Nice, France-5-day-itinerary

Five Days in Nice Without Blowing the Budget

Five days is enough time to cover Nice properly and do two day trips, and none of it needs to be expensive if you skip the tourist traps this city is full of. Here’s the version built around value rather than splurging.

Getting in cheap

Tram Line 2, direction Port Lympia (not Centre Administratif), gets you from the airport to Jean-Medecin in about 30 minutes for 1.70 EUR. That’s the whole transfer cost if you’re smart about it. Taxis have an official 32 EUR flat rate but plenty of drivers run the meter instead and charge 45 to 50 EUR, so confirm the rate before you get in or just use Uber, which is both cheaper and more trustworthy. The Grand Arenas tram stop is a known pickpocket spot right at the airport, keep your bag in front of you.

For five nights, an apartment rental in or near Vieux Nice beats a hotel on cost once you factor in a kitchen for breakfast and the occasional cheap dinner in. If hotels are more your style, a budget option near the station or a hostel in the Old Town both keep costs down without sacrificing location.

Day 1: Vieux Nice, free and cheap

Nearly everything on Day 1 costs nothing. Wander Vieux Nice’s narrow streets in the morning, hit Cours Saleya market (Tuesday through Sunday mornings, antiques on Mondays), and grab socca from Chez Pipo (13 rue Bavastro, founded 1923, still wood-fired) for 5 to 8 EUR, the cheapest real meal you’ll get in the city.

Afternoon is the free Promenade des Anglais, seven kilometers of seafront with free blue chairs. Nice beaches are pebble and stone, not sand, so if you’re planning to get in the water at any point this trip, water shoes are a smart five-euro purchase now rather than a painful realization later.

For dinner, avoid the Cours Saleya terraces entirely, they charge more for less. A street or two back in Vieux Nice, somewhere like Lou Balico, gets you proper Nicois cooking for 15 to 25 EUR a main, still not cheap but worth the money compared to the tourist-trap alternative right on the square.

Day 2: Museums, done efficiently

Both museums sit near Cimiez, reached by bus 5, 16, or 18. Matisse is open 10am to 6pm, closed Tuesdays. Chagall, a completely separate building on avenue Docteur Menard, is 12 EUR during exhibitions or 10 EUR outside them, free the first Sunday of the month, closed Tuesdays too. If your dates line up with a first Sunday, that alone is worth checking before you book flights.

Afterward, Castle Hill costs nothing and delivers more than either museum did for most visitors. No castle actually stands there, demolished in 1706, but the free viewpoint at the top is the best value stop in the entire city. Take the free public elevator from the east end of quai des Etats-Unis if you don’t want the stairs.

Day 3: Villefranche and Monaco

Villefranche-sur-Mer is 7 minutes by train for 2 to 3 EUR, one of the cheapest day trips on this coast and one of the prettiest. Spend the morning around its harbor. Continue to Monaco in the afternoon, roughly 20 to 25 minutes and 4 to 6 EUR, for a walk along the port and a look at the Casino de Monte-Carlo from outside, you don’t need to gamble to enjoy the atmosphere. Grab a pan bagnat for lunch along the way, 6 to 9 EUR, and make sure it’s the real salade nicoise inside, no cooked potatoes, no green beans, just raw vegetables, tuna or anchovies, egg, and olives.

Day 4: Antibes and Cannes

Antibes is 20 to 25 minutes by train, 5 to 6 EUR, with an old town, the Picasso Museum, and the Marche Provencal worth a morning. Continuing to Cannes runs 30 to 40 minutes and 7 to 9 EUR; walk La Croisette but treat Cannes as a look, not a place to eat, since prices there run noticeably higher than Nice for comparable quality. If your budget’s tight by Day 4, skip Cannes and spend the saved train fare on a better dinner back in Nice instead.

Day 5: Beach and farewell

Spend the morning on the beach, no cost beyond whatever you packed. In the afternoon, one last walk through Cours Saleya market for souvenirs and produce to take home, cheaper than airport gift shops by a wide margin. For your farewell dinner, revisit whichever Vieux Nice spot impressed you most earlier in the trip rather than gambling on somewhere new and pricier for your last night.

Money notes for the whole trip

Beach club restaurants along the Promenade often skip a posted menu and charge premium prices, especially for drinks, so ask before you order. Watch your bag in crowded Old Town alleys, on the Promenade, and around any market, same pickpocket risk as the Grand Arenas tram stop. And if your dates are flexible, May, June, September, and October beat July and August on both crowd size and hotel prices, worth factoring in before you book.