The famous 4-kilometre stretch of the Promenade des Anglais, lined with palm trees, still attracts the rich and fashionable of all generations. Coupled with local skaters, joggers, volleyball competitions, regattas, and kayaking events, it makes for an atmospheric afternoon or evening, at any time of year. From as early as April and until late September, sunbathing is the order of the day. The pebbled beach is a mixture of private and public spots. For a beach holiday to remember, head to one of the private beaches, our favourite being Castel. Have a waiter bring you a vodka martini or a beer whilst you soak up the rays from your beach bed, dine on a la carte or simple fries at midday and then dip into the Mediterranean by following the trail of sea grass laid out from your beach bed. Every need is catered for as long as you can afford it! If your budget favours the public beach, then look for the random placements of beach towels rather than beds. The public beaches, whilst not as grand as the hedonistic grandeur of the private, still have flushing toilets, showers, and a lifeguard. There are also plenty of bins too which are emptied each morning when the pebbles are also washed down and the public areas are generally tidied up. Amenable beach sellers also stroll around offering cold soft drinks, beers, and fresh melon. What more could you ask for? Well, if you want more, paddle boats, water-skiing, wind surfing, or paragliding are all on offer from the beach front. Check out Nikaïa Water Sports here. For sandy beach options, head for Antibes, Cannes or Juan-Les-Pins. The central hub of the shopping district centres around Avenue Jean Médecin, where the usual high street names such as including Zara, H&M, Morgan, Etam, Virgin, and Sephora can be found. The tram work doesn't seem to effect the hoards of shoppers flocking to spend their cash. Midway along is the Étoile Shopping Mall with its inexpensive shops selling shoes, fashion, and home furnishings. In here you will also find Habitat selling goods a fair bit cheaper than abroad. Men can leave their women to shop and browse around the three-storey branch of FNAC--electronic utopia--to be found almost next door. Turning off Jean Médecin onto Rue Massena will bring you even more high street chains such as Darjeeling, Blanc Blu, Footlocker, and MAC dotted around mid-ranged priced boutiques and one off shoe shops. If your budget stretches a little further then you can head to Galeries Lafayette at Place Massena, this 13,000 square metre department store offers over 600 brands of merchandise offering stiff competition to the likes of Selfridges and Harvey Nichols. If you have an appetite for designer fashion, then head to Rue de la Liberté , just off Place Magenta, where you can easily spend a whole day in the twenty or so upmarket chains such as Ikks, Arche, Tara Jarmon, or boutiques such as Isabelle.B, Carnet de Vol, and Indigo Blue. The new season's collections from couturiers such as Vivienne Westwood, Lavin, Givenchy, and J.P.G. Gaultier can all be found here. For the truly affluent, head for Rue Paradis, Avenue de Suede , and Avenue de Verdun running parallel to Rue de la Liberté. Nice's Rodeo Drive, here Giorgio Armani, Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Zapa, Bally, Sonia Rykeil, Geoges Rech, Alain Figaret, Max Mara, Jacques Andreolis, Longchamp, Hermes, Vilebrequin, Apostrophe, and Jean Charles are but some of the names waiting to accept your plastic. For Donna Karan, Alberta Ferretti, Paul Smith, and Brunello Cucinelli step inside Espace Harroch, a fairly new exclusive mini-emporium over four levels on Rue Paradis. A tea room and restaurant serves good food at prices which are more reasonable than you might expect. For designer jewellery, Cartier, Leon Hatot, Bijox Burma, Ferret, and Barichella are all here as well. If you're after individualism and gifts, then the picture-postcard-perfect Old Town is where to obtain modern art, classic paintings, period furnishings, garments of every cloth from leather to lace, shoes, herbs, spices, olive oil, and toiletries. For clothes, the Old Town has a branch of Agnes B. just off the Cours Saleya, a boutique called Habitude, great for jeans, on the Cours Saleya, and a designer boutique just off the Place de Palais. If you prefer to purchase regional produce such as olive oil, then the last and only olive press mill to still be hard at work in Nice is Alziari. You can visit the mill in action