Nice with the towns along the coast from Cannes in the southwest to Monte Carlo/Monaco, and Menton on the Italian border. More...

Bus 98

Bus 98 runs a userful loop route through Place Garibaldi in the center of the city to Jardin Albert 1er in the west then along the coast via Port Lympia to Château de l'Anglais in the southeast.

Bus 600 (Nice-Monaco-Menton)

Bus 600 runs northeast along the coast from Nice to Monaco and to Menton near the Italian border, so for the price of one ticket you can go to any town east of Nice, including Monte Carlo.

Bus 620 (Nice-Cannes)

Bus 620 travels southwest between Nice (Parc Phoenix, near Nice Airport) and Cannes (Gare de Cannes) via St-Laurent-de-Var, Cagnes-sur-Mer, Villeneuve-Loubet, Antibes and Vallauris. The trip takes 90 minutes from Parc Phoenix. Add 30 minutes if you're coming from the center of Nice (Place Garibaldi) via Tram 2 to Parc Phoenix.

The train (TGV Inoui or TER from Gare de Nice-Thiers) is more expensive but faster, making the trip in less than 30 minutes.

Buses to Sights & Museums

Nice's sights and fine art museums are all easily reached by bus. Use Lignes d'Azur's Journey Planner to find the best bus from your location to the sight or museum. More...

Regional Transport: ZOU!

The regional transport organization for intercity and regional TER trains and buses for the Région Sud (Provence, Alpes & Côte d'Azur) is named ZOU!

If you want to travel by public transport from Nice to Saint Paul de Vence, for example, or from Monaco to Marseille, Nîmes or Orange, ZOU! will help you get there by planning your route by train and bus, informing you of schedules and timetables, and selling you a ticket. Here's a map. More...

Taxi & Ride App

Nice's major taxi company is Taxi Riviera (tel. +33 (0)4 93 13 78 78, same number for WhatsApp). They offer asmartphone app.

Of the Ride App companies, Uber is active in France (Lyft is not).

E-Bike Rental

You'll see Lime and Pony electric rental bikes throughout Nice. Pony bikes have a passenger seat behind the driver seat, so two can ride.

Rental/Hire Cars

If you plan to visit mostly coastal towns, we'd recommend you travel by bus and train rather than rental/hired car because the coastal roads are narrow, heavily-trafficked, and often slow, and parking can be difficult.

If you plan to travel inland (north), buses can take you to many towns, but a rental/hire car may be a convenience for exploring the mountainous hinterland.

Your initial impulse may be to reserve your car for pick-up at the Aéroport Nice-Côte d'Azur, but this is also the impulse of most other visitors, so getting through the paperwork at the airport may take more than an hour, especially in the warm months.

If possible, reserve your car for pick-up at a town location, then travel there by train or bus.

For rental/hire cars, we recommend our partner, RentalCars.com, a division of Booking.com. The advantage: their search engine searches all the top rental/hire companies to find you the best deal.

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