Nice takes private traffic through a dedicated general-aviation terminal separate from the main airport, which is why almost every Riviera arrival routes through it. Two hours and five minutes from London on a light jet, and you are on the Promenade in fifteen minutes.
What makes Nice worth landing at rather than passing through is the onward network. The helipad handles the seven-minute hop to Monaco, twenty-five minutes to Saint-Tropez, and ten to Cannes — all of which are materially faster than the coast road between May and September, when that road stops working.
The city itself is underrated by people who treat it as transit. Le Plongeoir on the rock at Rauba-Capeu is one of the better tables on the coast, and the Vieux Nice restaurants are a fraction of Monaco prices for comparable cooking.
Nice private terminal
Arrival is through the general-aviation terminal on the north side, not the main hall. Cars come airside where permitted, luggage is handled, and the walk from aircraft to car is a few minutes. Customs and immigration are handled in the terminal.
Onward to Monaco, Cannes and Saint-Tropez
Helicopter is the sensible transfer in season: Monaco seven minutes, Cannes ten, Saint-Tropez twenty-five. By road those become forty-five, thirty and ninety-plus in August. We book the rotation with the flight rather than after it.
When to come
May to September is peak, and the Grand Prix and Film Festival weeks compress slot availability sharply. Shoulder season is genuinely easier and the sea is still warm into October.
What we arrange around the flight
Cars on both ends as standard, helicopter where the timing needs it, and the villa or suite and tables held before you land. See our Nice concierge service for what that covers on the ground.