Being a Mediteranian city, Nice has its fair share of beaches. With a regularly sunny sky and friendly climate, the beaches are a popular place all year long. Of course, they are more popular during the summer and tourist seasons, where temperatures reach above 85 regularly, some people still use the beaches during the summer, even swimming in the water.

However, the beaches are not like beaches on the coasts of the United States. The beaches in Nice are man made, and are not made with sand, but rather stone. Therefore, it isn’t uncommon for people to bring blow-up rafts and use them to lie on because of the hard stony ground. Similarly, due to high-salt content of the water, most people end up rinsing off immediately after leaving the water, as a way to get the salt off of them.

The beaches are public, and there are no fees to enter them. However, there are some spots which function as restaurants and to sit there, food or drink need to be ordered. These types of beach restaurants usually have chairs available, so it will be easy to tell what is the public beach and what parts belong to any restaurants. There is also a section of the beach called “Water Sports” and this is an area where you can do many activities, including water skiing and parasailing.

Nice did not forget about its gay travelers/residents either. Le Castel Plage and Cocoa Beach are two predominately gay or gay friendly beaches. A note, Cocoa Beach is primarily a cruising beach, especially at night. It is located on the other side of the port, and I recommend going there by car. I’m not sure of any busses that go there.