My Unfiltered Thoughts On Visiting Nice, France As An American (The French Riviera)

I feel like nce and the French Riviera are one of those places in the world where expectations are kind of Skyhigh and that's probably because on social media people always glamorize the beauty the scenery cuz it is spectacular but we don't get a lot of what's it actually like living there what's the culture like what should I expect so that's what this video is about and for context my name is Camden uh I stayed there for a full month based in n and I explored the French Riviera uh and if you're new here the 10-second

overview of me is uh I move to a new country every single month I'm typically making travel videos with like implementable like travel tips but this is not one of those this is a series where I talk more about the cultural differences just the realities the observations that I made while staying in a place so um that's what you can expect over the next 15 20 minutes however long I ramble um before I jump into all of this we're going to cover a lot some of the misconceptions things that I wish I had known cultural

things that I really enjoyed and a lot of things that I didn't enjoy as well um so if you're a local please chime in if you feel like I'm off base on something don't be afraid to let me know uh I recognize that I only spent a month there right so longer than your average tourist is going to have the opportunity to spend but definitely not representative of you know what it would really be like living year after year in a place and if you're a tourist same thing feel free to let me know if

like these any of these observations rank true for you and your you know short-lived experience you know as well um because I recognize everybody's got different pers perspective and I I really do welcome the feedback even if it's negative you know feel free to let me know I feel like that's how we can all learn from one another um so let's talk about a couple different things let's let's start with some of the misconceptions one of my biggest misconceptions was around the affordability going into it I expected that it was going to be a really

expensive place to be uh part of that is because obviously it's France and that is one of the more expensive countries to visit uh being in Western Europe you've got places like can where you got the big film festival and celebrities you've got Monaco which I know isn't a part of France but I mean like a 20 30 minute train right away from nce and that is like the ultra ultra wealthy it's definitely like a ritzy area right but my reality and and experience was nce was a lot more affordable than I expected not saying

it's like a budget destination at all um but it is more affordable than I expected for for me $100 a day was more than enough um I really did find that there were a lot of free things to do there's so much Beauty in nature and we'll touch on all that in a minute but that was a misperception on on on my end of not knowing what to expect MoneyWise and I do think that it's a place that is well worth a visit and can be done in an affordable way I think another thing that

was a misperception was when you think of like French culture a lot of people warn about oh French service isn't always the best sometimes it's a little bit cold and offputting I don't know if it's the regional difference because you're down by the water and there's just like a more laid-back lifestyle but I did not experience that in nce I I actually felt like the service was some of the best that I've experienced anywhere in the world um the locals were so kind the service members were so kind tried to teach me French and uh

I did make a whole like tips video uh and you'll notice in that video if you watch it I butcher like every French word imaginable I do not speak French I had a really hard time picking up the language um and they were all so so patient and probably were laughing at me which is understandable you should be laughing at me like it was laughably bad um but I really never experienced that cold service that a lot of people talk about so I thought that was noteworthy as well cuz it was a misperception that I

had and that was a nice one to uh have the opposite of what you expect um another thing is with the beaches I think again social social media really likes to show the glitz the Glam and a lot of that is through the scenery I think a lot of people glamorize like oh I'm going to go and just sit on the beach and hop around and that is a wonderful thing to do but one of the biggest differences that people sometimes aren't prepared for is what do the beaches actually look like what's the culture there

and the beach is a rock there is no sand and these rocks are pretty sizable they're smooth but they're not particularly comfortable to lay or walk on but like everything in life there's pros and cons so I'll walk you through a couple of those con is it's not comfy to lay um in the summer I imagine those rocks get really really hot I was there in the winter months uh I guess it was all of February that I had spent there and that is something that a lot of Tours aren't going to necessarily like but

I think the positives definitely outweigh the cons here and one of the biggest positives is the water is so pristine and like blue like the the the color that you get because there's not a bunch of sand and sediment being kicked up it's just unlike anywhere else that I've really gotten to experience and the most unique part was the sound on a regular Beach where you have sand you hear the waves rolling in and out right you still have that but when the waves pull back because you have the Rocks the waves aren't quite strong

enough to fully lift the Rocks but they are strong enough to pull them so the Rocks like topple over one another but they're heavy enough where basically when the waves are pulling back it's just this gorgeous sound of rocks rolling over and it's just I haven't heard anything like it anywhere else in the world and it was just incredibly unique and incredibly beautiful atmosphere um something that I really think you might appreciate so I I did want to talk about that and yes there are some sand beaches that you can get to in other surrounding

towns and we'll get to some of those places that you can travel and explore throughout the French Riviera uh in a little bit but that's something that is noteworthy in in nce I've got a couple other outline things so every now and then I'm going to look down here just to make sure I I hit on some of all this stuff but let's talk about reality or lack thereof in terms of the perception and the beauty from what we see on social media and what it's actually like this is one of the places where I

