Nice Carnival

Does anyone know whether I need to book tickets for the Carnival parades or whether it%26#39;s o.k. just to turn up

on the promenade and watch free from there?

I don%26#39;t intend to sit in the stands, but wondered if you had to show a ticket to get any chance of a view.

Also, which parade is the best fun - flower, night,

floats?

Thanks.

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We enjoyed the parade of floats last year from the roadside, no charge and were within about 1m of the action, be prepared to have some %26quot;silly string%26quot; over you tho. In the end we bought some from the many street vendors and joined in the fun.

Not sure but i think you need tickets for the battle of the flowers, sure one of the experts will know the answer to that.

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When are the parades?

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Hi

The carnival is on Feb 16th to March 2nd. Have a look at www.nicetourism.com. for more info.

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A veteran of five carnivals here!

The grande parade (%26quot;Corso Carnavalesque%26quot;) is eminently watchable from the roadside. The night parades are the best (Saturday evenings) and it repeats on Sunday afternoon. Do both. A %26quot;tribune%26quot; (seat) is 25 euro evening, 15 euro afternoon and not really worth it in my view.

The Battle of the Flowers saturday afternoon is something else. It really is worth thinking about a tribune at 25 euro. Sounds a lot but its an experience. You cant see anything from the roadside - they fence it in. Its 10 euro to enter the %26quot;promenoir%26quot; where what you get to see is the back of a lot of peoples head. The flower decked floats and the costumed %26quot;beauties%26quot; are tremendous and the flowers that make up the floats are tossed to the stands. Go home with orchids and mimosa.The view is brilliant in the thick of it

Ita great theme this year - rats and bats, and I have high expectations. And we are owed some decent weather. Last few years its been rainy or grey a few times. But theres always the spray string - great fun

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I agree with NiceLife, great theme this year. How can you go wrong with cats, bats, and rats???

I was only able to attend the first parade a few years ago, but will be there for quite a few this time around.

I ordered my tickets online (tribune for both a night and flower parade), with only about 10 days to ship to the U.S.

It might be too late to order online, but check the website: www.nicecarnaval.com

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Thanks for all the tips. We will definitely watch the flower parade on the Saturday and maybe one of the evening parades. Fingers crossed for fine weather!

Have ordered tickets online.

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Good choice! Flower parade is the best. In order to get the chance to go home with lots of flowers, scream to the beauty: %26quot; Des fleurs, belle madame, des fleurs, s%26#39;il vous plait%26quot;! They like it, especially if you get eye contact ;)

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Hi!

Very useful tips, I%26#39;ll probably be there on a weekend in February and I%26#39;m hoping to watch both parades on the Saturday.

I have another question: how long do the parades take? I was wondering whether it%26#39;ll be too late to book a restaurant table after the light parade on Saturday evening (I%26#39;m not familiar with France eating out hours).

Merci!

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Not sure how long it takes but I would guess 2-3 hours. The dinner hours in France depend on where you are! But in the South of France you eat late. Especially when it%26#39;s a busy tourist season. You can easily go dinner around 10.00-10.30pm

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Usually about an hour to an hour and a half for the full procession - they usually go around twice .

The flower floats go around twice too, but the second lap is when they dismantle the float and dish out the serious floral stuff - so a couple of hours really.