As a pub crawl team ourselves, we spend most of our time thinking about nightlife in Albania.

From Tirana to Vlorë and now further afield, our job is pretty simple: bring travellers together, show them a great night out, and make sure they leave with more friends and memories than they arrived with. So when the opportunity came to visit Nice, France, we couldn’t resist doing what any pub crawl team would do and check out the competition.

Nice has a surprisingly diverse pub crawl scene. There isn’t just one way to experience the city at night, and after trying different options, we came away with plenty of ideas, a lot of respect for the teams operating there, and a few thoughts on what makes a truly great pub crawl.

Nice has a serious nightlife scene

The first thing that stood out to us was just how naturally Nice works for a pub crawl.

The Old Town is packed with bars, the streets are walkable, the international crowd is huge during the summer, and there is a constant flow of travellers looking to meet people and go out.

For a visitor, though, that can also create a problem.

There are so many options that knowing where to go, which bars are actually busy, which clubs will let you in, and how to put the whole night together can be difficult.

That’s exactly where a good pub crawl should come in.

We tried more than one

One of the things we liked about Nice was the variety between operators.

The Original Nice Free Pub Crawl offers a more traditional backpacker-style experience, taking guests through several bars in the Old Town before finishing at a nightclub. It’s a straightforward way of meeting other travellers without committing to a more expensive ticket.

We liked the simplicity.

The slight downside, from our perspective, is that the experience can feel more dependent on the atmosphere of the particular night. That’s something every pub crawl operator knows a route that works brilliantly on Saturday can feel very different on a quieter evening.

We also looked at Nice Party Life, which puts more emphasis on free shots, drink discounts and getting guests into the nightlife quickly. Their route and format make sense for travellers who primarily want a classic party night.

Again, the main thing we’d change would be adding even more structured interaction between guests. For us, the social side is just as important as the bars themselves. A great pub crawl shouldn’t simply move a group of strangers from one venue to another — it should turn those strangers into a group.

Then we found Pub Crawl Nissa

The experience that really caught our attention was Nice Bar Crawl - Orange / Yellow - Pub Crawl Nissa.

What immediately stood out was the fact that they have developed two different experiences rather than trying to make one crawl work for everybody.

Their Yellow team is designed around a more social experience, with games, introductions and a slower route through the bars. Their Orange team is aimed more towards people who simply want to party, move quickly and get onto the dance floor.

That is smart.

Anyone who runs pub crawls knows that a group of solo backpackers looking to make friends isn’t necessarily looking for the same night as a group of friends who have arrived in Nice ready to party until sunrise.

Giving people a choice makes the experience feel much more personal.

The Yellow experience includes several bars, free shots, games and VIP club entry, while Orange focuses on a faster-paced party atmosphere with bars and a club finish. (Pub Crawl Nissa)

What we particularly liked

There were three things we think Pub Crawl Nissa gets right.

1.⁠ ⁠They understand that not everyone wants the same night

This might sound obvious, but it’s something many pub crawls overlook.

Some people want drinking games and conversations.

Others want loud music, dancing and a fast-moving party.

Pub Crawl Nissa has built separate experiences around those personalities rather than expecting one format to suit everyone.

2.⁠ ⁠They make the club finish part of the experience

A pub crawl can lose momentum if the night simply ends after the last bar.

Having a planned club finish gives the group somewhere to go together and keeps the night moving.

That’s particularly important in a city like Nice, where travellers often want to continue partying well into the early hours.

3.⁠ ⁠They put real effort into the social side

The Yellow experience particularly stood out to us because of its focus on games and meeting people rather than simply drinking

That’s something we strongly believe in at TiranaSZN too.

A good pub crawl isn’t really about the shots.

The shots are fun.

The bars are fun.

The clubs are fun.

But the reason people remember the night six months later is usually the people they met.

What TiranaSZN took away from Nice

Visiting another nightlife destination is a good reminder that there isn’t one perfect formula for a pub crawl.

Nice has its own personality.

Tirana has its own personality.

Vlorë has its own personality.

The best operators are the ones who understand the city they’re operating in rather than simply copying a route from somewhere else.

That’s probably the biggest thing we took from the trip.

At TiranaSZN, our goal has always been to create something that feels social first and touristy second. We want solo travellers to arrive without knowing anybody and leave with a group of friends.

That’s why seeing other teams experimenting with different formats was genuinely useful for us.

And if you’re heading to Nice, we’d definitely recommend checking out the local pub crawl scene rather than trying to figure everything out yourself.

If we had to pick one experience to check out after our trip, Pub Crawl Nissa would be high on our list.

You can check out their current Nice Pub Crawl experiences and see whether Yellow or Orange is more your style.

And if your next trip is taking you in the opposite direction towards Albania you can find us at TiranaSZN Pub Crawl, where we’re bringing the same obsession with great people, great nightlife and unforgettable nights to Tirana.

Final verdict

We went to Nice expecting to compare pub crawls.

We left with something more useful: ideas.

There are things we would do differently, things we would borrow, and things that reminded us why we started TiranaSZN in the first place.

Because ultimately, the best pub crawl isn’t necessarily the one with the most bars or the most shots

it’s the one where a group of strangers walks into the first bar…

…and walks out of the last club feeling like they’ve known each other all night.