think social media actually does a pretty good job showing the reality uh it really is that stunning uh it felt like everywhere you turned it was just natural beauty um that was just really impressive a lot of wonderful views of course you have the beaches but also some of the surrounding towns and areas have just a lot to offer I think one of the places that is really close uh to nce is a place called EZ and it's this old little like medieval like Village that it is at the top of like this little mountain

and it overlooks the water and it was just one of the most stunning places ever if if you have never heard of asz Google it real quick while you're listening to this just an unbelievable spot like probably top five in the world in terms of just that raw Beauty uh and you have that all along the French Riviera and one of the things culturally that is really unique there a couple things one you have so many towns and and Beachside like Villages that are so accessible public transportation is wonderful having a car here probably would

be best but I did not and I had a really easy time exploring everything because the the trains are really well connected so whether that's anti whether that's can whether that's um you know Menon whether that's going into Monaco or going over to Italy there's so much to explore and it's also accessible that even though n itself isn't a place where I'm like yeah there's like so much to do in Nice in terms of like entertainment that kind of plays into like The Lax lifestyle it's like yeah you're gonna walk the prominade and just enjoy

you're gonna sit on the beach and have a picnic you're gonna take your time drinking you know coffee or having your you know croissant you know bread whatever you're going to have there's so much simple stuff to enjoy and if you do want to go and do something I often found that I was just like leaving niss and exploring places and I could have spent so much more time exploring just cuz there is so much to see and I think that's one of the other like really unique pieces is there's not many places in the

world where you can experience so many different cultures in a short area and like in a single day so for example ventia miglia is is is this little Italian town and it's right across the border takes like just under an hour from niece to get there so it's like hey you could say I want to wake up and take the train and go to Italy for pizza for lunch and then on the way back you could hit a place like Monaco and say okay I want to see the the real ritzy fancy rich people um

which typically isn't my vibe but that very much exists and is an option if that's something that you're looking for there and then you can be back in nice all like before the late afternoon early evening and we did that and there's something special about that just having access to the different cultures to those different places the the Cuisines yes there's a lot of overlap but they are different places uh and different cultures and so many just different things to appreciate so that makes this region um I don't know really really special in my mind

and I think there's a couple things that I really didn't like so let's address some of those and then we'll jump back into a couple other positive culture things that that I picked up on and noticed and we'll see if you agree with these but one of the things that drove me crazy was in Europe in general Sundays are a pretty low-key day a lot of things will be you know shut down uh or shut Early N kind of that to an extreme even like grocery stores by like 3: 400 p.m. they were closed and

I love that for the locals love people getting to like take that time off and just enjoy and relax rejuvenate love that but that can be a culture shock if you're not somebody who's used to it um or if you're somebody who's traveling in on a Sunday like I did that was probably a mistake that I made got into town it was like oh my gosh nothing is up open like I'm I'm I'm hungry I basically have to resort to like convenient store types of places uh you know to to grab food which again really

nitpicky small thing but it is something to to be aware of is that things definitely close early but one thing that I am going to push on and say man this really wasn't a fun experience culturally the amount of places that I would like look up online and it says it would was open and I'd walk across town to go try something and then I'd get there and it was closed and you go online you say wait it says it's open and online it says it's open but nope it wasn't they were actually closed that

was happening like almost on a daily basis for me never anywhere in the world that I have traveled in these like three years of living this lifestyle have I experienced such an extreme in that regard um so maybe the the work around there is call ahead of time uh I probably should have been doing that but this is that was something that did drive me a little bit crazy cuz I am somebody who's constantly up and about and just like to pop into places and that was a little bit harder to do here again maybe

it's nitpicky but it was a very real experience uh from from my perspective so uh let me know if you've experienced similar things there um one of the other cultural things that I really did love uh just enjoyed so much was of course you hear that you know you're going to walk into you know a bakery and you're going to get a fresh loaf of bread you're going to have your pan of chocolot or whatever your pastry you know choice is going to be in the morning and that was so fun to actually take part

of and observe how locals interact with it you just don't realize how often you're going to be in those places and how it really is like a daily ritual I was buying bread every day and somehow it was gone by the end of the day but I felt okay like it didn't hurt my stomach I didn't feel like I was putting on a bunch of weight like it really was a fun experience going and trying different bakeries uh around town and picking up your bread and seeing how even just across different neighborhoods that experience is

a little bit different um so i' I'd recommend that if you do go definitely yes of course you can do the toury stuff you can focus on the nature and and you know the beaches and whatnot but don't miss out on the opportunity to to wake up early and watch how the locals interact with those things how they interact with the Fresh Markets you know that are there in Oldtown and in other areas of the town as well there's just something special about it that uh expectation wise you're still surprised even though you are expecting

it you're surprised at just how big of a role it it plays or at least it played for me so I I thought that was noteworthy uh there a couple of other things um sorry I'm looking at the phone just to make sure I'm I'm I'm hitting all these a couple cultural things that I didn't expect one was when you think of Nissan you think about again like the the money the wealthy population there you expect there to be people dressing nice but you don't recognize how much it's just kind of the entire lifestyle uh

