Outdoor Activities
Where to swim in Nice when the pebbles defeat you
Four coves within a bus ride, ranked by how far you carry your towel — for the days the Promenade stones are not worth the swim.
The Promenade is beautiful and the beach is pebbles. That is not a complaint so much as a planning note. Some days you want water without a strategy for your ankles.
Here is how I rank four swims within a bus ride, by how far you carry your towel:
- Coco Beach — closest if you are already in the port area. Still stones, but a smaller theatre of them.
- Villefranche — a proper bay, easier on the feet once you commit to the walk down, and the bus ride is half the pleasure.
- Cap d'Ail Mala — further, worth it when you have the morning. Bring water. The path is the point.
- Passable — when you want to feel that you left Nice without leaving the coast.
Take the bus with a ticket that actually works (I have written about that separately). Swim early in summer. And if the pebbles do defeat you, that is allowed. There is always a café at the top of the steps.