After I posted about Nice a couple of weeks ago, someone left a comment that turned out to be more useful than I expected.
She'd spent eight months living there.
I've spent time in Nice and elsewhere on the Côte d'Azur, so I already know I like the area.
What I can't really learn from a trip is whether the place works once the novelty wears off.
And her experience helped me narrow that question down.
She found Nice very walkable. Public transportation worked well for her. She said plenty of people spoke English, which obviously lowers the friction while you're still learning French.
And geographically, Nice still has a lot going for it. Italy is close. There's a major airport. You're not living in a tiny seasonal resort.
But the thing I cared most about was social life.
She said meeting people was relatively easy through expat groups, digital nomad communities, Meetup and language exchanges.
That matters to me because I can already tell you whether I like the architecture, weather or coastline.
What I can't tell from visiting is whether I'd have people to call on a Wednesday night.
Her answer doesn't completely solve that question.
Those groups can be great for meeting people, but I still don't know how much of that turns into actual friendships — or how many of the people you meet are only there temporarily.
That's something I'd want to understand before treating Nice as a serious long-term option.
Her food criticism was useful for a different reason.
She didn't love eating in central Nice. In her experience, a lot of places felt touristy or overpriced.
I don't take that as “Nice has bad food.”
I take it as a neighborhood question.
If the most tourist-heavy parts of the center aren't where ordinary residents eat, then I'd want to know where the people who actually live there go — and whether those are neighborhoods I'd want to live in anyway.
She also told me that if she were choosing for herself, she'd probably choose Spain because she connects more with the language and culture.
I actually found that pretty useful too.
A city can check a lot of boxes and still not be the right place for you.
And that's something I'm trying to separate throughout this whole process.
What does the city actually offer?
And:
Does that particular version of life fit us?
Eight months of someone else's experience obviously can't answer whether Nice is right for me.
But it did move a few questions from vague to specific.
I have more confidence now that Nice has some real infrastructure for meeting people.
I know I shouldn't judge its food scene entirely by what I find in the center.
And the things I still want to know are becoming much more ordinary.
What does January feel like socially?
Do the people you meet actually stay?
Which neighborhoods feel local without becoming too quiet?
And after a year or two, does Nice still feel like a real city — or do you constantly feel surrounded by people passing through?
Those are much better questions for me than simply asking whether Nice is a good place to live.
If you've actually lived in Nice for a while, what neighborhood felt the most like normal everyday life — not vacation Nice?
— Joe