HIGHLIGHTS
• Jean Medicin High Street
• Place Masséna
• Photographic Theatre
• MAMAC Museum
From Etoile
Access in minutes on foot:
• Beach and Prom in 10 - 30
• Carre d’Or in 5 – 15
• Vieux Nice in 5 - 20
• Gambetta in 10 - 30
• Etoile in 20 – 40
• The Port in 25 – 35
• Liberation in 25 – 50
• Magnan in 30 – 50
Public transport from Etoile
Key transport links in minutes on foot:
• Bus station in 5 – 20
• Train station in 15 – 30
• Tram stop Massena & Jean Medicin, in 5 - 10
• Tram stop Cathedrale V-V or Opera V-V in 5 – 15
NICE NEIGHBOURHOODS
• Carré d'Or
• Etoile
• Gambetta
• Libération
• Magnan
• Musiciens
• Port
• Vieux Nice
The pros and cons of the area Nice Etoile
You can see the area, Etoile, on the small diagram at the top right of the page. It is marked with a star.
Considering what is on offer, Central Nice is quite small. You can walk from one end of Central Nice to the other in less than an hour, so you can dip in and out of areas easily.
Here's what we think of the Nice Etoile area so you decide which area to choose when booking your Nice apartment with us.
The area we call Nice Etoile includes Jean Médecin High Street and Place Massena to the left and all the streets to the right up that run parallel to the bus station including Rue Giofreddo, Rue de l’Hotel des Postes and Rue Pastorelli.
This area is centrally positioned for all that Nice has to offer and rental apartments here are soon snapped up. The Old Town can be reached between 5 and 10 minutes. You will be at the beach and Promenade within 10 to 15 minutes and the train station is a 15 minute walk away, or a couple of minutes on the tramway.
Cleaner and less crowded than the Old Town, book your holiday apartment in this area if you like to pop into the vibrant atmosphere of the Old Town but like to come away from it too. It is populated by mouth-watering bakeries and restaurants as well as small boutiques and shops. There are pavement café bars and delis on every street and a choice of four supermarkets. The noise from some of the roads can sometimes be a nuisance but the noise is to be expected in any city centre and the traffic does slow down considerably at night.
Place Massena is a five minute walk from the bus station and is now accessed with the tramway which runs through the square. The bus stops at Place Massena on its way to the Gare Routiere bus station. From Place Massena you can reach the Old Town in a few minutes in one direction and Jean Médecin shopping high street in the other.
Place Massena and the Jardin Albert hosts many an event through the year including the Christmas market and ice-rink, a children’s play area during the summer, and small festivals throughout the year. Every evening the square comes alive with the hustle of passersby, buskers, fountains and the seven pastel lit kneeling men. These impressive modern sculptures represent friendship between the continents.
The buildings in this area are a mix of modern and beautiful bourgeois buildings. There is an equal chance of a building having or not having a lift or air-conditioning. Where there are balconies there is often air-conditioning as the units can be placed outside without spoiling the facades of the buildings and is therefore permitted by the building managers.
The Jean Médecin high street is now serviced by the Nice Tramway which is a perfect way to get around with heavy shopping bags. Here you can find all the high street names such as Zara, H&M, Morgan, Etam, Virgin, and Sephora. There is also a large Monoprix double storey supermarket which is open until 9pm and here you will also find the Étoile Shopping Mall for the girls and the three-storey branch of FNAC for the boys.
A great little pit stop in the day is Emilie’s cookies (as scrummy as it sounds) on Rue Alberti. In the early evening, superb wine bars can be found in this area including Cave Wilson and Part des Anges on Rue Gubernatis.