In 2028 the new "Nice Airport train station" will open. It will link up the airport, train station, tram line to the city, cycle lanes, the new bus station next to it, and multi-story car parks with 700 spaces, all next door to each other. It will be covered in a huge sail-shaped roof covered in solar panels which will generate 600MW/hour, and there will be 4200m² of gardens around it. They appear to be trying to integrate man and nature with the environment they will create. Sounds more relaxing than the average train station!
Now it's the turn of The Express to praise the city of Nice, naming it "one of Europe's most walkable destinations". Can't say I disagree.
Though the ski resorts near Nice don't open for another week, 18th November, there was a heavy snow fall to the ski slops in advance of the opening which the local papers have been sharing photos of. It is looking good for the opening of Valberg, Auron and Isola2000.
Easyjet is starting three new destinations from Nice next year, two in Spain and one in Greece. They will be Alicante from the 5th April, Malaga from the 2nd June, and the island Cephalonia to the west of the Greek mainland.
The AirBnb-style key boxes stuck onto public walls have always been illegal but have continued to proliferate and can now be found on sign posts, bike parkings, and building railings. The Mayor has declared that enough is enough. Starting now, all the keyboxes will get a red sticker with the date written on it, and a notice that they have 15 days to remove it. If it's not gone then it will be cut off and confiscated. You can apply to recover it but it will require a few hoops to jump through including a copy of your title deeds. The Mayor is keen to stress it's nothing to do with AirBnb but what he considers a blight on Nice streets that are an eyesore and an unauthorised abuse of public property. You have been warned!
Another enthusiastic piece from CNN about the French Riviera. A lot of focus on Nice but a few other places get an honourable mention.
The local paper gives a short roundup of the "big projects". The new tram line from Nice to Cagnes sur Mer? Still planned to open in 2028. The new underground road tunnel that will take traffic from the bypass to the motorway (and anybody that has driven West out of Nice will appreciate this one): slipped from end of the year to Spring next year. The new train station near the airport? Open in 2028 and promises spectacular architecture, one of the most impressive in France, with nature and plants "under the roof". The new conference centre in the Port of Nice, overlooking the sea? Despite claims that 2025 is unrealistic, the mayor says it will be built "quicker than you think" and will be a permanent fixture. Finally the new exhibition centre, one of the largest in Europe at over 40,000sqm, will be completed just north of the airport by 2028. So there you go. In 5 years Nice will be transformed into one of the premiere business destinations in Europe.
The price of property in Nice has been described as an "anomaly". Whilst the prices of property is dropping all over France the past year, around half a percent overall average, the prices of property in Nice has shot up 8% over the same time period. Whilst the top 10 cities in France have dropped over 1% since January, Nice is up over 7% from the start of this year. This brings it up to the second most expensive city in France, overtaking Lyon which has traditionally been 2nd after Paris. The article ascribes this partially to Nice being less dependent on 1st time buyers than other cities so less affected by the increase in interest rates. As a number of the "big projects" are only getting underway, especially the doubling in size of Nice's "Central Park", personally I can only see prices continuing to go one way here.