Things to do in Nice

Neighborhood · Old town, east end of the Promenade

A dense grid of tall ochre Italianate buildings and narrow lanes, with a flower and produce market running through the middle of it.

Local tip: The Cours Saleya market is flowers and produce on most mornings and antiques on Mondays. Eat socca standing up at Chez Thérésa rather than sitting down anywhere on the square — that is what it is for.

Nature · Above the old town

The castle hill between the old town and the port — a wooded park with a waterfall, ruins and the definitive view along the Baie des Anges.

Local tip: There is a free lift from the eastern end of the Promenade that almost no visitor uses, saving the climb entirely. Go for sunset and walk down through the old town afterwards.

Landmark · The whole seafront

Seven kilometres of seafront boulevard with the blue chairs, built originally for wintering English visitors in the nineteenth century.

Local tip: The pebble beach is public along most of its length despite the private concessions — look for the plage publique markers. Swimming shoes are not affectation here; the pebbles are large and the shelf drops steeply.

Culture · The hill north of the centre

A quiet residential hill with Roman ruins, an olive grove, and two of the best single-artist museums in France.

Local tip: The Chagall museum's Biblical Message cycle is the strongest thing in the city and takes under an hour. The Roman arena and the olive grove around Matisse's museum are free and are where locals actually spend a Sunday.

Nature · 60–90 km north, in the Alps

A national park of high peaks, glacial valleys and thousands of Bronze Age rock engravings, an hour and a half from the beach.

Local tip: The train from Nice up the Roya valley is one of the great European rail journeys and gets you into the mountains without a car. Snow and sea on the same day is not a marketing line here — in spring it is simply true.

Nature · 10 km east

A Belle Époque villa with nine themed gardens on a peninsula, and a coastal footpath that circles the whole headland.

Local tip: The villa is worth a ticket, but the free sentier du littoral around Cap Ferrat is the better experience — a well-made coastal path with swimming spots, reachable by bus, and almost entirely unvisited compared with the beaches in town.