Gare de Nice Ville

I have never experienced ruder service in my life, and the person in the information booth should never have been placed in a public facing service position.
The dialogue was more or less the following:
Me: Good day! Do you speak English?
Her: BONJOUR!
Me (thinking that was a bit loud): Would you …
Her: BONJOUR!
Me: … Ehh…
Me (thinking the reply was negative and trying my best to speak something resembling French): c’est possible de chercher .
Her (cutting me off again): BONJOUR!
Me (finally getting it!): Bonjour, madame!
(Now, I hoped, I could finally try to ask her something). Unfortunately she kept on being arrogant and quite unwilling to help us with our inquiry on whether we could buy tickets on the train or if we had to do it at the station. She also had no interest in giving us tips on where to go to swim. We had no choice but leaving without any information at all, wasting ten minutes waiting in line to get shouted at. The next tourists in line seemed even more frightened than us, at least. And I heard her shouting at them as well while I went in the other direction …
This experience was very new to us, having traveled in various countries on four continents, without any similar experience. If there had just been a language barrier, that would have been OK, and we could probably worked something out using my extremely poor French and some sign language. But she did understand (some) English, and was simply refusing to serve unless we followed her rules of dialogue, which obviously included that all tourists needed to start a conversation with «Bonjour».
For someone being payed to serve the customers — national or international — this behavior is simply unacceptable! She might have had a bad day, but that does not mean she is entitled to yell at the customers when they are not native to the culture. Shortly after we left another non-​French customer was given the same treatment. That her colleague did not react at all was just as bad.
I think this shows the need for some cultural guidelines or training to be given to the service staff. The world is not French. But a smile and helpful service is always welcome in all cultures. Public rail in France already has a lousy reputation when it comes to service (google «bad service sncf») and this just further strengthens the impression of a sector where job security is so good that you can do your worst and still keep your job.

J’ai passé très peu de temps dans cette gare, juste le temps de la traverser pour en sortir arrivée à Nice, puis y entrer une semaine plus tard. Mais la 1ère impression que j’en ai eue, c’est une sensation de confinement et d’étouffement dans ce lieu qui me semble pourtant très fréquenté… Pas terrible question confort donc.
Autre chose, j’ai eu un peu de mal à trouver la direction du tram en sortant, certes j’ai vite fini par trouver mon chemin (il suffit de suivre le mouvement en fait), mais je pense qu’un meilleur fléchage serait le bienvenu.

Chaotic and in serious need of it’s pending renovation. Trains are almost always late. The facility is old, which i dont mind, but is dirty as well.
There are pick pockets and bums lingering not only outside, but also inside the facility. Why? Because the security personnel just looks the other way and appears to be miserable at his job.
Additionally, no escalators leading to platforms B C nor D? Are you kidding me? Try lugging 2 large pieces of luggage up and down the stairs to get to your platform.
I expect facilities like this in Bushwick Brooklyn, not Nice France.

Bahnhof Nizza. Wer nicht mit seinem eigenen Bentley nach Monaco oder Saint Tropez reisen möchte und wer gerade seinen Helikopter verliehen hat, der kann auch ab Nizza den Zug nehmen. Zwei Personen bezahlen für einmal Monaco hin und zurück 15,20 €, das ist weniger als die Taxifahrt vom Boulevard Anglais zum Gare Nice Ville. Der Bahnhof ist etwas überlaufen an diesem Dienstagvormittag, das liegt aber auch daran, dass zu wenige Urlauber die unkomplizierten Fahrscheinautomaten nutzen möchten.Züge nach Monaco fahren etwa alle halbe Stunde und es ist denkbar einfach alles zu finden.

Chaotic and undergoing renovation. I remember that my experience a decade ago was also marred by hassle and chaos. The ticket machines have no English options. This wasn’t too bad for me, as I can get around with basic French, but I saw several visitors struggling to make purchases only to fail in their selections and have to start over again. As a result, the lines for the ticket machines were irritatingly long. The lines for in-​person purchase were also very long. Get here with some extra time if you don’t already have your tickets!
The cruelty of what I’ve outlined above is that, as another reviewer has pointed out, no one is checking the tickets. I’ve noticed that this is the case for many train stations in Southern France and Italy. Gare de Nice Ville, you make being honest a real chore!

Gare de Nice Ville is the main train station for Nice. It is currently under renovation. There are many restaurants nearby and on-​site restaurants, convenience stores, & snack machines but I could not find the waiting area. I was instructed by Gare de Nice Ville staff to arrive about ½ hour before scheduled departure but the train did not board until about 10 minutes before scheduled departure so dozens of people were just standing around. Hopefully the renovated train station will have a waiting area with some seats.

C’est le genre de gare le moins pratique du Monde pour plusieurs raisons :
— il y a très peu de bus et surtout pas de métro pour aller de la gare vers le reste de la ville. De surcroit, la gare n’est pas relié à la ligne de tramway et on est en pente. Ce qui fait que vous allez galérer grave.
— la photo est trompeuse, il y a énormément de travaux devant la gare qui limite vos possibilités de marcher facilement. On né voit pas la rue depuis la gare.
— il n’y a pas de taxis, mais vraiment pas ! La station de taxi la plus proche se trouve au fin fond de la rue à environ 300 mètres de la gare. Puis, de surcroit, les taxis né s’arrêtent pas devant la gare donc à vous de vous démerdez pour amener toutes vos valises. Ah oui aussi les taxis niçois choisissent leurs clients donc si votre hôtel est jugé trop proche, ils vous refuseront. La plupart des taxis niçois né mettent pas leur compteur en route et vous impose le prix de 15 € pour vous amener à destination. Une belle arnaque…
— la gare est extrêmement petite, la gare est vraiment petite … Il y a des queues interminables bref de quoi vous faire péter un câble.
— il y a peu de commerces à l’intérieur de la gare, seulement une parodie de bureau de tabac et une sandwicherie vendant de la junk food française complétement dégueulasse !
Bref, une gare chiante dans une ville ennuyeuse où ya rien à faire, mais bon c’est Nice !

I was in Nice for a few days and used the station a bit. It was pretty easy to navigate and to ask for help in English. The trains were usually packed because it is surrounded by Cannes and Monaco, but the great thing is if you have a Eur Rail pass or local, you do not need a ticket, they did not even check me! The ticketers kept saying since it is local, you do not need a ticket, but they will print out train times for you so you can plan your day (s) ahead. Very helpful and loved this station!