Hotel Recommendation in Nice - Airport or In Town

[are wehavingfunyet]

Slightly different sort of advice needed. We are spending one post-cruise night in Nice. Our flight home leaves at 7AM - yikes. We will have a rental car with GPS that we can return at the airport.

 

1. Do you think we should stay at an airport hotel, or is the heart of Nice close enough to the airport that it doesn't matter?

 

2. If we stay in Nice, anyone have a good, reasonably-priced recommendation for us.

 

3. If we should stay at the airport, what would you recommend?

 

Thanks.

Linda

[Baseball fan]

I recently stayed at the Holiday Inn St Laurent Du Var (sp?). It is just to the west of the airport near the large mall in Cote Du Azur. It is about a 10 min walk to the train (Monaco, Nice, Cannes, etc) and has a free airport shuttle. The hotel is on the beach and there are many restaurants nearby.

 

Depending on where you want to go, you might not need a car. This hotel charges for parking (not sure how much) as they don't own the structure you park in.

 

Rooms are small (normal in Europe) but I would stay there again as the location is great.

[stingraynz]

We are arranging a small group staying in Nice in Sept so we haven't been yet. After looking at sooo many options we liked the Hotel Rivoli or Villa Rivoli and this is what we booked. They are very nice to deal with and it was a belle epoch sp? mansion so it looked nice and French for our group. Reasonable prices. We also like the Hotel Roosevelt which is a best western so more clean lines than French Charm but both hotels had great locations for walking about Nice. Check them out and see if they fit your needs. You may need to contact them about parking needs. We don't have cars.

[are wehavingfunyet]

Thank you all. I guess the main thing I am trying to figure out is whether to stay in town versus at an airport hotel to eliminate as much as possible drama over having to be at the airport at 5AM to return the car and check in. The difference in drive time should be only 10 minutes, but you never know.

[stingraynz]

Sorry didn't realize the question was about staying at the airport vs staying in town. What I would do is if you are set on having the car then consider the airport if they have in and out parking privs etc. If you are paying for the car use the car.

 

OR consider the price you are paying for the car and the parking everywhere and hassle of return and way it against just staying very centrally in nice and have the hotel arrange a private car service or a taxi to go to the airport. You are not in Nice very long so just stay around Nice.

 

Either way you will love this part of France

[cruising cockroach]

Did something like this (not at the end of a cruise but a 6 week road trip through France) with an early NCE departure so I researched this a lot.

 

Just be aware that parking is not free for most airport (or city) hotels and may be limited (applies to just about every Accor property).

 

AFAIK, there are no airport hotels (as in within the airport) and the roads can be (or just *are*) confusing.

 

Car return at NCE was easy enough though I did pre-plan the route back to the airport and drove the day before to see where everything was.

 

Found a really good off-season rate at the Domaine Cocagne (Sandton.eu) in Cagnes-sur-mer which is about as close to NCE as Nice is. Free parkng and the packed us breakfast to go (included in the rate but since we'd be gone early). Filled up the evening before and used a Microsoft PC-based GPS to guide us back to the airport (and everywhere else over 7,000+ Km in France).

 

Given parking is not cheap and neither are car rentals, previous suggestions for returning the car the day before, especially if it saves you a day's rental and parking, is a good idea.

[are wehavingfunyet]

Thanks. Very helpful. Maybe the thing to do is check into hotel near airport, get rid of our stuff, drop off the car, and arrange to use airport hotel shuttle in the morning. I need to decide as we are leaving in a few weeks. Everything else is planned out, just need to nail this down.

[cruising cockroach]

and arrange to use airport hotel shuttle in the morning.

 

Just a note: Airport hotel shuttles may not operate so early and may not be complimentary so confirm ahead of time. I see to recall that's why I chose to stay at the Cagnes sur Mer hotel.

[mann overboard]

Easter 2010

 

We connected to a Costa Cruise at Nice and pre cruise stayed at the Campanile Hotel which is a 10 minute stroll across the road from the airport. Decent room and food for budget prices. The public bus from outside takes you to Nice promenade for a few euros.

 

Post cruise we got caught in an Ash Cloud and the airline paid our bill at the Holiday Inn at St Laurant du Var about 2 miles from the airport. It was a nice hotel with a beach side restaurant and plenty more bars & restaurants within a 2 minute stroll. Although Mr Queasyjet paid our tab for 6 days, we noticed the room rates at the Hol Inn could be a little steep, especially rack rates. The hotel shuttle was bookable at a time of YOUR choice. Yes, they would make a journey just for you. Free, but we gave the driver a couple of euros for lugging our luggage.

 

Happy cruising

Regards

Bob