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—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.

Train

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

Gare Nice-Ville

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 the gare.

Nice has several other train stations, including Gare St-Augustin 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 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. More...

Chemins de Fer de Provence

Right next to the Gare Nice-Ville (Gare Nice-Thiers) is the Gare CP for the Chemins de Fer de Provence train to Digne-les-Bains.

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 (1.50€) are sold by machines at major transit points including the Aéroport Nice-Côte d'Azur, Gare de Nice-Theirs, Place Garibaldi, and Port Lympia.

From these machines you can also buy money-saving trip passes good for ten trips anytime (10€), or a one-week pass valid for seven consecutive days starting on your first day of use (15€).

Validation

You are required to validate your ticket or pass each time you take a tram ride. Validation machines are inside each tram car, and on major station platforms.

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 100 (Nice-Menton)

Bus 100 runs northeast along the coast from Nice to Monaco and to Menton on the Italian border, so for the price of one ticket you can go to any town east of Nice, including Monte Carlo. Board the bus at the southern end of Rue Arson, on the west side of the street, just north of Place de'l Île-de-Beauté

Bus 112 also travels between Nice and Monaco, but on a different, not as convenient route.

Bus 200 (Nice-Cannes)

Bus 200 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-Ville) 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...

Bike

Nice's shared bike service is named Vélobleu. On average, there's a Vélobleu bikestand every 300 meters (328 yards) or so throughout Nice, Cagnes-sur-Mer and Saint-Laurent de Var.

The bikes include standard pedal bikes, and also electric-assist bikes to mmake your ride easier. More...

Rent at a bike station, or try a Velo Bleu Nice app although at this writing, the smartphone apps are receiving very negative reviews.)

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. More...

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:

RentalCars.com:

Shared Hourly Cars

Renault Mobilize (formerly Renault Mobility) offers shared electric cars by the hour or day in Nice. Reserve and rent/hire your car online or on the Renault Mobility by Mobilize smartphone app, go to where it's parked, and off you go. More...

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