| City of Nice | Nice, one of France’s largest cities and a jewel of the Cote d’Azur, certainly has plenty to offer her visitors. Nice is a wonderful French Riviera city with a pleasant Mediterranean climate. The number and quality of its museums puts Nice in first position after Paris, and the many sculptures which decorate its streets illustrate the particular affection artists have always shown for this city. The diversity of the countryside surrounding Nice, its hills and mountains, are a series of constantly changing landscapes. The Promenade des Anglais, the Carnival, the Old Town of the Nice Jazz Festival are famous well beyond their national boundaries, but Nice also offers thousands of other facets.
For further information on Nice please visit the following website: www.nicetourism.com |
| Climate in June | Nice benefits from an exceptional microclimate for which it has been renowned for nearly two centuries. Despite the city opening onto the sea, Nice is protected from the wind by the surrounding hills and the Estérel Mountains to the west, and the northern-western barrier of of the Mercantour Alps. The climate, always mild in winter, is never too hot in the summer thanks to the sea breeze. |
| Credit cards | Most hotels, restaurants and main shops in Nice accept major credit cards; however, it is also recommended that visitors carry small amounts of cash at all times. |
| Currency | The Euro (€) is the official currency, divided into 100 cents. Banks and bureaux de change are widely available and traveller’s cheques and major credit cards are widely accepted. ATMs are widespread and are generally the cheapest and most convenient method of obtaining Euros. |
| Electricity | Electrical current in Nice is 220 V / 50 Hz. Round two-pin plugs are used. |
| Language | The official language is French. Foreign languages, especially English, are widely spoken. |
| Shopping | The Ave Jean Médecin, running from the Place Massena up through the centre of the city has many of the city’s main shopping and department stores. The Nouvelles Galleries is the largest, on the corner of the Place Massena, in one of the lovely ochre-red buildings with surrounding arcade. Nouvelles Galleries has several floors with the typical large departmentstore variety of goods and departments. The store offers some bilingual (French-English) capabilities, and can deal with “taxfree” purchases for non European visitors. Half way up the Ave Jean Médecin, on the right, is Nice’s modern “Mall”: the Nice Etoile. Vieille Ville (Old Town) – you’ll find small shops here, including gift shops, “artisan” crafts, regional items, and clothing shops a bit more down-market from those in the Rue de France area. The Marché à la Brocante et Antiquités is on the Cours Saleya, in the heart of the Vieille Ville, every Monday. |
| Time | The time zone in Nice is GMT +1 hour. |
| Tipping / Tax | In France a sales tax (VAT) of 19.6% is levied on most goods and services. Following a visit to France, non-EU tourists can apply for a tax refund on goods bought. Most countries offering a tax refund specify a minimum amount that must be spent in a particular shop to claim a refund. In France, the minimum purchase to qualify for a refund is € 175. Tipping in France is not compulsory but recommended. (10 – 15%) |