It takes a bit of thought to get the good from the Nice beaches both public and private. The biggest hurdle to overcome is the medium – strong pebbles or ‘galets’.

The main benefit from the private beaches is the use of a proper sun lounger – bliss from the rocks. The private beaches charge about 14-18 euros a day for the lounger and about 3-5 euros for a parasol. They also cheekily charge for a towel which is usually pretty grotty and small – about 4 euros so it is better to take your own. I think that to pay for a private beach, everything should be included so that you don’t have to lug your own stuff about.

You are also not allowed to take your own food and drink onto the private beaches as they expect you to buy from their restaurants and snack bars. It can work out quite expensive for a full day on a private beach. For example, this year we paid nearly 200 euros for 4 adults and 2 children for one day on Castel beach – and that was with snacks and drinks brought to our loungers, we didn’t use the restaurant.

If you do eat in the restaurant however, I thoroughly recommend the hot goats’ cheese salad – delicious especially with a bottle of chilled rose wine. The cheapest way to eat on Castel Plage is to order the ‘special’ sandwiches – like a triple club sandwich, lightly toasted – this is served at your sunbed on a little table and you can get free water to drink by asking for a ‘carafe d’eau’ – tap water. If you just ask for water, you will be sold a bottle of ‘Bardoit’ and it is quite expensive.

Because you can set up a tab at the start of the day, it is very easy to rack up the bill by the end of the day as it is just too easy to order yet another bottle of wine or a coffee, another beer etc and you can get a sobering shock when it’s time to settle the bill.

It does feel luxurious though,  perhaps as a treat if you only have a couple of days.

A tip to cope with the pebbles – take shoes you can wear in the water. It is hard to look glamorous when you’re inching out of the sea on all fours being buffeted by the waves.

If you use the public beaches, they are free and if you buy a cup of coffee or an icecream from the snack bars of the private beaches, they will let you use their loos.

The French often turn up on the public beaches with a sarong and a book. I don’t know how they manage on the hard pebbles. We take padded mats, parasols, towels,coolbox etc etc…Our favourite pitch on the public beaches (apart from La Reserve) is alongside the railings at Castel Beach (which is my favourite private beach) There, I can gaze longingly through the picket fence at the lucky rich bods on the loungers…