Best Western Alba Hotel

Great Location and good value for money

This hotel had received good reviews from previous guests and we had picked it on the back of these. We were not disappointed. The staff were all extremely friendly and helpful and we were upgraded to a room with a balcony and an "upstairs" which was really different. We didn’t eat breakfast in the hotel which, at 11 Euros was quite expensive, but there were plenty of really good places to eat near the hotel. The station is literally 5 mins walk away as is the main square which is beautiful with its fountains. My only complaint was that we were not able to leave our luggage on the last day. We were given a late check out until 1pm (normally noon) which helped but it did mean we had to head to the airport sooner than we would have liked. A small room set aside for luggage would make a big difference here.

Make sure you take the train both ways along the coast - to Cannes and Grasse to the west and Menton and Monte Carlo/Monaco in the east. It’s not expensive and is well worth the cost. Within Nice itself, visit the flower market by day and night (great restaurants at night) and don’t miss Magasin du Monde in Nice Etoile on Boulevard Jean Medecin. It’s a bit like Ikea but has some very off the well furniture and crockery! We went in October and it was very expensive (c 10 Euros for the basic pizza) so make sure you save up beforehand! And don’t expect wall to wall sunshine! We had 3 days of very heavy rain so a brolly would be appropriate if you go at that time of year.

best hotel i have used in nice

for those new to nice, i can tell you that hotels can be small, dirty and expensive, often in poor locations. this is none of the above, superb location, clean and excellent value. i will use this hotel from now on. 3 mins from rail station (airport 99 bus goes direct to here in 15 mins for 4 euros with a day pass, carte de jour which you can then use all day on the new tram system, and all buses everywhere!

Traveller's tip on dining

ask at reception for resturant recommendations, 3 within 2 mins walk, excellent and low fixed prices. drinks are expensive, but allmost every bar in the old town has happy hour 5 till 9 every day for beer and cocktails.

Good central location

The hotel was small and friendly, rooms were a good size, newly decorated / refurbished. Although we did have a couple of issues: bed was very hard, so much so one of us came away with a bad neck / back ache! Also, room safe was broken, but we were allowed to use the hotel safe. One small point, there is no-where locked that you can leave your bags if you want to store them after check out, they are just left in an open area at the back which wasn’t ideal but caused us no issues.

Traveller's tip

Good location for train station if you want to take trips along the French Riviera. Lots of shops and cafe’s nearby.