HIGHLIGHTS
• Pedestrian zone
• Designer shopping
From Carre d’Or:
Access in minutes on foot:
• Beach and Prom - 1 - 5
• Musiciens in 5 - 20
• Gambetta in 5 - 20
• Etoile in 10 - 30
• Vieux Nice in 15 – 30
• Magnan in 20 – 50
• Liberation in 20 – 40
• The Port in 30 – 40
Public transport from Carre d’Or rental apartment:
Key transport links in minutes on foot:
• Bus station: 10 – 15
• Tram stop Massena: 1–10
• Train station in 10 – 20
NICE NEIGHBOURHOODS
• Carré d'Or
• Etoile
• Gambetta
• Libération
• Magnan
• Musiciens
• Port
• Vieux Nice
The pros and cons of the Carre d’Or
Central Nice is quite small and compact. You can walk from one end of Central Nice to the other in less than an hour, so moving between areas is easy. Here's what we think of the Carre d'Or area to help you decide where to book your holiday apartment in Nice.
The name says it all: Carré d'Or translates as Golden Square. The elegance and the proximity to the Promenade attract thousands of tourists to this up-market area of Nice’s city centre. This area rivals the Old Town for the most sought after location for holiday rentals. The area includes the Zone Piétonne (the long Pedestrian street called Rue Masséna set between Place Masséna and Rue de France), Boulevard Victor Hugo and the roads in between including Marechal Joffre, Rue de la Buffa and Alphonse Karr.
If you’re a keen shopper or prefer a more sanitized area than Vieux Nice or Nice Etoile, this is the place for you. Shoppers can easily spend a whole day in the twenty or so up-market chains or designer boutiques or in the more bargain boutiques that line Rue Massena. The streets are cleaner, wider and the buildings, shops and restaurants are grander, more opulent but have a little less character than their Vieux Nice brothers.
The Carre d’Or apartments are snapped up by affluent purchasers who do not mind paying a premium. Consequently the buildings are generally well looked after. You can expect better common parts than most other areas and the majority of apartment buildings will have lifts and air-conditioning.
There are many restaurants aligning the pedestrian zone, although most are mediocre relying on shoppers being weary rather than serving great food. Two exceptions, in our view, are the well respected seafood restaurant Boccacio and the pretty La Maison de Marie which is hidden behind a red arch leading to bougainvillea lined courtyard. There are also plenty of bars and cafes with pavement terraces, LOVE being one of our favourites for gorgeous hot chocolates in the day and great terrace ambience and cocktails in the early evening.
If you have an appetite for designer fashion , then head to Rue de la Liberté, just off Place Magenta. For the truly affluent, head for Rue Paradis, Avenue de Suede, and Avenue de Verdun running parallel to Rue de la Liberté. This is Nice’s Rodeo Drive and where you will find the elites including Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Longchamp, Hermes and Cartier. Espace Harroch on Rue Paradis is deceptively big and spans four levels on Rue Paradis. As you might expect when there are big bucks involved, English is very widely spoken.
In the evening, there can be a magical atmosphere around the pedestrian zone with the human hustle and bustle combined with the many (and often talented) street artists. The shops stay open until after 7pm and are then replaced by street seller with their wares strewn out on blankets, jugglers, mime-statutes as you stroll out for early evening, sip drinks at the numerous terraces or wander home.
We are often asked whether Nice is safe. From all of our travels, we think it is one of the safest cities around. We do not have holiday flats to rent in any undesirable areas of Nice. Whilst Nice has its share of petty theft, we do not think any of our guests should feel threatened or in danger. Nice has a relaxed attitude to life and a lot of effort is made by the authorities to keep tourists entertained, happy and welcome.