revolves around that in some ways yes of course people dress nice it didn't mean that they had to be wearing like super expensive things they're all just kind of put together but the the point I'm trying to make here and what actually shocked me was like the amount of hair salons and places that were there to serve your appearance uh including gyms I have never been to a place where you see so many gyms and typically as an American it's a pretty American thing to notice gyms all over the place when you get to Europe

you typically don't encounter a lot of gyms it was just a complete shock to see just like gyms on every street at felt like in n and what I found really interesting was in the US you know gyms tend to be like really large places like you drive to them you're not going to be watching people work out per se it felt like in niece you were almost on display working out and the people I mean hey credit to you locals like these people are in shape um it making me feel bad about myself I'm

not the gym rat uh you could probably tell but there really was an emphasis on just like healthy lifestyle working out putting effort into the appearance um which as somebody who is a little bit more of a budget traveler and you know this is my uniform I own like a bunch of these t-shirts uh that was you know a fun thing to try to like fit in with um but it really was something that that stood out I had never seen so many gyms with just kind of like a display window where you can see

people working out it's like you you want people to know that you're working out and encourage them to do so as well so um I don't know if that was just some of my own insecurities poping up there but it was something that I I noticed uh and it was surprising another thing that culturally I I I recognized was in the children this seems to be like a very I don't want to say family oriented in that like it is a perfect place for families to be but you see families in pretty much every city

that you go to uh and it's always interesting to see the dynamic right how are parents parenting how are they interacting with their partner how are they interacting with the children what are the children doing what do they look like do people seem happy and this seemed to be one of the places where children had like the biggest Smiles children seemed really happy in this place I don't know if that's reality or just my perception of it but there seemed to be just a very positive outlook on life and and positive experience for the children

a lot of parks a lot of playgrounds the schools were beautiful um the ones that we we saw and I know that we probably saw a couple of the really nice fancy ones so maybe it's not representative of of all of them but the schools that we did see like wow that is not where I went to school in the US uh and it's not saying anything bad about my school experience cuz I had a perfectly fine education um maybe not I don't know I guess other people can be the judge of that but it

really did just feel like they had some beautiful schools and so many things for young people uh just that really high quality of life and perhaps one of the reasons why I saw it so much was because of being there in February when there were less tourists I imagine that's maybe a little bit different in some of those summer months when I would assume this place just gets swarmed with Taurus so locals I'd love to know like do you guys leave in the summer uh are these things that are really only seen during those winter

months that offseason time period but that was something that was just kind of beautiful to to to see and interesting to to observe one of the other things that I don't know it it just felt like there was a really high quality of life with like the slow pace and for locals it almost feels like in some cities you're walking to places where is one of those places where you're walking to walk if that makes sense like how the prominade is integrated how you have like kind of the the the actual um you know port

or har what's the word I am looking for Marina I don't know what word I don't know why it's not coming to my head but one of those probably fits it but all the different areas that you can walk the coastal path if you haven't seen or aren't familiar with the coastal path it's just like this beautiful walkway where you are right up against the ocean the whole way way it kind of feels like a hike but there's just such great access to Nature and being active and taking that slow really like appreciative way about

life uh in in nce and and in the French Riviera so much so that I'd say I wouldn't necessarily go as a tourist unless I had time to spend more than a couple of days CU I think there's some cities around the world where hey if you're going to pop into a major city for 24 hours that fits the vibe right right because you're you're going around you're hustling and bustling you feed into that energy but it would almost be difficult visiting nce or you know exploring all those other towns because I felt like a

lot of these other places around felt like that slower pace of life and it feels like the energy wouldn't match if you were trying to rush through it you're really going to get a better appreciation for for this place if you have the time and ability to sit back watch have that slow pace like the locals so I could be off on that as well but that that really is how I felt and one of the other things which I don't know this is completely random but just something I really appreciated wonderful public transportation but

the airport just a breeze just like a true pleasure which you don't typically say like hey an airport was a pleasurable experience no this one actually was like small but it had all the amenities you would want in an airport really easily accessible you know from downtown like short drive you can take the tram like just an easy experience overall I really appreciated that so um you you probably have that to look forward to but uh would love to know from you guys in the comment section again what were your experiences and if you've made

it to this point in the video and you do want a weekly update for me I do have a newsletter where I share a helpful travel tip every single week as well as a personal update of kind of where I am in the world and I talk about some of these cultural differences that uh I notice on a weekly basis so if you want the link will be in the description for that and if you do want to know that whole I think it's like 52 tips or some absurd amount of number of tips that

I picked up um over the time of being a niece and you want to learn about all those things you can click on this video right here so you can learn all those but I appreciate you watching I'm looking forward to reviewing the comments and we'll catch you guys next time