Paradise Islands : Maldives

What can I say about the Maldives which hasn't been said or seen before?
A picture is worth a thousand words and if you've seen anything from the Maldives, you would already know what I am talking about. Still being there and living it is a different experience altogether and you have to visit these islands to know what Paradise can mean!

Maldives is a country of some thousand small coral islands in the Indian Ocean. Its quite a unique country, as its made up of so many islands all distributed over a large geographical area. (Also apparently, the country is going to disappear sometime this century due to global warming and the rising sea levels, so you must definitely visit the islands before its too late:)).



There are not many industries or agriculture in these islands, and the main revenue earner for the country is tourism. So Maldives sure is making the most of the beauty it offers and projecting itself as the luxury holiday destination around the world. Its relative closeness to India makes is a favorite destination for vacationers from India. And the fact that you get a visa on arrival is always a bonus!

There are hundreds of resorts in Maldives offering luxury tourism to all. Most of the islands in the country are small and each island is given to one resort. So once in a resort, you can walk around and explore the whole island, swim in the shallow waters around and indulge in water sports around the island as well as other activities which most of the resorts provide.

Since the islands are all coral island, the water around the islands is crystal green and shallow for long stretches. The beaches are all of white sand and clean of course, a pleasure to relax at. One thing of course you definitely need to keep in mind, the resorts are all very luxurious and so highly expensive. The fact that once on an island, getting off it is not as easy, tends to make it all the more pricier. But its all definitely worth it!

Anyways, we stayed at two resorts during our trip and I can write about those two places. Am sure most of the resorts are quite the same and offer similar facilities too.

The first resort where we stayed is the Taj Exotica, run by the Indian Taj group. Its on an island about 15 minutes by speedboat from Male, the Maldives capital. In the evenings, you can even see the lights of Male at a distance. The size of the island is just about 700 mts by 100 mts and you can cover it within 20 minutes at the most:). There are green trees covering the island with white sand all around. Everywhere on the way, there are places to sit and relax and sleep, hammocks, sunbeds and so on.

There is a spa at the resort which is quite an experience.  

It offers a huge variety of treatments if you are interested! Other facilities at the resort include a diving centre, which can take you diving or snorkelling at some corals nearby, a games room with pool et al, a library, a DVD collection (with hindi movies too!), and of course a wide range of water sports, like jet skiing, kayaking and so on. The lagoon at the Taj is quite huge and shallow for the most part, with beautiful blue green crystal water till where the eyes can sea and fishes swimming everywhere. Snorkelling in this area is awesome, the variety of fishes and the colours that you see are so pretty, you can just get lost enjoying the views underwater!

In the evenings, the resort have sting ray and shark feeding for all to see. The fishes all come next to the feeding areas at the designated time and eat the food thrown into the water by the staff. The sharks are actually baby sharks, but still scary. Especially if you look at their teeth. The sting rays are big, and flappy! They swim quite gracefully actually and are a treat to watch.

The pool is located just next to the sea, where you can get a beautiful view of the ocean around. Its a good place to spend time if you don't want to get into the salty water. I for one preferred to be in the green water rather than the blue:). The waters are so shallow, and so clean, with very few waves or disturbances. And sometimes you would see fishes swimming just next to you, in different sizes and different colours. How often do you get such water to swim in? Of course it would be a good idea to beware of the sting rays or the baby sharks while in the open waters:).

Taj also has two restaurants on the island itself, one in the open while one with more varied menus, and a bar and lounge which plays live music in the evenings, a nice way to spend time in the evenings viewing the sunset!! You can have a romantic dinner in the evening at the centre of the sea with the wind blowing and not much in sight:). (A positive at the Taj is that they have a huge vegetarian menu which is a good thing for people who are vegetarian. Maybe thats one of the reasons this resort is highly popular with Indians:)).

There are different types of the rooms at the resort, the beach villa, water villa or the water bungalows each offering a different view and experience.The rooms are beautiful as expected, with complete privacy and separate from each other. From most of the huts, you can just enter into the sea from the balcony itself giving it a feel of your own private ocean space. Also while sitting in the balcony itself, you can see fishes swimming in the water most of the time. Is very relaxing and feels so completely idyllic!