all year and then buy a canister to take back home. If you forget to visit, you can pick it up at Harvey Nic's, but for over double the price! Rue Droite is home to the ateliers and sculptors Mozaika, Moz'art, Sylivie T, De Fombelle, Lecliare, Dury (our favourite where matchstick deckchairs and boats garnish bluer than blue waters in a white frame), Casteu-klodin'Delor, Asselot, Estevenin, Transparence and Monic Pereira. Rue Benoit Bunico is the address for Mori and Panzani, and you will find Ferrer, Chryslaine, and Paulin Nikolli on Rue Rossetti. Others dotted around the Old Town are Alain Couturier on Rue St-François-de-Paule, Jarry on Rue de la Loge, Marzuc on Rue Pairoliere, Saglietto on Rue Alexandre Mari, and Slobadan on Rue de la Poissonnerie. Budding new artists can be found at the independent atelier, Association des Artistes Independants, at 12 Rue Benoit Bunico. Outside the Old Town, city centre galleries include Galerie Ferrero at 2 Rue du Congrès, Atelier Soardi at 8 Rue Désire Niel, Galerie Sapone at 25 Boulevard Victor Hugo and the original gallery at 15 Boulevard Dubouchage. There are several municipal galleries dotted around, two on Quai des États-Unis, Galerie de la Marine and Galerie des Ponchettes, Galerie du Chateau on Rue Droite, Galerie Renoir on Rue de la Loge, and Galerie Sainte-Reparte on the street of the same name. You can pick up some of the finest fresh produce and fresh flowers on the Cours Saleya every morning except Monday. Monday gives way to a large antiques market which lasts all day until about 5:30 p.m. From June to September, you can spend the summer evenings strolling around the Cours Saleya when the local food and flower market is replaced by stalls selling jewellery, artwork, bags, and local crafts which can be purchased until around midnight. If you fancy sampling the local fare, the fish market at the end of these streets at Place St-François offers sea fish aplenty every day except Monday. For the truly thrifty, second-hand magazines, postcards, paintings and books, including some in English, are sold in the Place du Palais near to the Cours Saleya every Saturday. Antique lovers may also want to browse the Place Robilante flea market and the antiques fair on Rues Gaultier, Foresta, and Philibert, both of which are open daily except for Monday. And then there is the Cap 3000 shopping complex at St-Laurent-du-Var, just west of Nice airport. Open all year, Monday to Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., this is the largest shopping centre in the area. Here you will find hundreds of shops ranging from Galeries Lafayette department store, with a tempting food mall, to high street chains to smaller boutiques. You can get there by buses 2, 3, 10, and 11 or you can take the train to St-Laurent-du-Var from Nice-Ville rail station. Should you wish to go by car, there are free car parking spaces available. The surrounding area is on one side industrial with large furniture stores and offices, the other is the pretty secluded promenade of the local marina. If spending the day here, consider lunch at Calypso, a large popular local restaurant where you can eat overlooking the sea for around € 25 for the three-course set menu. Monaco might have the reputation, but not the monopoly on the playboy lifestyle. If you want a taste of the place without the travel and high prices, head to Nice's own Casino Ruhl on the Promenade des Anglais. You will need a passport and smart clothes to get you in. Once in though, you can enjoy the cabaret, play the machines, and sip cocktails until dawn. The esteemed Theatre de Nice has a well-deserved reputation for first-rate performances and concerts. Occasionally, a touring English company takes a bow here. The information desk located opposite the Musée d'Art Moderne et d'Art Contemporain near Place Garibaldi, is open each afternoon until 7:00 p.m., except Sundays and Mondays. Ticket prices vary and you can pay anything between € 10 to € 50 for a ticket. The Acropolis exhibition centre also hosts a wide variety of shows and concerts. Their web site is often not the most informative, so ask at the Tourist Office for more information on forthcoming attractions. The Old Town is scattered with petite theatre houses, the most commercial of them, Theatre du Cours on Rue de la Barillerie just off the Cours Saleya. Whilst most of the theatre is French you may stumble across an English-language show. Look for posters and flyers on