The blue chairs
Nice's emblem, in every photograph of the city.
Patafisik — CC BY-SA 4.0 · C. Martino — CC BY-SA 4.0 · C. Martino — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Bybbisch94, Christian Gebhardt — CC BY-SA 4.0
**No — it is shingle.** This is the surprise that most catches visitors out: Nice's beach is fist-sized rounded pebbles, not sand; walking barefoot hurts and lying down needs a thick mat. The remedies: **water shoes** (sold everywhere for very little) and a mat or lounger. If you want actual sand: the beaches of **Antibes**, **Cannes** or **Villefranche** are minutes away by train.
Seven kilometres is a long walk in the heat. Hire a **bike** from the city scheme (docks along its length) and ride it in half an hour with stops, or walk only the best section: from the **Jardin Albert Ier** west to the Negresco, then back through **Cours Saleya** into the old town. Go in the morning or before sunset — there is no shade at midday.
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The "Walk of the English" is Nice's seafront and its symbol: seven kilometres of broad pavement along the Baie des Anges, with a line of palms, its famous blue chairs, and Belle Époque hotels along it — the best known being the **Negresco** with its pink dome. Its name tells its story: in the nineteenth century Nice became the winter resort of the English aristocracy, and in a hard winter around 1820 the English community funded the cutting of a seafront path as work for the city's poor, whose season had collapsed. The people of Nice called it the walk of the English, and the name stuck. The beach below it is **shingle, not sand** (a surprise to many — bring water shoes), with most stretches public and free and some private and charged. The promenade itself is the city's life: walkers, cyclists and skaters all day, and an unforgettable sunset over the water. 🕯️ It is also the site of the **14 July 2016 attack**, in which 86 people were killed during the national holiday; a small memorial near the garden honours them.
Nice's emblem, in every photograph of the city.
A pink dome of 1913 on the seafront.
The best hour in Nice, and free.
Promenade des Anglais, 06000 Nice