On the whole, its a relaxing place to just spend time relaxing, sitting by the sea, enjoying the sunset, swimming in the warm waters,  observing the fishes in the water, sleeping on the hammocks or the sunbeds jutting into the sea, swimming in the pool next to the sea. A perfect relaxing vacation or a honeymoon destination, isn't it? Its an experience not easily put into words.

Also, something I must write about is the Taj experience. One of my firsts, the experience was just awesome, especially the Taj hospitality that everyone likes to talk about. The level of service is amazing, ever present without being intrusive. You have a personal Man Friday who is available for any requests and needs you may have, making your whole stay a lot more comfortable and enjoyable. 

The next resort we went to was Soneva Gili and in my mind it perfectly describes what luxury would be like. Its about 40 minutes from Male, and runs on its own 'Soneva time' which is one hour slower than Male. Quite an interesting concept, isnt it? Also there is a no news, no shoes policy on the resort, you walk around the island and the beaches without shoes and they don't deliver you newspapers. Interesting.. !

Soneva is built on the concept of isolation, the huts are bigger and farther apart, and completely private. The resort also has some Robinson Crusoe huts, which are away from the island and can only be reached by boat.

The island at Soneva is bigger than the one at Taj, and also a lot greener. Since the island is huge, you need cycles to move from one place to another. There are green gardens on the island to while away your time as well as tennis courts and all for more hectic activities.

The island has the usual activities for all to do, the pool next to the sea, the restaurant in the sea, the water sports, the spa, the relaxing sun beds strewn all around the island, enough places to rest and enjoy.... You can even swim till the hammock or the small island in the centre of the sea, and then you would definitely want to rest there!!

Their residences are huge, and this is how they look like! You can relax on the beds outside, on the roof, or even in the living rooms with glasses all around. The perfect location to see the beautiful sunsets especially during low tides. The floor of the residence has glass at some places, and you can see the fishes swimming below from the rooms itself. Just beautiful....

Here are some pics of how its like to be there, just an idyllic life...

When we were in Maldives, it rained a lot though which is not the case usually in December. Weather change I guess?

Anyways, the whole experience was so different, completely relaxing and beautiful.. A perfect place for a complete vacation. A must visit place at least once if not more in a life...!

Bohemian Goa

Goa is one of "those" places, where you end up so many times in your life (and if you have ever stayed in Mumbai, this number would be much more!). This place is just so amazing that many times I wonder what it is that is so special about it. But its just so much fun and relaxing, think can spend a long time there and still not have been able to explore all it has to offer...

Goa is mostly famous for its beaches and the night life at some of the popular beaches. Anyways have been to Goa a couple of times and each trip has been so different than the last one, that I always wonder, "What is the real Goa??"!! Not figured that out yet though but still working on it:).

Goa and its beaches are split between the north and south Goa beaches. The north Goa ones are the more crowded and hippie ones, the popular ones being Baga, Calangute, Arambol and Anjuna. They are famous for their beach parties, the night markets, the clubs and the crowds.

We stayed at Baga once, in the hotel next to the only Subway in Goa:). It was quite a happening and lively place and enough to keep you occupied for a long time! The beaches here are good with clean water. Some of the beaches are sandy while some are stony beaches but everywhere, you have a lot of crowd.

You should also definitely buy some of those brightly coloured shirts and skirts available at the beach shops. They are so Goan, you would definitely want to be seen in those when in Goa. There are lot of places on the beaches itself to eat, where the tables and chairs are put on the beach itself during dinner time, while during the day you can eat at the makeshift straw-shacks on the beach itself.

Also nearby on North Goa itself is Fort Aguada, where the movie Dil Chahta Hai was shot. Its a popular place to watch the sunset from too.

South of these beaches comes Panjim, the capital of Goa. Compared to the rest of Goa, the city is very boring. Its like any other city, with offices and some small beaches which are not really impressive. It has two famous beaches, Miramar and Dona Paula. Dona Paula is a stony beach and has some water sports apparently.

From Panjim, you can also visit old Goa, which retains its Portuguese ancestry. People dress differently, the houses and architecture is different, the air is also completely different. There are two famous churches here itself, right opposite each other. They are a must visit for all.

And South of Panjim are what are called the South Goa beaches. They are white sand beaches and much less crowded than the north Goa beaches. In fact, a lot of the famous resorts are located in the south with a lot of them having their own private beaches.

