Gathering information in Nice

Walked along to the Tourist Office to see what was new. The main Tourist Office is at 5, Promenade des Anglais, just past the Meridien Hotel by Albert 1er Gardens. It's set back from the road a little and there are no wondows - just a huge posters promoting various current events. Inside, it is wonderfully cool and fresh. There are plenty of leaflets on the walls - suggestions for tours, activities, hotels, restaurants etc and many have an offer combined - for example the Grand Tour has a 1-euro off coupon with the brochure and there are coupons offering 10% off purchases at Galeries Lafayette - the fancy department store in central Nice and at CAP3000.

The good stuff however, is behind the counter. A new and excellent version of 'Nice Pratique' - a practical guide to Nice is available in English but you have to ask for it, the same for a restaurant guide and hotel guide plus a detailed map of Nice.

For exploring out of Nice, another information centre is close at hand - walk back along the Prom towards Castle Hill and cross over the front of the Albert 1er Gardens pasing the Carousel. On the corner of the opposite building is the Maison du Departement for the area 06 - the Alpes Maritime. Here you can collect information about surrounding villages, like Biot, La Napoule, etc plus wonderful guides on exploring beyond Nice - walking and cycling guides and information about other actvities such as canyoning. There is a counter for help but apart from a cheery Bonjour, they are happy to leave you to browse the information and help yourself to leaflets. You can collect the local train time tables here too.

One final stop around the corner and over Place Massena to the lignedazur Office on Place Massena, under the arcades and you will have enough information to make the most of your time in Nice. AT the lignedazue Office you cab pick up a current map of the local buses and tram stops.

The only information nearly impossible to collect is for the TAM bus network. For this, you need to go in person to the Gare Routière on Jean Jaures, hope that the Office is open and ask the French-speaking person at the central counter. It's easier to read the electronic notice boards and read the timetables just outside the Office by the bus platforms. Or download the information off the internet. When you ask at the counter, they might give you a photocopied timetable of your bus route but that's it. There is no map or plan availabe for the TAM bus routes connecting Nice to the rest of the Cote d'Azur. The lignedazur map shows some of the areas covered. To see a map of all the TAM routes, you need access to the website or examine the map on the wall inside the Bus station (when it's open, definitely not on a Sunday)

The TAM buses, the majority will want to use are the 100 from Nice to Menton, the 100xpress for Nice to Monaco, the 200 for Nice to Cannes and the 400 from Nice to St Paul de Vence. Here's a list of the regular TAM networks:

from the TAM website

Information in Nice links:

Nice Tourist Office

Ligne d'Azur (local Nice bus/tram network)

TAM (Cote d'Azur network of buses)

Ter (local train network)