After the rainiest March in Nice history, the sun finally shone through for Easter Sunday, the weekend when the plagistes of Nice arrange their lounge chairs on the pebbles and open their kitchens for business. That’s not to say that dining en plein air is an option every lunchtime on all beaches! Some beach restaurants are open all year for lunch but most will now stick to weekend meals only until sunny weather becomes the norm.

Anyway, the beaches are still undergoing the pre-season primping process. During the winter, the beaches erode substantially, especially in the center. Before tourists drag their towels and paraphernalia onto the beach, the pebbles need to be replaced. That’s what’s happening now. A large machine is spreading around 15,000 cubic meters of galets (pebbles) on the beaches to widen and level the terrain. Where do they come from? The municipality of Nice buys the pebbles from the more mountainous parts of the region and don’t think that rocks are free! The budget for new pebbles this year is €550,000, including transport and positioning on Nice beaches .