My last trip to Goa, I finally went to South Goa and absolutely loved it. We took a train from Mumbai to Mudgaon and then onwards from there to Palolem Beach. The drive till Palolem is quite beautiful, through heavily forested hills and twists and turns in the road. We stayed at Palolem itself and it was indeed my best stay in Goa!

Palolem beach has shacks running across the beach, but it is still not very crowded. There are not that many tourists visiting here, mostly people who are staying there itself. Its beautiful at night too, when its all lighted up. A good place to have meals is the Draupadi restaurant, it had such tasty food, it was heavenly...yummmm..

The water is very clean here, though very placid. Since the beach is curved inside, its surrounded by land on almost three sides and hence does not have too many waves. Its good for swimming and safe too as its quite shallow, but not good for body surfing.

We stayed at the Palolem Beach Resort which is right at the beach itself. Was a good place to stay, and given how much we paid for it, a steal!! The hotel had a restaurant right on the beach, so you can enjoy the sound of the waves while having your meals. The breakfast spread is amazing, anything you want was available!! The rooms were good too, had everything you need without any pretentions. The hotel also had a tree-house structure, where you can just sit and stare at the sea, especially during the afternoon when its too hot to go out. This was where we sat for hours and played cards and read and slept off too!

You can spend time doing a variety of things here: walk on the beach, run, cross over during low tide to the Sundowner, which is a resort slightly secluded on a hill, and approachable only sometimes during the day when the tide is low etc etc.

One of the days, we drove to Kolva beach which is the beach for watersports. We were just so shocked with the crowds there that decided not to move out of Palolem after that:))). Anyways they had para sailing, water jet scooter as well as the banana boats there. Para sailing was great, with you getting a view of the nearby beaches as well as the Vasco town. Jet scooter was a bit of a let down though, as they dont really let you drive the scooter yourself. But you can see that its got a lot of "fun" potential.

If you walk along the Kolva beach, there are a couple of shack restaurants later on which don't allow Indians at the restaurants, only foreigners are welcome!! Return of the British Raj, it sounds like, but its true!!! They allow you to eat there and use the sunbeds only if you have white skin and otherwise not. Quite a shocker it was.

Anyways, otherwise Kolva was just a fine beach. Water was good, waves were good but the crowd wasn't. So not as much fun.

At Palolem itself, there are lot of things to do. Get a tattoo at one of the shops or from the traveling artists who approach you when you are sleeping on the sunbeds. Shop. You will notice foreigners being given preference here too, when shop keepers shoo you off on seeing a foreigner approach, asking you to give way to the new guests:))). You will also see service being given to them while the Indians being asked to "self-serve". Its very sad to see this happening, what should we do about it? Can we or can't we?

From Palolem, you can also take a boat ride to butterfly island, which you can see from the island. The boatsman takes you to 2-3 small beaches on the island and leaves you there to play in the water for sometime, and then comes and takes you to somewhere in the middle of the sea where you can get the see the sunset. Its a good couple of hours of fun. There are also lot of boatsmen offering to show you dolphins in the sea, but when I had tried it years ago, all you could ever see was the tail of some black fish while it was going down into the water. Definitely not worth it!!

Otherwise most of the things about Goa would be well known. You can hire bikes or cars and drive around from beach to beach yourself. Food especially sea food is great there. Feni is the popular locally brewed alcohol, apparently quite strong and tasty.

The menu at most of the shacks offers everything, from Indian to South Indian to Thai to Italian to Mexican to Middle Eastern! Though what they finally get for you would be very different from what you expected!! Banofie Pie is a popular dessert and not to be missed.

Service is very lax, everyone is as chilled out as you should be when near a beach:). Weather is hot most of the year round, winter of course being the best weather to visit. During monsoons, Goa is beautiful though the water is not as safe to go into. Goan music is very lively if you get a chance to hear it somewhere. Karaoke's are popular and fun too.

Beautiful white churches are strewn everywhere you drive. The towns are small and old worldly type and the people completely relaxed and chilled out. There are some casinos also organised on ferries which go into international waters for you to play legally.There are also apparently some good wildlife parks there, which somehow no one seems to care about:) as well as some famous temples also.

All in all, a great place to relax and forget everything else.

Pearl of the Orient : Hong Kong

Hong Kong is one of the two commercial city-countries of Asia, the other being Singapore. Both of them have become big commercial centres of Asia, and frankly, both of them don't even look like they are in Asia! Also, you get visa on arrival in Hong Kong, which really makes it an easy place to visit.

