Nice
Currency
EUR
Language
French
Timezone
Paris
Continent
Europe
Discover Nice
Nice was Italian until 1860 and the old town still shows it: ochre fronts, washing at the windows, narrow lanes opening onto the Cours Saleya and its flower market. Above, the Colline du Château has no castle left but keeps the view over the Baie des Anges and an artificial waterfall. The Place Masséna, chequer-paved and edged in Pompeian red, joins the old town to the modern centre. The Cathédrale orthodoxe russe de Saint-Nicolas, the largest outside Russia, recalls the aristocracy that wintered here. The Musée Matisse and the Musée Marc Chagall hold the hill of Cimiez, and the Palais Lascaris keeps a baroque interior intact.
When to go
May, June and September: twenty-five degrees, a sea at twenty-two in September, and without the August crowd. July and August are hot and full, the pebbles of the Promenade des Anglais covered by nine in the morning. Winter is mild, around thirteen degrees, and February brings the Carnival. Spring is the best moment for the hinterland, before the hill villages fill.
Getting around
The tram links the airport to the centre in half an hour and serves the Place Masséna. The old town and the Promenade are walked. The coastal trains, very cheap, reach Monaco in twenty minutes and Menton in forty — the best way to see the Riviera without a car. Public bicycles cover the seafront. Parking in the centre is an expensive problem.
Where to eat
Socca, a chickpea pancake baked over wood, is eaten standing and scalding at the market. Pissaladière, an onion and anchovy tart, and petits farcis are the other pillars. Salade niçoise has never contained potato or green bean according to the Niçois, and the subject is not open here. Pan-bagnat is the beach lunch. Five halal addresses are listed.
Good to know
The euro is the currency. The beach is pebble, not sand: swimming shoes change the stay. The Carnival and the Cannes Festival in May fill hotels along the whole coast. Two sites and museums are free, and the municipal museums share a single ticket. And the Promenade des Anglais carries a memorial to the 2016 attack; the place is busy and discretion is due.
Where to Stay in Nice
Top Activities in Nice
landmarkCathédrale orthodoxe russe de Saint-Nicolas
museumMusée des Beaux Arts
landmarkCathédrale Sainte-Réparate
landmarkNice-Ville
landmarkOpéra de Nice
museumMusée Marc Chagall
museumMusée d'art moderne et d'art contemporain
museumMusée Matisse
landmarkPalais Lascaris
landmarkNice Riquier
landmarkÉglise Sainte-Jeanne-d'Arc
landmarkBasilique Notre-Dame
landmarkDiocèse de Nice
landmarkMonument aux morts de Rauba-Capèu
landmarkBibliothèque Raoul Mille
museumMuseum d'Histoire Naturelle
landmarkChapelle de la Visitation
landmarkGrotte préhistorique du Lazaret
landmarkVilla Furtado-Heine
landmarkÉglise Saint-Nicolas et Sainte-Alexandra
landmarkSynagogue de Nice
museumMusée Terra Amata
museumEspace Lympia
Free
museum