Arriving by air , you can get different buses into town: bus #23 to the gare SNCF (8.50F/¬1.30); a speedy navette (taking 15min; 26F/¬3.97); or a bus (every 20min, 23F/¬3.51) from outside the end door of Terminal 1 to the junction of avenue Gustav V and the promenade des Anglais, or on to the gare routière , which for once is very central, close to the old town beneath the promenade du Paillon on boulevard Jean-Jaurès (tel 04.93.85.61.81). The gare SNCF is a little further out, a couple of blocks west of the top end of avenue Jean-Médecin (bus #12 to place Masséna). Both the bus and train stations have left-luggage counters.

You'll find the main tourist office beside the gare SNCF on avenue Thiers (daily: June-Sept 8am-8pm; rest of year 8am-7pm; tel 04.93.92.82.82, www.nice-coteazur.org ). It's one of the most useful, helpful and generous of Côte tourist offices and has annexes at 5 promenade des Anglais (June-Sept Mon-Sat 8am-8pm, Sun 9am-6pm; rest of year Mon-Sat 9am-6pm; tel 04.92.14.48.00), another at Nice-Ferber (June-Sept Mon-Sat 8am-8pm, Sun 9am-6pm; rest of year Mon-Sat 10am-5pm; tel 04.93.83.32.64), further along the promenade des Anglais near the airport, and a third at Terminal 1 of the airport (daily: June-Sept 8am-8pm; rest of year 8am-10pm; tel 04.93.21.44.11). Any of these offices can supply you with a free listings magazine, Le Mois à Nice .

Buses operate frequent services around the city, running until 12.15am, with four lines running until 1.10am. Fares are flat-rate and you can buy a single ticket on the bus (8.50F/¬1.30) or a carnet of ten tickets (55F/¬8.38). There are also one-day (25F/¬3.81; available on bus), five-day (85F/¬12.96) or weekly passes (110F/¬16.77), all of which can be bought at tabacs , kiosks, newsagents or from Sunbus, the transport office at 10 av Félix-Faure, where you can also pick up a free route map. Bicycles, mopeds and motorbikes can be rented from Nicea Location Rent at 12 rue de Belgique (tel 04.93.82.42.17, nicealocation@aol.com ), just by the gare SNCF .