/ Nice, in the French Riviera, has a wonderful downtown that is worth spending time in, exploring Nice’ s main commercial Street, Avenue Jean Medicin, stretching about 10 blocks from Place Massena north to the train station and packed with many boutiques and anchored at the lower end by the large department store, Galleries Lafayette. It's really quite wonderful to see how this Main Street is been transformed in recent years by the tram all the automobiles of been removed except service vehicles sidewalks whitened now it's a great place for pedestrians and bicycles and people in the and the tram running down the middle. When locals are referring to the street they don't even call it other news on meds seem the just say the Avenue because it's by far the primary shopping street of Nice.
The east side of downtown is also an interesting place to walk around, a busy commercial area, not so much pedestrian zones but you've got lively streets and shops everywhere, sidewalk cafés, views back at Notre Dame. As you walk along you even get a view of the national theater, a large modern building, and other side streets that wind around it's a great place to explore.
On the west side are several nice pedestrian streets for shopping and eating: Rue Massena and the more upscale Rue Paradis, with luxury shops like Cartier, Armani, Louis Vuitton and Hermes. What do you desire? Shoes, scarves, designer clothes, olive oil, wine, cheese, records, guide books, perfumes, soaps, lotions, kitchen utensils, local foods and all the usual souvenirs are here.
There is a relatively new tram system in Nice it goes right down the main boulevard which is been converted from an automobile street into a tram and pedestrian and bicycle straight it's a marvelous place.
This tram service connects practically now from the beach to the train station which makes it very easy to get from one end of town to the other. So it’s really not too critical that you stay at a hotel down by the waterfront but of course it is more pleasant to be down by the shore. The tram is convenient because it's right at street level so it's easy to just walk right on and there stops every few blocks so it's easy to catch and trance like this and become quite popular once again in Europe but sort of a rebirth of an old idea. Riding along on this new tram is a very smooth experience that tracks are still quite level so you have a nice view of downtown passing by to look at the Windows.
There's a wonderful Matisse Museum located in a park slightly away from the center of town, a little too far to walk to, but you can easily reach it by public bus or just take a taxi. Matisse lived in the city of Nice for many years and created some of his finest paintings here. You might be able to visualize some of those scenes that were painted from his room looking out onto the beautiful blue sea, with the bright colors of the south of France and Provence.