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Nice Bars & Cocktail LoungesAt the heart of the Cote D'Azur, Nice is the gateway to a coast that boasts Antibes, Cannes, Cap Ferat, Eze, Monaco and countless surrounding picturesque villages. Nice is a vibrant and large city in its own right and has been home to many great artists, writers and musicians including Matisse, Picasso, Chagall, Bizet, Tolstoy and Nietzsche. Its warm climate, turquoise sea and dramatic scenery filled with slender pines continue to attract the artistic, even if it first became popular with the well-heeled English in search of decent weather! Arriving at night the many casinos light up the night sky but Nice is bigger than this. There are a host of museums and art galleries (including the Matisse Museum) and the Opera house - all well worth visiting. Nice also has its own annual carnival with fireworks out over the sea in addition to hosting many music festivals. In fact there's so much going on it's difficult to know where to start. Perhaps an ice-cold G&T with a bowl of olives to hand in the shade of a palm tree on the Promenade des Anglais is as good a place to start as any. |
Le Ghost
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La Casa del Sol
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La Suite
A gem of a sea-front club-bar recently renovated to cash in on Nice's hip revival. It's dominated by a late-twenties crowd who can be posy and pretentious since you need money and connections most nights to get through the door. But book a table first and you'll be down with the scene. Include a bottle in the price (Dom Perignon would be nice) and it will be waiting on your table on arrival. House DJs including the occasional guest from Paris play the latest in international club sounds and cool French ambient tracks. Bring money though: this may be seaside town but it's not 'buckets and spades'. |
Le Lafayette
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Mori's Bar
A Riviera institution that seems to have been around since Napoleon and has lost none if its old French style and charm. During the day it’s the classiest tea salon in town, elegant regulars, young and old, coming in for coffee, tea, pastries and snacks served in a wood and tile interior or in the outside terrace. By night it turns into a traditional bar, loud and crowded, alive with the talk of the town, the smell of cigars, the taste of wine and liqueur, much jolly banter and bonhomie in the air. Staff seem as venerable as the bar itself, and no self-respecting visitor should miss a summer glass of Burgundy on the shaded patio. |
Fancy
going somewhere that’s cool and louche but then becomes livelier as the
night wears on? Ghost does that – and stylishly too. It’s a restrained
atmosphere, low-lit and with black and red the theme, you feel encouraged to
while away the hours in one of the large sofas with an exquisite cocktail or
three. As for later on the DJ changes nightly so although there may be the
slight risk of hitting the ‘French house’ night, the selection is usually
eclectic and classy – from the door to the floor they know what they’re
doing. 
Moroccan-themed
restaurant-bar that’s a hit with hip and trendy Nicoise youth who love the
tapas, sultry setting and bargain drinks prices. Translated as House of Sun
in Spanish, the colourful interior evokes the Riads of Marrakech, while the
fish, meat and eggplant dishes could be straight from Andalusia or the Souks.
A DJ spins mellow Euro-Arab tunes during dinner, but he pumps it up later on
when the wine, sangria and cocktails take hold. Digest your couscous before
hitting the floor. 
A
cool, original post-industrial design bar with great drinks and sexy staff -
for our money the hottest spot in town. It's a split-level food and bar
space, with bar up and bar down and a wooden banister on the staircase
connecting the two levels. The walls are exposed red-yellow brick while the
thick wooden bar counter is industrial-heavy. The top-floor room has a glass
and steel underwater-world installation made up of two divers and a Jacques
Cousteau-style boat. To stop confusion get the drinks: vodka-based cocktails
seem particularly popular with the energetic young crowd but the Petit
Bucaneer special: a rum, coconut, apricot and orange mix is an absolute
knockout. With outside seating in summer and a delicious fish-based menu,
you cannot go wrong.