Bruges or Nice

[clappy]

So I have now realized that my itinerary is way too packed and I must drop one place for my 2 month trip to europe. It now comes down to these two..Bruges and Nice. I know they are completely different but in your opinion which one would you rather see? For Bruges I would be taking an 8 hour train ride to get there..is it worth it? I've also heard that Nice and the beach there isn't all that great? I'd love any input!!

[me]

never been to Brugge, but have heard good things about it.

Nice left a baaad taste in my mouth. went there as a student and it turned me off from the whole Med region, i thought it'd all be like that. many years later, i visited Barcelona and discovered that not all people of that area are so difficult.

on my next Europe trip i even went to Italy, which is now my favorite country! i feel foolish that i avoided Southern Europe all those years because most French i encountered there treated me so poorly.

perhaps you'll have better luck and find that people in Nice are actually nice?

[madamtrashheap]

There's really no contest as they are both different (as you state) so it comes down to how well one fits into your itinerary over the other. Bruges is gorgeous and has lots to explore (plus Brussels, the battlefields and Ghent are nearby), Nice beaches are pebbles but I enjoy the experience (hang the cost this time!) of hiring a beach bed for the day on a private beach and enjoying beach-life that way. Totally depends on what appeals more - beach or culture.

Nice is a troublesome place (look at this post for some info pretravel.proboards1.com/index.cgi?board=Tips&action=display&n=1&thread=569 ) but not all Nicoise are bad people (there are some good people there!), it's unfortunate that David's French encounter was so horrible. At least you can visit Monaco and Cannes from here.

I just looked at your latest itinerary and the way you have it (with Bruges) is good, so unless you have to lie on the Cote d'Azur, keep it as is.