Explore Nice

Why visit Nice

Nice is the largest city on the Côte d'Azur and its calm, sun-soaked anchor — less flashy than Monaco, less effortful than Cannes, and home to the famously theatrical Promenade des Anglais running 7km along the deep blue Bay of Angels. The Vieille Ville (old town) is a tangle of ochre-yellow buildings, six-storey balconies hung with washing, and small open-air squares where Cours Saleya hosts the city's famous flower market (and a flea market on Mondays). Climb the Castle Hill (Colline du Château) for the iconic postcard view over the curve of pebble beach and the red roofs below — the castle itself was demolished by Louis XIV in 1706, but the panoramic park, the artificial waterfall, and the Jewish and Christian cemeteries remain. Beyond that, Nice has some of the most interesting modernist museums in France: the Musée Marc Chagall (the most important collection of his biblical paintings, in a purpose-built museum he designed), the Musée Matisse on Cimiez hill (the painter spent his last years here and gifted the city his collection), and the contemporary MAMAC. The 19th-century neighbouring towns are all 30 minutes by train: Èze for the perched village, Antibes for the Picasso Museum, Monaco for the Casino — and Italy is just an hour east.