Nice holidays

How to reach Nice

Flight time: Flights to Nice from London take about 2 hours, with direct flights also available from other major UK airports.

Transfer time: From Nice Côte d'Azur Airport, frequent buses depart for all main destinations along the coast, including central Nice, taking around 20 minutes to reach the city centre.

Price: A bus ticket from the airport to the city centre costs €1.70. Taxis are plentiful and cost about €25–32 to the centre.

Best time to visit Nice

Consider how much you enjoy the heat and crowds before booking your trip.

March to May: Spring is one of the best times to visit Nice. The weather is warm but not too hot, with temperatures ranging from 15°C to 25°C. Rainfall is moderate, about 30-40mm per month, and you can expect around 8-10 hours of sunshine daily.

June to August: Nice can be dauntingly crowded and stiflingly hot (often hitting 30°C) in summer, but the energy of the city is fantastic. Expect long days with up to 12 hours of sunshine and very little rain.

September to November: Autumn offers a more relaxed atmosphere with temperatures cooling to between 15°C and 25°C though there are still 7-9 hours of sunshine daily. Rainfall increases to around 50-70mm per month.

December to March: Winter in Nice is extremely mild compared to the UK. Average temperatures range from 5°C to 15°C. Rainfall is around 40-60mm per month, and there are 5-7 hours of sunshine daily. The carnival in February brings in vast crowds.

Practical information

• Spoken languages: French is the official language in Nice, although being close to the border with Italy means that Italian is widely spoken, as is English.

• Local habits and customs: At restaurants you only need to leave an additional cash tip if you feel you have received service out of the ordinary, since restaurant prices always include a service charge.

• Currency: The Euro (€) is used in Nice. ATMs are widely available, and credit cards are accepted almost everywhere.

• Getting around: A single tram line loops in a “V” shape from the northern suburbs through the city centre to the northeastern suburbs, while buses run a frequent service until early evening. You can buy tickets from machines at tram stops using coins or credit cards.

• Electricity and plug types: Voltage is officially 230V, using plugs with two round pins. UK travellers will need an adaptor.

• Time zone: Nice is in the Central European Time (CET) zone, which is 1 hour ahead of GMT. Daylight Saving Time is observed from the last Sunday in March to the last Sunday in October.

Best things to do in Nice

The capital of the Riviera and fifth-largest city in France, Nice boasts wonderful street life and excellent shopping, eating and drinking, while its museums are a treat for art lovers.

Viewpoints and panoramas

• Parc de la Colline du Château: For initial orientation, with brilliant sea and city views, fresh air and a cooling waterfall, head for these ancient ruins. It’s a bit of a climb, but you can take an elevator part way up.

The best districts

• Old Town (Vieux Nice): From the flower market at dawn to bar-hopping in the early hours, Nice’s mellow, Mediterranean heart buzzes with street life night and day.

• Promenade des Anglais: The point where the Paillon flows into the sea marks the start of the famous palm-fringed promenade, lined with some of the most fanciful architecture on the Côte d’Azur.

• Cimiez: Nice’s northern suburb, Cimiez, has always been posh, punctuated by vast belle époque piles, many of them former hotels such as the gargantuan Hôtel Régina, built for a visit by Queen Victoria.

Museums

• Musée Chagall: Custom-built to house Marc Chagall’s Biblical Message paintings, the Musée Chagall is unmissable for fans of the artist’s work.

• Musée National du Sport: Spanning the 16th century to the present, the focus is on French sport, but many of the artefacts – from Marcel Cerdan’s boxing gloves and Yannick Noah’s tennis racquet to the football used in the 1998 World Cup – have international resonance.

• Musée Matisse: Fine collection with work from every period, including an almost complete set of his bronze sculptures and sketches for one of the Dance murals.

Parks and gardens

• Phoenix Parc Floral de Nice: Situated near the airport, the centrepiece here is one of the largest greenhouses in Europe, with six different tropical zones.

Historical monuments

• Russian Orthodox Cathedral: Not only one of the largest Eastern Orthodox cathedrals in Western Europe, this is also the most gilded, elaborate edifice in the city.

• Negresco Hotel: One of the great surviving European palace hotels, still independently run and with an interior that is both opulent and occasionally downright odd. Want to stay here? It’ll certainly cost you a pretty penny.

Day trips from Nice

• Niçois villages: Explore craggy Peillon and unspoiled Lucéram, the villages perchés of Nice’s wild and underpopulated hinterland, where locals still live off the land, producing olives, goat’s cheese, herbs and vegetables.

• Monaco: Experience Monaco’s status as an independent principality up close by watching the changing of the guard in front of the Palais Princier; alternatively, you could try and break the bank at the world’s most famous casino.

Activities for families in Nice

Nice holidays can be enjoyed by all the family, with activities ranging from beaches and parks to zoos and fantastically scenic train rides.

