Euro 2016: A football fan’s guide to France - Part 7: Nice

Liam Happe will be enduring train strikes and mass congestion to check out each of the 10 participating stadiums at Euro 2016 in the first two weeks of the tournament.

Each ground and its surrounding area will be judged on five criteria and rated on a total possible score of 50.

Heading out for the latter stages of the tournament? Considering taking in an extra game while already out here? Or, simply flirting with the idea of hopping across the channel for a league match next season that’ll somehow still cost less than visiting your local Premier League club? Here’s the lowdown.

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Another new build of several at Euro 2016 - as is the norm for tournament bids, these days - the Allianz Riviera in Nice holds just 35,624. Its regular footballing tenants, OGC Nice, finished an impressive fourth in Ligue 1 in 2015-16.

On this particular day it played host to the first real one-sided victory of the tournament, as Spain struck twice in as many minutes against Turkey before another in the second half gave us our first three-goal tally (and three-goal victory) so far.

ACCESSIBILITY: 5/10

Up in the Northwest corner of the area, the stadium is easier to access from Saint Augustin station than Nice City (Gare de Ville). Long and winding roads make a pub crawl approach difficult. Buses were frequent but poorly signposted. Taxis no doubt make a killing whenever a game is held here.

SURROUNDING AREA: 8/10

On the other hand, if you’re going to struggle to get to a ground, you may as well do it surrounded by the beautiful, picturesque and sun-kissed holiday resort settings of Nice. Many Spain and Turkey fans were having a wonderful afternoon, topping up their fans and sipping beer with several hours before the game, from the city centre to the coastal promenade to the outskirts of the arena.

FOOD/DRINK: 5/10

Unfortunately, you are well advised to fill up on food in the centre or on the beachfront before you head for the game - not just because you’ll need all the energy you can store up, but because options closer to the ground are very slim. Drinks vendors are a little less rare, but one would suspect both these sets of fans could have created far more buzz outside the ground before kick-off if they were stocked up with snacks and refreshments, as other stadia have done quite well so far.

INSIDE THE STADIUM: 7/10

Stade de Nice (as UEFA insist on calling it, due to avoiding commercial stadium titles) is as beautiful on the inside as Nice itself is outside the ground. The view from three quarters of the stadium is excellent - so make sure you’re not stuck with third-tier nosebleeds or, if in with the more vocal contingents of one of the nations, make sure yours is behind the goal and not in the corner.

ATMOSPHERE: 8/10

Finally, the structure of the stadium captures the decibels wonderfully - which as discussed in previous instalments, isn’t always the case for relatively-new builds. For that reason alone, this has to be considered a good choice for one of the 10 participating arenas.

TOTAL: 33/50

Other scores so far

Stade de France, Saint Denis: 37/50 - read the review

Stade Bollaert-Delelis, Lens: 36/50 - read the review

Stade Pierre-Mauroy, Lille: 34/50 - read the review

Parc Olympique Lyonnais, Lyon: 34/50 - read the review

Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, Saint-Etienne: 35/50 - read the review

Parc des Princes, Paris: 30/50 - read the review