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Ave Jean Médecin

village photo The Ave Jean Médecin, running from the Place Massena up through the center of the city has many of the city's main shopping and department stores.

The Nouvelles Galleries is the largest, on the corner of the Place Massena, in one of the lovely ochre-red buildings with surrounding arcade (photo). Nouvelle Galleries has several floors with the typical large department-store departments. The store offers some bilingual (French-English) capabilities, and can deal with "tax-free" purchases for non-European visitors.

Half way up the Ave Jean Médecin, on the right, is Nice's modern "Mall": the Nice Etoile. The Nice Etoile contains several floors of boutiques and shops, and the FNAC and Habitat stores. The Nice-Etoile parking, on the floors beneath the shops, is very handy for coming to town by automobile, especially on a rainy-day shopping trip.

FNAC
This France-wide (especially Paris) chain specializes in books, records-CDs, electronics (hi-fi, television, video) and photography. Their book department is always very large, and has foreign (non-French) sections. FNAC is a ticket-reservation point for concerts.
Ave Jean Médecin, in the Nice Etoile mall.

Rue de France

The Rue de France pedestrian shopping street runs from the end of the Place Massena, roughly parallel to the seaside. This area is full of shops, including some exclusive clothing boutiques, and restaurants and cafés with outdoor terraces - a great place to sit and watch the world go by, while you eat or drink.

Vieille Ville (Old Town)

You'll find small shops here, including gift shops, "artisan" crafts, regional items, and clothing shops a bit more down-market from those in the Rue de France area.

Flea Market. The Marché a la Brocante et Antiquités is on the Cours Saleya, in the heart of the Ville Ville, every Monday.

Books, Music

Black'N'White Music
The best selection of jazz in the region, with a great selection of the "old" vinyl records.
27 rue Gioffredo
Tel: 04 93 80 75 22; Fax: 04 93 80 66 27
FNAC, on the Ave Jean Medecin (see above)
FNAC has the biggest selection of CDs around, reasonable prices (by French standards) and a knowledgeable staff. FNAC is a nation-wide store, with several popular outlets in Paris. Their web site is www.fnac.com.

Books

English- (and other non-French-) language books are available from many magazine-book shops. The FNAC has a fair selection, as does the excellent Sorbonne bookshop at 23 rue Hotel des Postes. There's an English Bookshop, the Cat's Whiskers, at 30 rue Lamartine (just off Ave Notre-Dame; tel 04 93 80 02 66). Our favorite place for magazines and papers is Maison de la Presse, 3 Place Massena (it's along the arcade opposite Havas); they have a good selection of magazines of various nationalities and languages.

Hiking Maps and Guidebooks

Magellan
Rue d'Italy (just off Ave Jean Medecin, beside Eglise Notre-Dame)
One of the best collections of hiking maps and hiking and travel books in Nice. The have (mostly) the full collection of IGN maps.
Old Bookshop
Old town: rue Colonnna d'Istria (or rue St. Vincent)
I don't remember the name of this place, but it's a very old shop (wooden counters, etc.), with art supplies and maps, including most of the IGN hiking maps.

Cycle Rental

Nicea Location Rent
12 Rue de Belgique (near the SNCF train station)
Tel: (33) 04 93 82 42 71; Fax: (33) 04 93 87 76 36
Email: nicealocation@aol.com
- Rentals of bicycles, 50cc and 125cc scooters, XT 600 E and XV 240 motorcycles. They speak English and Italian.

Launderettes

There are probably several launderettes (self-service laveries) in Nice. One address we have is west on Ave Thiers past the SNCF train station, almost to Bvd Gambetta:

Laverie 54
54 rue Rossini
Open: 7h-21h, daily including Sunday and holidays.

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