On foot
The centre is small and flat. From the Promenade to Place Garibaldi is a walk of minutes, and everything in the old town is closer together than it looks on a map.
The two exceptions are hills: the castle and Cimiez. There is a lift up to the castle terraces from the eastern end of the seafront, and buses up to Cimiez.
The tram
The tram is the spine of the public network and it goes where visitors actually go: along the front of the old town, through Place Masséna, up past the station, and out west to the airport.
Fares, passes and validity are the operator's business and they change — buy from the machine or the app on the day rather than from anything written here.
From the airport
The airport sits at the western end of the bay, closer to the city than almost any airport in Europe. The tram runs into the centre from the terminals.
Do you need a car
In the city, no — and parking in and around the old town is genuinely difficult. For the hill villages inland a car helps; for the coast, the train along the shore is faster than driving and considerably more pleasant.
Booking the practical bits
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Three things that genuinely help on arrival: a driver waiting at the airport at the end of the bay, somewhere to leave a bag between check-out and an evening train, and a data plan that works before you reach the tram.
