© Ali Shayler
© Ali Shayler
© Ali Shayler
A short leisurely hike near Coco beach
One of the shorter & more accessible Sentier Littoral walks
This is the shortest and most easily accessible of the Sentier Littoral walks; making it easy to fit into a quiet afternoon when you want to escape the hustle and bustle of Nice town.
The Coco-Beach restaurant was founded in 1936 by Jean-Baptiste Coco. Around 1930, JB Coco was a sponge wholesaler which he imported untreated from Greece and Italy. He would was the sponges in his shack next to the sea where his restaurant lies today. The locals would come to watch him work and he started grilling fish for them, to be washed down with rose.
At the end of the Second World War, English sailors based in Nice and American Sailors based in Villefranche sur mer came to see Coco, who made them pan bagnat, and grilled the fish he had caught. This made Coco Beach very popular and became part of Nice history.
What to bring
IGN map 3742OT is recommended for this walk
Directions
The route starts just after the Port at Jardin Felix Rainaud on Avenue Jean Lorraine; it’s not so much a garden as a small lookout point shaded by pine trees and popular with anglers.
You’ll immediately see the path heading off to the west, skirting round the rocky coves of Coco Beach. Look up to your left and you’ll see the blue canopy of the restaurant of the same name, opened by Jean-Baptiste Coco in 1936.
The path is easy to follow and it’s impossible to stray and get lost; there are small detours here and there that take you around mini-peninsulars but they all rejoin the main path.
Keep an eye out for dolphins, they can sometimes be spotted once you get a bit further away from the beaches! There are information boards along the route showing you which creatures and plants to look for in the area, they are in French but with pictures so you can figure it out.
The signpost at the start of the walk also references the Basse Corniche and Mont Boron; they are not signposted after this point though and you have to leave the coastal path via a long steep flight of stairs to get to them, so they can done as a separate hike if you don’t have time.
Shortly after this turn-off there is another staircase leading down to a rather ugly concrete bathing platform with ladders leading to the water. You can’t go any further than this point and as it is the least attractive part of the walk we recommend turning back once it comes into view. It also seems to be a unofficial nudist sunbathing spot, primarily frequented by leathery old men - which is why we haven’t included any photos of it!