the theatre houses themselves to find them. Impromptu street theatre can be pretty good if you're lucky enough to catch it. Check here too. The Opera de Nice, 4 rue St-François-de-Paule, was declared a monument historique in 1993 and was renovated in 2000. During the season, October to June, a full programme of opera is presented, and demand for tickets can be high even at prices up to € 100 for the best seats. To avoid disappointment, it's best to book tickets way in advance, especially for the traditional favourites such as Bizet's Carmen. The box office is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily except Sundays. A command of French is not essential at the flicks since many cinemas on the Côte d'Azur have version originale showings. Look for "VO" on the billboard. The Mercury at 16 Place Garibaldi and the Rialto at 4 Rue de Rivoli show the vast majority Nice's best English-language films. Check here too. A short train ride away can take you to the hippodrome at Cagnes-Sur-Mer, home to a great restaurant overlooking the track where you can bet from your table. The atmosphere makes for a great night out for all the family. Horse racing takes place between December to March and trotting (horse and cart) between July and August. Discover the underwater world of wrecks, caverns, and reefs either on a full day trip, half day, or a night dive with Nice Diving. Located at the port at 14 Quai des Docks, there is a fully qualified English-speaking instructor available to cater for the needs of beginners, intermediates, and fully qualified PADI experienced divers. Book through their web site at www.nicediving.com or email them at . For other local adventurous activities such as canyoning, rafting , and climbing, try the web site of Bureau Des Moniteurs du Pays Niçois. The French Riviera is home to some of the most scenic and challenging golf courses in Europe. Courses include the Royal Mougins Golf Club, which since 1999 has been part of the very exclusive association of the finest golf clubs in the world, and Sainte-Maxime Golf Club which offers breathtaking views of the bay of St-Tropez. If you would like to arrange a day trip to a particular golf course during your stay in Nice, then please contact us for more details. We can also arrange a combined stay for you between one of our apartments in Nice and one in a hotel or apartment near to one of these fantastic courses. A Nice city break with golf for the boys and shopping for the girls perhaps? Nice is still a great break in the winter, and for skiers why not spend a day at Isola 2000? Buses leave for this local resort from the centre of Nice every day in the skiing season. The journey takes about 90 minutes and the bus station is extremely close to most of our apartments. It's a large modern resort and very popular with good lifts and well-maintained runs for all abilities. At 2000 metres high, there is good snow from early December through to March. Auron, Valberg, Greolieres, and a number of smaller resorts, and about the same distance away, which can be quieter but are lower altitude and so have snow for a shorter time. Limone in Italy is prettier if you're happy to travel a little further, but it's still reachable from Nice. How about combining a Nice break away with a few days at one of the ski resorts? We can arrange a dual package for you if you wish. Please enquire with us. Most of Nice's visitors come with the intention of visiting other places in the area, such as Monaco and Cannes. With so much to do in Nice itself, many don't find the time. However, the fact remains that Nice is a fantastic base to explore the surrounding area. The world-renowned Cannes, Antibes, Monte Carlo, and St-Tropez can all be done as a day trip. For less well known and possibly more rewarding days, the village of San Remo (Italy) and the fantastic Ventimiglia market on the Italian border also make for fantastic trips. All these destinations can be easily reached by the excellent transports links in Nice of bus or train. Similarly, beautiful inland villages of St-Paul de Vence and Èze amongst others have regular bus routes. Day trips to St-Tropez can be done by a short ferry ride from the port and even Corsica and Sardinia can be reached within 3 hours on the direct ferry which leaves Nice port daily. If you would prefer to visit the surrounding areas with a tour guide who can take you directly to all of the best on offer, then we can arrange this for you.