Nice Terminal 2 is a glorious architectural project based on passenger projections to 2010. Unfortunately this is still 2007.
The selection of shops available in Terminal 2 is based on the flawed premise that budget-conscious low-cost airline passengers are queing to buy a $10,000 Cartier wristwatch, which they are not. The luxury goods boutique staff outnumber even casual browsers three to one. They look bored to tears.
In the meantime, the staple airport commodities like wine, spirits and tobacco are hugely overpriced. Forget buying at the airport - buy anywhere but. Everything in the airport shops is dearer than you will pay at home, let alone the French High Street.
There is now a small Relay shop for newspapers and magazines after you have been through security, but after passport control there is actually very little to occupy your time. You can get a coffee in a paper cup from the overpriced Bar du Monde, browse the Air France glossy magazine, and watch your fellow passengers fidget.
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At Least Do This: Traveling to Nice ? In normal hours don't pay for a taxi to town - at nearly 30 euro it is the best known rip-off in Nice. Use the airport- town bus services Route 98 or 99 instead. 99 goes to the Gare SNCF railway Station while its alternate 98 goes along the Promenade des Anglais past all the main hotels on the front and on to the Gare Routiere bus station.Its usually about 15 minutes wait between one or the other and costs only 4 euro.
If you are a total cheapskate or just take pleasure in "mastering the system" the public bus route 23 runs from Terminal 1 and will take you into the centre of Nice for exactly 1.30 euro. Thats what the Nicois do.
The airport-town last bus is reasonably late - 23.30 in high season, but if for any reason your flight is severely delayed and you find yourself arriving after midnight, don't panic but be prepared for some stark choices. A few taxis hang about opportunistically and are expensive enough to Nice Centre, and a hell of a lot more if you are destined for Cannes or Monaco. Probably you have little choice but to pay up. But even the taxi drivers want a night's sleep and much beyond half past midnight the taxi rank can quickly become deserted.
You may find yourself having to consider walking the five kilometres to town. If its a warm night, it's a safe if lengthy walk along the curve of the Baie to town, however you might just regret bringing that heavy suitcase. You will also probably chance on more than a few scantily-clad young ladies, waiting at bus stops, the buses having finished for the night several hours previously. Still, do not be concerned: there's no shortage of kindly gentlemen pulling up in their cars to offer them a lift.
Alternative: On arriving at T2, wait patiently for the next bus 98 or 99 to Nice Centre, ticket buy on board 4.00 Euro one way.
On the way home, to get to the airport, board the bus to the airport from the Railway Station Gare SNCF or on the sea front at The Meridian/ Mercure Promenade des Anglais.The railway station is better as less traffic en route.
Buy any alcohol to take home in a supermarket or wine store such as Nicholas before you travel. And cigarettes, you should have bought on your excursion to Italy, as the French have have vastly higher tax rates.
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on Feb 16, 2007
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