Retiring in France, or to be more accurate, in Nice, has been on the forefront of my and B’s mind for awhile now. B loves France, so it makes sense that we picked a French city to be our retirement home. The question is, which city?

Nice is one of the candidates on our list, and after doing some more research, it skyrocketed to number one, mainly because of its mild Mediterranean climate, active lifestyle, and affordability. But as the saying goes, you gotta see it to believe it.

We arrived in the 5^th largest city in France mid-April from America and had some important questions that we needed to have answered before we left:

1. Could we make it in Nice currently with our limited French language skills?
2. Was Nice too large and touristy of a city for us?
3. Was Nice too expensive?
4. How easy were the trains and other forms of transportation to use?
5. What was the vibe of the city like?

Being there and living a “limited retirement” vacation have answered those questions and many more.

First impressions: flying into and landing at Nice airport were like a wow. Although it is a small airport, we got through all customs and immigration in record time. We found it was easy to find a way to our rented apartment and that enough people were helpful to make it an easy trek. The apartment we rented in the port area for two weeks was very reasonable and in a great location – all a deal for the money we paid.

We really like the port area. There is a tram stop that they are currently building, and it should open by the end of 2019, or early 2020. This will make an easy ride from the port to the Nice airport or to many other parts of the city. Single rides on the tram are a couple of euros, so it makes not having a car very easy.

Shopping at the local grocery stores was a snap. They have larger department stores and they get smaller down to the local SPAR. We even found a very nicely stocked Asian supermarket that carried items from Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, Japan and other countries. Now to answer the questions.

1. Could we make it in Nice currently with our limited French language skills?

B has better language skills and attended French class while we were there. All of the restaurants, museums and stores were easy enough to navigate, and when we had to resort to English, they understood easily. The French that we met during our two-week stay were very nice and accommodating. They made us feel very welcomed to be there.

2. Was Nice too large and touristy of a city for us?

Even though Nice is bigger than other cities in the French Riviera area and attracts a lot of tourists, there was never a point where we thought it was too crowded. The main road of Jean Médecin near Place Masséna was always super packed, but it is the main shopping area, so it is to be expected. The promenade was busy with people strolling about, but it was never a problem.

One of the reasons we picked Nice is because it’s a medium-size city with small-town charms but packed with activities. We traveled to other smaller towns in the area and noticed that a lot of major events are usually held in Nice.

3. Was Nice too expensive?

Prices there are rather tolerable. Like anywhere, you can get by as expensively or as cheaply as you want. There are €5 pizzas at our favorite hangout for lunch and there are also €200 lunches if you are into that. Groceries are reasonable with large selections.

Apartment wise – we looked at property ads both on realtors’ websites and their physical offices’ windows and quickly realized Nice is a city for every budget. You can live cheaply in a tiny studio apartment that costs €400 a month, or you can splurge and buy a three-bedroom apartment overlooking Promenade des Anglais that sets you back €1.8 million. There were many apartments available when we were there, but they didn’t list the addresses on the ads.  We would need to contact the realtors to check them out, so we didn’t do it. But we felt good about the many areas we’ve seen so far and want to explore more during our next trips.

4. How easy were the trains and other forms of transportation to use?

Nice has a good mass transit system in the form of a tramway. While more stations are being built, it gets you to most places in the city. It’s also super easy to use even for foreigners like us, thanks to the multilingual ticket vending machines. Even on a French holiday, we were able to get around and use transportation with no problem.

Nice is also a major transportation hub for the French Riviera with multiple trains going to and from major destinations like Cannes and Monaco every day. Buying a ticket is a breeze as the ticket vending machines offers multiple languages including English. In a crunch, there are information booths with a person to fill in the missing blanks.

5. What was the vibe of the city like?

There are several ways to answer this question as a foreigner in Nice. The vibe was comfortable, comforting and felt like home. It is large enough to have all of the major things on the list, but small enough that there are places to hide when one wants some alone time. After going out on the train and doing day trips around the French Riviera, we always felt safe and happy to be back in Nice. There was never a moment when we looked at each other and said, “back to the grindstone.”

One of the cappers was a Saturday breakfast we had in Place Garibaldi. We walked into the square and there was a pop-up flea market that we hadn’t expected. We ate a nice quiet French breakfast and then walked around the flea market. Game, set, match.

All and all, Nice has a lot of good things going on. We were already talking about our next trip to Nice. There are so many things that we didn’t have time to do. I’m already excited for the next “limited retirement” trip. We are ready for our Nice France retirement.