Nice, France - bike hire and route

[lesley_x]

Hi guys,

Looking to hire road bikes from somewhere reasonably close to Nice promenade, any recommendations. Ideally I want to use my own pedals.

Also does anyone have any suggestions for a nice, reasonably flat route to take, maybe 20 miles or so?

We have a car but can't transport bikes anywhere with it, so I'd be grateful to hear if there's any other suggestions for rides near hire places in the area.

Currently unable to climb far due to changes in health.

 

[PaulSB]

I love Nice, some of our dearest friends live 500 metres off the Promenade des Anglais, I love cycling but I'm struggling to think of quiet, flat routes in the area.

We visit frequently and when I take my bike I head off into the hills and mountains to avoid the traffic. I'm probably completely wrong but I don't think there is much enjoyable cycling to be had on the coast simply because of the traffic and volume of people.

 

[steveindenmark]

I think you are right Paul. What I can remember, Nice is very busy and pretty much surrounded by hills.

Steve

 

[PaulSB]

That's a relief!!

Thinking about it a bit more there are three corniches; Basse Corniche, the coast road, Moyenne Corniche, the middle one, and Grand Corniche which climbs high above Nice and the coast.

The motorway is not the third and runs behind Nice at this point.

La Grand Corniche is a great ride climbing steeply as it twists out of Nice towards Eze Col to a height of around 600m and then on, I think, as far as Menton.

 

[lesley_x]

Hi guys

Thanks for the advice, had an absolute blast in the south of France. It's a wonderful place to holiday.

We hired bikes from loca.bike.fr and I opted to treat myself to a Scott CR1. The bike was sublime, only problem was I now feel I need a carbon bike in my life it was so lovely. So the 35 Euro for the bike was the cheap part, the upcoming shopping for new carbon bike will be the expensive part!!

They put my pedals on for me which was good and there was a little saddlebag supplied with all needed tools in it.

We headed out via Nice promenade along the cycle paths, past the airport to Antibes and back. All in all about 20 very easy miles, probably could have done another 20 the other way to be honest but husband was done in! He opted to go for a big chunky mountain bike as he didn't feel confident on a road bike on the busy promenade, so he ended up trailing behind me most of the way. Also he was rather grumpy as the only 20 minutes of rain we saw all week occurred while out riding.

Really nice, relaxed ride though with some beautiful scenery.

Also saw some pros out, particularly in Italy.