Using an eSIM in Nice

What Nice is like on a phone

Nice is the base for a Riviera trip: people sleep here and go out to the small towns around it a day at a time — beach holidays, conference visitors from the next town along, families staying through the school break. The city is small enough to walk, with a tram along the main axis, so the network is smooth in town. What makes it different is how close the border is, which makes the country list on a plan matter more here than anywhere else in France.

When you land

Nice Côte d'Azur airport (NCE) sits on the shoreline with a tram line running from the terminals straight into the centre, and the other common way in is the coastal train from elsewhere in France or from the Italian side, which arrives at Nice-Ville. Switch the line on inside the terminal, because the tram stop and the ride-hailing pickup are on different sides and the signage moves around. The tram ride along the sea keeps a good signal the whole way, while trains coming from the east pass through a run of short tunnels that cut the connection repeatedly.

Where coverage changes

The beachfront, the seaside road and the newer blocks stay connected. In the old town, narrow lanes between tall buildings, you feel the speed drop as you go deeper between the market and the churches. The Castle Hill above does well because it looks over the whole bay. What genuinely needs attention is heading east towards the border, where a phone can register on a neighbouring country's network by itself — whether that still works depends on the country list of the plan you are carrying.

What a day here costs in data

A beach day without travel is light — roughly 500MB to 900MB, since the time goes on the sand rather than the screen. A day out to the towns around doubles it, because you are checking train times, booking a table and sending home a lot of coast photos as you take them. Shoot long video at a clifftop viewpoint and upload it on the spot and you can add several hundred megabytes per clip.

Districts travellers ask about

• Vieux Nice, the old town — Narrow lanes and tall façades throw positioning off easily, so arrange to meet at a named square or café rather than dropping a pin mid-alley.
• Promenade des Anglais — Wide open to the sea and reliable along its whole length — a better place to push a big batch of photos than anywhere in the old town.
• Cimiez on the hill — Up the slope with open gardens, so service is good, but there are fewer buses up here than you expect — check the timetable before climbing, since afternoon gaps are long.
• The port and Riquier — Fine around the harbour, but the roads climbing east behind it are where a handset starts flipping to masts on the far side of the border.

Day trips out of the city

• Monaco — Under an hour away but a separate country: a plan written for France alone may not work there, so check the country list on the plan page before you set out.
• Èze and Menton — The further east you go the closer the Italian border gets, and at points on the corniche a handset picks up the Italian side by itself — if data seems to stop, check which country's network the phone has settled on.
• Antibes and Cannes — Heading west there is no border question at all; the coastal train keeps a good signal nearly throughout, apart from the short tunnels cutting through the headlands.