• Aquariums and zoos: Phoenix Parc Floral de Nice is a cross between a botanical garden, bird-and-insect zoo and theme park, with everything from Mediterranean and acid-tolerant plants to caimans, wallabies and free-flying exotic birds, all grouped around a lake with fountains.

• Train rides: The Chemins de Fer de Provence runs one of France’s most scenic and fun railway routes, the line running up the Var Valley into the hinterland of Nice to Digne-les-Bains, climbing through spectacular scenery as it goes.

• Beaches: Those with kids should hit Nice’s beaches, which are plentiful: a lesser-known favourite is La Réserve tucked away to the east of Nice town in the port area, while Ruhl Plage along the Promenade des Anglais is a great choice for families, and also has lifeguards.

Free things to do in Nice

Nice may be one of the most expensive destinations in southern France but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t plenty of free entertainment to be had.

• Walk Old Nice: The real magnet of Vieux Nice is the cours Saleya, and on summer nights, cafés and restaurant tables fill the cours to create the Riviera’s most animated free show.

• Visit the markets: Cours Saleya is the site of the city’s main market, where there are gorgeous displays of fruit, vegetables, cheeses and sausages – along with cut and potted flowers and scented plants.

• Beaches: Nothing shouts a freebie like a beach and Nice has plenty: the main beach stretches west of Le Château along the shores of the Baie des Anges and is backed by the promenade des Anglais.

• Festivals: Of Nice’s many festivals, several are free, including the celebrated Mardi Gras Carnival and associated flower processions in February, and the Ironman France Nice in June, when competitors from all around the world swim 3.8km in the Baie des Anges, cycle 180km in the hills behind the city and run 42km, ending up along the promenade des Anglais.

Nature and outdoor activities

The coast is your obvious adventure playground but head inland and there are marvellous pursuits to be enjoyed, not least hiking, but perhaps more surprisingly, skiing.

• Water sports: The sea here is warm and placid and there are plenty of places where you can rent equipment, be it for scuba diving, snorkelling, kayaking or stand-up paddleboarding. The western suburb of Saint-Laurent-du-Var is where kitesurfers gather.

• Hiking: Inland, and north of Nice, the Parc National du Mercantour is a true hiking mecca, the park crossed by numerous paths, equipped with refuge huts that provide basic food and bedding for trekkers. Closer to the city, the Parc du Mont-Boron trail is one of the area’s most beautiful and well-appointed, spanning almost 57 hectares of natural woods and signposted walkways.

• Cycling: Nice’s on-street bicycle rental scheme, Vélo Bleu, has 175 rental stations scattered throughout the city, extending into Cagnes-sur-Mer and St Laurent-du-Var.

• Fishing: As you’d expect, the waters here are rich in all kinds of fish species, so why not have a go at a catch yourself; plenty of local fishermen offer their services, with all equipment provided.

Local dishes in Nice

Holidays to Nice are quite likely to revolve around food. From socca to salade niçoise, the city has a culinary heritage all its own and you can eat as well here as any city in France. Moreover, Nice is as good a place as any in Europe to find cheap, simple but delicious street food.

Some typical dishes

• Salade Niçoise: Ubiquitous salad comprising tomatoes, hard-boiled eggs, Niçoise olives, anchovies and tuna, all perfectly dressed in olive oil.

• Ravioles: Ravioli is a classic Niçois dish, often stuffed with blette – Swiss chard – and daube, served with a splash of meaty daube sauce.

• Pissaladière: A sort of Provençal variation on pizza, this flat tart was developed in Nice and consists of bread dough topped with caramelised onions, sometimes with olives and anchovies too.

Meat dishes

• Daube de boeuf: Provence’s winter warmer is a beef stew enriched with red wine and seasoned with juniper, orange peel and chopped bacon.

Fish and seafood dishes

• Bouillabaisse: This fishermen’s stew from Marseille is the most famous of all Provençal seafood dishes – at its best it’s utterly delicious.

• Loup de Mer: Sea bass, simply grilled and served with fresh herbs and lemon.

Street food

• Socca: Best eaten hot and fresh from the pan, this Niçois chickpea pancake is perfect street food – simple, wholesome and tasty.

• Pain fougasse: A finger-shaped bread that may contain olives, anchovies, sausage, cheese or bacon.

• Pan bagnat: This sandwich of choice is a delicious mix of tuna, hard-boiled egg and bitter mesclun salad leaves drizzled with oil.

Sweets and desserts

Calissons are lozenge-shaped sweets made from almonds and candied lemon and are perfect with a strong espresso; while a tarte tropézienne is a cream-filled brioche that originated in nearby Saint-Tropez.

Local drinks

• Pastis: Provence is the homeland of pastis, an aniseed-flavoured spirit traditionally served with a bowl of olives before meals.

• Bandol Rosé: Rosé is the characteristic wine of the coast, perfect on a warm summer’s night with seafood and a seat on the terrace.