Hong Kong is located sort of on an island in China and partially on the mainland China. It retains some of its English heritage still, given that it was under their rule for 99 years, but its now slowly and gradually turning more Chinese. As of now though it's quite an interesting mix of the two. Also, even though its just a city with limited area, it has a lot to do, whether its sightseeing, adventure sports, trekking or loads of shopping! There is enough number and variety of things to do there to pass a couple of days there!

Hong Kong is composed of a couple of islands, the major ones being the Hong Kong island, Lantau island (on which the airport is located) and Kowloon. Hong Kong city is composed of three major areas where most of the people stay: central, midlands and the peak region. Central is where all the offices of Hong Kong as well as the malls and LKF are located. The midlands is located around Central, and then the peak area leading up to The Peak! In the Hong Kong island itself, there is the green and forested area you will encounter when you drive to Stanley. This is the sparsely inhabited region of Hong Kong.

Kowloon is not really an island, its in the northern part of the city and linked to mainland China. Its developing a lot recently and has a number of malls, residential complexes as well as the ICC tower being built there, which will be the tallest building in Hong Kong. To reach Kowloon from Central, you can either take the ferry or the metro, or just the road tunnel which goes from under the sea!! The Chinese are really way ahead in their technology than the rest of the world, you will see that a lot here.

Located between Kowloon and Hong Kong is the famous Hong Kong harbour and the harbour skyline. This is one of the most popular and famous sights of Hong Kong, where you can see most of the famous buildings of the skyline. One of them is the HSBC building which looks like it was built by a kid playing with blocks!!

There are many touristy things to do when in Hong Kong, Am just listing some of the main ones:

The Peak:

The Peak is the name given to this huge mountain facing the Hong Kong city (very innovative name, isn't it:)) ). You can go up the Peak in a tram which goes up a very steep incline and is a scary ride. The view from the Peak is amazing, of the sea and Kowloon beyond during the day and the lights in the city below at night. There are a couple of shopping stops and eating places on top of the peak too. Good for an evening out.

Lantau Island :

It is one of the closeby islands of Hong Kong and is mostly famous for the airport located on this island (on fully reclaimed land) as well as the grand Buddha statue which is located here.

You can go to the Buddha statue either by train and then by cable car or take a ferry and then a bus. The cable car runs over high mountains and is quite scary too. Also, there is a mountain track on these mountains too for trekking, in case you want to take the tougher route to the Buddha. If you take the ferry and then the bus ride, the bus ride is through very awesome and beautiful areas of the island, all green and forested and with lots of fresh air.

Once you get off the cable car, you will reach a small Chinese village which has been created for tourists. You just walk through this village to get to the Buddha statue.

The Buddha statue is huge and very impressive too. There is a museum there to spend some time reading about the history of the statue, as well as to learn about the Buddhas's life. Just next to the statue, there is a Buddhist monastery where you can interact with the monks and eat some traditional vegetarian food. The temple in the monastery is also a good place to visit.

LKF :

This is the party place of Hong Kong and a very famous one at that!! Its a small L shaped street, with pubs and restaurants on both sides and is lively till late hours in the morning. The street is full of expats most of the time and a good place to spend a weekend evening partying. Anyone and everyone you know would be there during the weekend for sure! There are lot of small and big events held here from time to time. My favorite place here was a Mexican restaurant, it has awesome food. Also, during lunch hours, there is a small restaurant here which provides vegetarian thali. Its yum, have forgotten the name of the place though!

Harbour, Ferry and Laser Show :

From Hong Kong Central you can take the Star ferry which charges just 2 HKD to cross the harbour and reach Kowloon. It gives a beautiful view of both sides of the harbour, especially during the evenings. Also, if you time your ferry well, in the evening at about 8 pm or so, you would be able to catch the laser show which happens every evening on the harbour. The view from the ferry is the best view you can get, and you should definitely try it. Its about 10-15 mins of the laser. with the famous buildings on the harbour lighting up in various colours and patterns. You can also take a ride in the dragon boats in the evening along the harbour, which offer touristy tours every evening.

Just on the Kowloon side of the harbour is the Promenade, a pathway next to the sea where tons of people descend in the evening for taking in the cool breeze of the sea. Its a nice walk with artists and photographers on the street providing entertainment to the people taking a walk there. You can also see Jackie Chan's statue on the promenade as well as the hall of fame of famous Hollywood stars etc. There are also a couple of theatres or galleries there to spend some time.

