Plage publique de l’opera — Attraction in Nice

After a day sunbathing on the pebbles we decided to treat ourselves and pay to use the sun loungers and facilities at the private beach club Opera Plage.

We paid 23 euros each and were shown to two sun loungers with a parasol and small table between, on the second row. The first row was apparently all reserved (not sure how to reserve these or if they are for hotel guests?) and had mattresses on their loungers whereas ours did not, although ours were still perfectly comfortable. We were lucky to get the second row I think - we arrived at 11am on a busy and hot Saturday. The loungers were quite close to one another though. The clientele was fine - no one too loud or disturbing.

There only seemed to be 1 server on duty so he was working very hard! A nice guy who took our lunch order. We were told that once you leave, you can’t come back so we’re aware we’d have to pay for the overpriced lunch. 19 euros each for a Caesar salad and 5 euros for a soft drink. Whilst the salad was delicious, it was massively overpriced - but this is just the way it is!

I finally decided to sneak out (by the sea you can discretely wonder off unnoticed) to buy some water from a nearby supermarket. Next time I think we could even sneak off and buy a bite to eat on the go then head back!

Going in the sea was lovely (do wear beach shoes in the pebbles - I bought 10 euro plastic ones that I shall use many times again).

Inside, the facilities were not that good. One male, one female and one disabled toilet (they all started looking a bit disgusting towards the end of the day… do they get cleaned during the day??). Next to them are 3 open showers. One was totally broken, one didn’t get any hot water and the third was still cold! I really was hoping for hot water, which they said they had. The little changing cabins are small and dimly lit but served their purpose.

Overall it was lovely to while away our final day of holiday on sun loungers, but we decided that next time we’d pack or buy a small parasol and two foldable beach mattresses (widely available in all the shops) and just use the public beaches instead, popping into a bar for a cold drink...

Tourist trap and extremely rude waiter. (the bald one, with a bit of beard)

Beach - pebbles Facilities - very good Prices/Quality rario - slightly overpriced Customer service - horrible, below every standard

We and another family were moved from 1st line sunbeds with the excuse that those are reserved (there was NO sign of reservation). Turns out this is part of the waiter's motivation mechanism to spend money as 30 minites later, a family which is already settled on 3rd line sunbeds buys a bottle of champagne and to their surprise the waiter moves them to 1st line to the "reserved" sunbeds. Once the waiter saw an opportunity, of course they got a whole entertainment show from this cloun.

We felt harassed by the waiter to be ordering drinks as he was coming every 1 hour and dropping angry comments "why are you not ordering drinks", "I will come back to check if you ordered" etc etc... The sunbed is 20 Euros per person (so not tied to consumption), so with this attitude, I made sure we got our food and drinks elsewhere.

Would be great if someone explains to this waiter the basics that harrassing people will not make them spend more money but the opposite! Yes, he is probably on a minimum wage and with an aggressive sales target, but this is not and excuse to be rude as you will be...

The only reason this place didn't get 1 star is because I enjoyed not sitting on the rocks on this beach. The lounge chairs were the only reason this place got a rating boost.

The lounge chairs themselves were quite dirty. The staff were very unwelcoming from the very begging right up till the end. When we approached the desk upon entry 3 staff members were gathered together and did not speak to us for a few minutes even though eye contact was made. On my way to the toilets, which were very unkept, I asked a waitress if I could order some drinks, and was then told to wave at a waiter walking by when I returned to my lounge chair. Well fast forward 2 and a half hours later we left at their closing time, without any beverages. There were waiters around who had no interest in their jobs and one was on their phone (chatting) the entire time he was in close proximity.

Not worth the money in my opinion.

Fair enough, the beach is rocky and this is one of the few places where you can get a lounge chair and walk to the water on a carpet without hurting your feet. However, the service and attitude of the staff are not worth the 20 euro you pay for a half day or 40 euro...