Overwintering in Nice: sun and ski

photo by J.Kelogapian

Since the scottish poet, author and doctor T.G. Smollet discovered Nice in 1765 to have a micro climate that is healing people, many aristocratic people from England and Russia came to Nice to overwinter. Queen Victoria built her own palace, the Excelsior Régina in Cimiez, a residential area in Nice where you can also find the Matisse Museum. Queen Victoria's last trip to Nice was in 1899, when she traveled under her pseudonym 'Lady Balmoral' on a special train, 56 km/h at day time and 40 km/h at night.

Nowadays travel circumstances have been ameliorated and Nice has the 2nd airport of France. As you can see on the pictures, the snow-capped Alps are very close to the sunny Mediterranean coast. A winter sun vacation could easiliy be combined with a ski vacation in the nearby mountain ski resorts. It's only 1.5 hours by car or public transport to the ski resort of Isola 2000. The costs of the ski bus includes a day ski pass and return bus journey. Isola 2000 is located in the Mercantour Park, which is an area of outstanding natural beauty, with numerous outdoor activities available.



GREOLIERES (60 kms from Nice; 1400 to 1800 m) LA COLMIANE (65 kms from Nice; 1500 to 1800 m) VALBERG (80 kms from Nice; 1616 to 2100 m; www.valberg.com) AURON (90 kms from Nice; 1600 to 2450 m; www.auron.com) ISOLA 2000 (90 kms from Nice; 2000 to 2900 m; www.isola2000.com)