Tsim Sha Tsui :

It is an Indian area in Kowloon, where you can eat Indian food if you feel nostalgic. An area around here which is worth visiting is the CKM (Cheung King Mansion). The market here seems a bit shady though! It has small shops and a lot of them selling cheap electronics, smuggled stuff etc. Also in this area itself is the only theatre in Hong Kong which plays Hindi movies on Friday evenings.

Stanley :

It is an area slightly away from the Central Hong Kong and the drive till the Stanley beach is beautiful. There are beaches on the way where you can stop, hills for trekking and beautiful sceneries with houses scattered here and there. There are a couple of good treks out here too. At Stanley, there is a famous street market too where you can shop for cheap Chinese goods. Its another good day out option.

There are many other islands near Hong Kong, where you can go for a day out.

One such island that I went to was a lesser know island, Po Toi. We went to Stanley and then took a ferry from there to this island. It was completely uninhabited except the tasty sea food restaurant they had there. It looked completely shabby but had really tasty food. We trekked a bit there, went into the water for sometime and then were back. Quite an interesting trip!!

Macau :

The Macau island which is treated like Hong Kong as a Special Administrative Region (SAR) is located close to Hong Kong about 1 hour by ferry, or 15 mins by helicopter which is also available as an option. Like Hong Kong, you can get a visa on arrival in Macau, so that is helpful.

Macau was was also not under China but was ruled by the Portuguese for many years. It is again similar to Hong Kong in that respect that it still retains some of the architectural style of those times as well as the look and feel of place feels very international.

Macau is called the Vegas of the East, and is mostly famous for its many casinos. At night it seems like a mini Vegas and is popular among the Chinese. Its been built very grandly and you can see that in everything around the island.

The major hotels/casinos in Macau are the Venetian, Wynn, Grand etc. The Venetian was inaugurated recently and is a pleasure to visit. The theme of the hotel is Venice and it has been built on a grand scale in the Venetian style. On the outside a complete replica of the entire Piazza San Marco has been constructed.

Inside, the ambience is like the city of Venice. Grand staircases, huge paintings on the ceilings, and there is a Grand Canal within the hotel on both sides of which you have multiple shopping areas. The Canals have flowing water with gondolas and people singing in the gondolas as they do in Venice. Its just a treat to walk around the hotel and take in the beauty of the place.

The casino in the Venetian is a bit expensive though, minimum of 200 HKD per bet. Its better to play at the Wynn or Lisboa, which have a smaller bet size. Almost all the hotels in Macau have a casino, you can just walk into any of those. Play all you want, win/lose all you want and just have a good time. One point to note is that all the casinos offer free alcohol. Guess if you are losing a lot of money, you can try to make up for it from alcohol:).

Another thing to do in Macau would be to visit the Macau centre, which offers a chance to bungee jump or skywalk around the tower. The Bungee jump is a bit expensive though.

Also, at the top of the Macau Centre, is the platform which has glass on the ground. Its quite an effort to even walk there, its soo scary!

Two other places on Hong Kong which I have not gone to but have heard good reviews about are Disneyland and Waterpark. Give them a visit if you want to.

Getting Around :

Travel around Hong Kong is easy. The transfer from the airport to the city is easy, as you will directly land-up in Central or Kowloon in less than half an hour by the airport express. Once in the city, just buy the Octopus card, and it works in the buses, the trams and the metros as well as shops! The cabs are cheap too, so they are always an option. Ferries to nearby islands make for a good ride. Also you can use the escalators everywhere in the Central and Midland areas if you want to walk around a bit in the city. This is something very unique to Hong Kong that I have seen. Also most of the buildings in Central are all interconnected, so you can walk from one end to another without ever coming out in the sun! That also really helps getting around during summer.

Just try not to walk around too much around Central on a Sunday afternoon!! There are too many crowds everywhere on that day. Its the day when all the maids around the city get a day Sunday off, and they all spend their time sitting in the open and chatting and gossiping!

Shopping :

Shopping is the national pastime of Hong Kong, and Hong Kong is well endowed to cater to this hobby :). The Shenzhen area about an hour away from Hong Kong is the centre of all kind of shopping you would want to do, have heard the deals and bargains there are unheard of anywhere else. Buying clothes, shoes, bags, CDs, watches etc: everything made in China at throwaway prices. Earlier you could get a visa for Shenzhen from Hong Kong itself, but now you need to take a Chinese visa beforehand.

