Overview

The villa was built for Béatrice de Rothschild and completed in 1912. The interior of the villa is ornately decorated. The ground floor is step free. The villa is surrounded by themed gardens. The largest of which is the French Gardens with a fountain and classical music show every 20 minutes.

Transport & Parking

The bus number 15 from Nice stops outside the entrance to the villa grounds. From Nice take the bus 15 from Promanade des Arts opposite Théâtre National de Nice. This is near Modern and Contemporary Art Museum (MAMAC). The bus costs 1.50 euros (2020) and from Nice city centre it took about 45 minutes. The bus also serves Nice Port. The bus drops you off at the stop called "Passable - Rothschild", which is opposite the entrance to the villa grounds. On the way it is on the same side as the villa. See photos. There is also a car park in the villa grounds.

Access

From the bus stop cross over the zebra crossing and it is a 5 minute sign posted walk to the villa's entrance. The route slopes upwards. While I was walking up a man appeared in a golf buggy and offered to drive me up to the villa's entrance. He told me when I was ready to depart to make my way to the shop and ask them to call him and he would take me back down, which he did. The villa is in the process of some renovations at the moment, so my review is how I found it in February 2020. From the gift shop entrance there is another slope and then a small flight of stairs without handrail and a ramp to the villa. There is a manual door to enter the villa. This leads to an internal courtyard where there is a information desk, at standing height, to show your tickets and to collect the audio guide which is included in the admission price. The ground floor, cafe and toilets are on the ground floor and all are step free. There is nowhere to sit and rest apart from a few benches in the central courtyard, some of these are very low but there are higher ones against the walls. Upstairs is only accessible by stairs. There are 2 sets of stairs. Both only have a hand rail on the one side. One staircase is reasonably wide and the other is a spiral staircase, see photos. I think you were meant to go up the wider staircase and desend by the spiral staircase. However, I used the wider staircase both ascending and descending. Upstairs there is a small cinema, leading off the wider staircase. It's hear the top of the staircase and there is a single step into it. It has free standing chairs with back support. The film is in French with English subtitles. There are not as many grand rooms to see upstairs as some rooms have collections of china. The best thing about upstairs is the verandah which overlooks the gardens. Here there there is some seating. The cafe is on the ground floor with step free access. It has free standing tables and chairs. There is a door out to the French Garden. This is the largest garden with fountains and classical music show every 20 minutes. There are some steps or a ramp to access this part of the gardens. Off the main gardens are several smaller gardens which are only accessible by steps. Some of these steps have no handrail and are also warn down and uneven. I only explored a couple of the other gardens as I found access rather difficult.

Toilets

There was a ground floor accessible toilet in the villa. I went in and found it spacious but it did not have any grab rails. I went out again thinking I must have gone in the wrong toilet but when I checked at the receiption desk they seem surprised that I expected an accessible toilet to have grab rails. Sorry I was so annoyed I didn't go back in to photograph it and I had to wait till I got back to Nice before I could go to the toilet.

Staff

The driver was extremely helpful and so was one of the waiters in the restaurant. However I found the receiption desk staff very dismissive when I questioned their accessible toilet, plus one of the waiters in the restaurant was quite unhelpful, so I have marked the score down.

Anything else you wish to tell us?

This is a beautiful villa in attractive gardens. It's quite easy to get to by public transport from Nice. It's been on my to do list for a while and I was so glad I visited. I would say if you don't require grab rails in the toilet, and can manage the stairs or not mind if you don't see everything, then this place is well worth visiting. Both the villa and the grounds are stunning and there are beautiful views. Highly recommend.

Photos