NICE - FRANCE - EUROPE
PORT INFORMATION
Photo : Direction des Ports CCI Nice, Cote d'Azur
The Capital of the French Riviera, Nice, is a beautiful yet complicated city of carefully-measured paradoxes, steeped in tradition and modernism, offering a multitude of pleasures and emotions through Baroque tours, Russian itineraries, gastronomy trails, and many others. Undeniably a city of traditions, Nice’s classical image of the Promenade des Anglais and the Old City, the Carnival, the old city, and the Nice Jazz Festival is much too limited. Nice offers thousands of other facets. The city occupies an exceptional natural site in the heart of the French Riviera.
Cruise Terminals in Nice, France
As a homeport for transit and excursions, Nice-Villefranche has become the top French cruising port processing over half-a-million passengers a year.
in 2000, with more than 180,000 passengers : 55 cruise ships, chartered by some 40 major companies, made 285 stopovers. (Nice is a member of the "Med Cruises " Association grouping the largest Mediterranean cruising ports.)The Port of Nice is the top cruise port in France processing over half-a-million passengers a year.
Smaller ships dock smack in the middle of Nice at the Bassin Lympia, at the heart of Place de l'Île de Beauté with its red ochre façades, one of the city’s three listed squares. It accommodates ships up to 180 meters long (590 feet) and is situated in Vieux Nice (Old Nice).
Larger ships dock in Villefrench where the connection to the pier is by tender. Ccruise tourists can take the bus or train to Nice or even Monaco from the cruise terminal - the connection is only 3 miles.
The journey betwen the port terminals and the airport takes about 20 minutes. Buses are freuent and efficient, but most agree that taxi service is the easiest way to get from one to the other.
The Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Management of the Port of Nice provide free welcome information for cruise ships on arrival and departure.
Cruise Lines using the Nice Cruise Terminals as an Embarkation / Disembarking Port
Though number of major cruise lines operating in Europe and the Mediterranean use Nice as one of their ports of call, not all them use the port as the port of embarkation or disembarking. Those that do include Hapag-Lloyd Cruises and Windstar Cruises.Must See Attractions in Nice, France
Old Nice: With its tangle of narrow streets and brightly coloured façade, this district reflects the colours and style of Sardinian architecture. Palais Lascaris (17th century), the Hall of Justice, Palais de la Préfecture (former Palace of the Kings of Sardinia), the former town hall, Palais Communal Masséna, and the former Senate illustrate the richness and diversity of buildings in the old town.
Colourful markets: The Cours Saleya Flower Market is one of the busiest places in Old Nice. The Flower Market is held there every day, except Monday when a market for antiques replaces the foodstuffs. Arts and crafts draw crowd to the Cours every night from June to September.
Promenade des Anglais: Nice’s celebrated palm-lined seafront boulevard, the historic “walkway of the English”, was named for the Englishman who funded the path in 1822. Fringed with Belle Époque and Art Deco buildings, the Promenade hugs the seashore for several kilometers.
Another jewel of the city, the Saint Nicolas’ Russian Orthodox Cathedral is reputedly Western Europe’s most splendid Russian Orthodox church, with its wealth of exceptional icons, wood panels and murals. Antiquity brought here the Greeks and Romans, who left such sites as Cimiez with its amphitheatre and baths. Another must see for visitors is the Matisse Museum with its collection of works left by the artist to the city.