The famous malls of Hong Kong include the Elements in Kowloon which is a new high-end mall, recently opened. It has a lot of good brand there, as well as an ice skating rink:).

The IFC Mall in Central is another huge mall, where you can get lot of stuff to buy. Nearby only in Queens road etc, there are lot of options too.Harbour City in the Kowloon side is another good option, its one of the biggest malls in Hong Kong.

For slightly cheaper shopping, there are lot of shops near Times Square. You need to bargain a lot there though but then you can get really good deals.

In fact anywhere in Hong Kong you go, you will find a mall or some shops at least! And brands are there everywhere. In fact like most of South Asia, Hong Kong is very brand conscious, you will even notice that in the way everyone around there dresses up. Should warn you though, one problem you will face while shopping in Hong Kong is of course the size availability! Since Asian women are so petite, not getting your size can always deflate your ego:(.

General Info :

As far as weather goes, summer gets too humid in Hong Kong and its tough to go out in the afternoon. During winter it gets a bit cold and windy, but most of the times its pleasant and the best time to visit Hong Kong. Also, there is a lot of smog over Hong Kong for most of the year, which gets a bit painful and unhealthy.

Food is available in good variety across the city. If you love sea food, then Hong Kong is a haven. There are countless places offering tasty Chinese non-vegetarian food across town. Popular eating places are located mostly in Soho, LKF, Wan Chai as well as in the malls. Indian food is available at Tsim Tsha Tshui area as well as the Princes (?) street in Central.

A good place to visit would be the Aqua pub in Kowloon, it is located near the Harbour City mall. It has glass all around and gives a great view of the harbour, great ambience. Have heard it plays Bollywood music on Thursdays, not sure if it does, but you can check it out if you want. Also definitely try the French restaurant in the Four Seasons Hotel. Very expensive though but it is simply superb food!!

The best hotels to stay in Hong Kong would be the Four Seasons and the W. The W is a new and very stylish hotel recently opened close to the ICC tower in Kowloon. Its an interesting stay. Also the Four Seasons is located in Central and is quite a luxury hotel. It has one of the best views of the harbour and if you can get a harbour view room, you are quite lucky. Another positive about the Four Seasons is that the swimming pool there also has a great view of the harbour. Its quite fun to spend some time there, swimming and appreciating the scenes around.

There are many cultural events also which keep happening there regularly, like the fireworks on Hong Kong's handover day, Rugby and Cricket Sixes, Dragon Boat races etc. There are lot of exhibitions held regularly, water sports like wake boarding etc, so enough to keep you busy if you spend a longer time there. All in all, a city with a lot to offer for a short or a longer trip traveller.

The French Riviera : Nice & Cannes

Pure money, if you want to see that, the French Riviera is the place to be. The condos you drive around, the shops on the promenade, the cars, the party places, they all smell of money! Its been where the moneyed of Europe have been vacationing since ages, and so is to be expected, but still, its quite a sight!

We spent some time on the Cannes Beach. Its quite near Nice, which has an airport. The drive from Nice to Cannes is beautiful, next to the sea, ups and downs, and beautiful apartments on both sides (One day, maybe...:) ).


Its cool to be there in summer, lots of cafes, lots of sun, sit there sipping drinks and taking in the view. The beach, I did not find very impressive, but the shops, definitely! Have seen the stores in London too, but Cannes was definitely something else. We walked around a bit in the market too. (interesting to see, not as much to buy from though...!) Cannes has the annual film festival, which of course we did not get to see. But if you get a chance to be there at that time, would be fun to see the celebrities from the world descending there.

Nice was also similar. The lanes and buildings are old, and beautiful. Other than that, the only thing to spend time in Nice is on the beach. Apparently, the not so rich stay in Nice, and the very rich go to St Tropez!

We partied a bit in Nice, in a club near the beach road. The parties continue till early morning (5 am). There are enough watersports to do here, we did para sailing and banana boat (its called something like that I think). The place does get a little too hot in the summer though. The old city can be visited, did not figure out what there is to see though! If you have enough time, do visit Monaco, its about 18 miles from Nice, and the road is supposed to be scenic, and the casinos fun too.