The beautiful French coast cities of Cannes (Pronounced: Can) and Nice (Pronounced: Niece) took our breath away with the beautiful beaches and French architecture.
The cities are a 32 minute train ride away from each other and each has it’s own respective sites and culture. We started our day arriving by our Norwegian cruise ship into the Port of Cannes.
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Transportation
- TER: Since we had limited time here, we decided to head straight to the train station in Cannes and take the first train to Nice. Trains were running every hour to Nice and back so we had no issues getting there or back. Tickets were fairly cheap as well and we paid about 20€ for 2 passengers sitting in 1st class. It was a lot quieter and we had more room with a super comfortable seat. It took us 32-40 minutes to get there.
To-Do
- Avenue Jean Mèdecin: Once we arrived into Nice we took a walk down to the central part of the city, by the beautiful beaches. We chose to walk but there is also a street trolley as an option if you want to save your feet. We saw a lot of different shops along the way in which to buy clothes, jewelry, or official OGC Nice FC merchandise.
- Promenade du Paillon: Once we got closer to the main center of Nice we ran into a park on the left hand side. We found an open bench and sat to people watch. Many French families who live in Nice brought their children here to play and watch the water fountain show. It was very nice to sit back and relax in the park.
- Marchè aux Fleurs (flower market): It was a short 10 minute walk to this market from the promenade, located further towards the sea. Here we found beautiful flowers and plants but that is not all they sold. We saw that there was an opportunity to buy fresh fruits, vegetables as well, meat from a butcher or fish from a local fisherman. It didn’t make sense for us to buy these since we were only staying for the day but if we were staying for longer, we definitely would have made a couple of trips here. Another thing we were able to buy here was some really nice (no pun intended) handmade souvenirs.
- Relax by the Mediterranean Sea: We took a walk down by the sea and found some benches we could sit that overlooked the water. We sat down, relaxed and ate a delicious snack of cheese, bread and chocolate. This is definitely a must do and the view was simply perfect!
- Explore Cannes: Cannes is home to one of the most famous film festivals in the world. The Cannes Film Festival brings in stars from all over the world to this French city. Unfortunately, you cannot get access to the film festival unless you are somebody famous or know somebody, but we were certainly able to admire the building.
Another building we just walked by and dreamed about was the Hotel Barrière Le Majestic. If you want to live like a star, plan on spending $629-5,498 per night!
The last thing we saw in Cannes were the huge yachts in the harbor and the big houses along the hills. When walking back to the tender ship a Ferrari zoomed by. Only in Cannes…
Food
- La Storia Pizzeria: This restaurant is located in Nice, by the Marchè aux Fleurs. Since Nice is relatively close to Italy, we found some great Italian food here with a French twist. We had Linguini aux fruits de mer (Linguini with seafood) and Lasagnes au four (Baked Lasagna).We were able to pair our food with some local wine from Nice as well. Click here for a link to their site. If you do not know French, Google Translate will be your friend to find out what’s on the menu.
- LOU FROUMAÏ: Just a few blocks north of the market, we stumbled across this cute cheese and bread shop. We got a couple different kinds of cheeses and a loaf of fresh baked bread for a good snack. This was definitely one of the best cheese we have ever had, anywhere in the world so we would highly recommend stopping by. They have many different cheeses so make sure just to ask the shop keeper which one is their favorite and go with that.
- Pâtisserie LAC: To complete our snack, we wanted something sweet. We found this little chocolate factory with gourmet French chocolates. There were many different options for us to choose from to pair with our cheese and bread. The chocolate was amazing and dare we say it, the best we have ever had in southern France!
- Crepe Stand: Located in Cannes, we found this adorable crepe stand by the Palais des Festivals (Cannes Film Festival Main Conference Centre) in the Square Reynaldo Hahn. We saw a carousel and some children rides in the square. The crepe stand was a bit pricey but was well worth the yummy Nutella and Banana Crepe we shared with each other.
Our time in Nice and Cannes had come to an end and we were feeling rejuvenated and ready to continue on our cruise. If we have the time, we would definitely come back here to do some more exploring!
