Nice: how many days you need and the best months to go

When to go, and what each month costs you

Nice has a sunny Mediterranean climate sheltered by the mountains: hot, dry summers, mild winters with bright days, and most of the rain in autumn. The months either side of the summer are the best, warm and less crowded.

1. January: Worth it, butJan
2. February: Worth it, butFeb
3. March: Worth it, butMar
4. April: Worth it, butApr
5. May: Go nowMay
6. June: Go nowJun
7. July: Worth it, butJul
8. August: Worth it, butAug
9. September: Go nowSep
10. October: Go nowOct
11. November: Worth it, butNov
12. December: Worth it, butDec

• Go now
• Worth it, but
• Think twice

• May and June

  Go now

  Warm, bright and before the peak

  Warm days, long evenings and the sea warming. The film festival in Cannes in May and the Monaco Grand Prix in early June fill the hotels of the whole coast for their weeks; the rest of the season is calmer.

• September and October

  Go now

  A warm sea and fewer people

  The sea still warm after the summer, the heat easing and the crowds gone. October can bring the first heavy autumn storms, usually brief.

• July and August

  Worth it, but

  Hot, packed and dear

  Hot, sunny days, warm nights and the beaches full. The busiest and dearest months, with jammed roads and full trains; book everything ahead and travel along the coast early.

• November to April

  Worth it, but

  Mild winter sun, and the Carnival

  Mild, often sunny days and cool nights, with rain in November. The Carnival, with its parades and battles of flowers, fills the city for two to three weeks between February and early March; its dates move every year, and the lemon festival of Menton comes at the same time. Too cool for most people to swim.

How many days Nice needs

Two days cover the city. One for the old town and the sea: the flower market, the lanes and churches of the old town, the climb to Castle Hill for the view of the bay, and the promenade at sunset. One for the hill of Cimiez and its museums of Matisse and Chagall, the Russian cathedral, and an afternoon on the beach.

Days three and four are for the coast: Monaco and the hill village of Èze, Villefranche and the Cap Ferrat peninsula, the old town of Antibes and the Picasso museum, or the perched village of Saint-Paul-de-Vence. Cannes is under an hour west.

How the city is arranged, around the Bay of Angels

Nice curves around the Bay of Angels, with the Promenade des Anglais running for miles along the shore from the airport in the west to the old town in the east. Castle Hill separates the old town from the old port; the newer city spreads inland, and the hills of Cimiez and Mont Boron rise behind.

• The old town — lanes, churches and markets at the eastern end of the bay, below Castle Hill.
• The Promenade and the centre — the seafront, the grand hotels, the gardens of the Promenade du Paillon and the shopping streets.
• The port — the old harbour east of Castle Hill, with restaurants and ferries to Corsica.
• Cimiez — the hill of villas, Roman ruins and the museums of Matisse and Chagall.
• The Musiciens quarter and the station — the nineteenth-century streets between the centre and the railway station.

Where to stay, and what each area costs you

The centre is compact: the old town, the Promenade and the station are all within a half-hour walk, and the tram links them. Stay near the sea for the beach and the views, near the station for the trains along the coast.

Prices peak in July and August, during the coast's great events — the film festival in Cannes in May and the Monaco Grand Prix in early June, whose dates move every year — and at the Nice Carnival, between February and early March. The city charges a tourist tax per person and per night.

Compare these areas against your priorities

Getting there, and getting around

Nice's airport is the busiest in France outside Paris, on the shore at the western end of the bay, linked to the centre by tram. Fast trains reach Marseille in about two and a half hours and Paris in under six; the coastal railway is the way to travel along the Riviera.

The centre is for walking, with trams across the city. Regional trains run along the coast, several times an hour in season, to Villefranche, Monaco and Menton in one direction, Antibes and Cannes in the other; buses climb to the hill villages.

• Use the trains and buses for day trips: the coastal roads jam in summer, and parking is scarce.
• The beaches are of pebbles: bring water shoes, or rent a lounger at a private beach.
• Èze and Saint-Paul-de-Vence are reached by bus; go early, before the coaches.
• Monaco is a short train ride away, a separate country, but with no border checks.

The old town, the museums and the coast

The view from Castle Hill is the way to start: a park on the hill where Nice's castle once stood, with the whole Bay of Angels on one side and the port on the other. Below it, the old town's market on the Cours Saleya sells flowers, fruit and vegetables every morning except Monday, when it becomes an antiques market.

• The Matisse Museum — the painter's work in a red villa on the hill of Cimiez, where he lived and is buried.
• The Chagall Museum — the great biblical paintings he made for a museum built for them.
• The Promenade des Anglais — miles of seafront for walking, cycling and watching the sunset.
• The Russian cathedral — an Orthodox cathedral with onion domes, built for the Russian winter colony.
• Èze — a medieval village on a rock above the sea, with an exotic garden at the top.
• Villefranche-sur-Mer — a pastel fishing port on a deep bay, a few minutes east by train.

How eating works here

Nice has its own cuisine, closer to Liguria than to Paris: a chickpea pancake baked in a wood oven, an onion and anchovy tart, the original salad of tuna, eggs and raw vegetables, a sandwich of that salad in a round bun, and stuffed vegetables. Much of it is street food, sold in the old town at lunchtime.

French hours apply: lunch from noon, dinner from half past seven. The local wine of the hills of Bellet is rare and worth ordering.

• The chickpea pancake is sold hot from the oven in the old town, cut in pieces, with black pepper.
• The real salad has no cooked vegetables: no potatoes, no green beans.
• Restaurants on the Cours Saleya cater to tourists; the side lanes are better value.
• Service is included: rounding up or a few euros is enough.

Where to eat in Nice, and what to order

Nice cooks with olive oil, chickpeas, anchovies and vegetables: a crisp chickpea pancake from the wood oven, the original salad with tuna, a tart of caramelised onions and anchovies, and a round bun soaked in olive oil. Eat in the old town, at lunch, standing up if you like.

• Socca

  What to order

  The chickpea pancake

  A thin, crisp pancake of chickpea flour, water and olive oil, baked in a wood oven on wide copper trays and cut into pieces. It is the street food of the old town, eaten hot with black pepper and a glass of rosé.

  Check it on Wikidata

• Salade niçoise

  What to order

  The original salad

  Tomatoes, raw peppers and spring onions, black olives, hard-boiled eggs, tuna or anchovies, and olive oil. The true version of Nice has no potatoes or cooked beans, and the locals are strict about it.

  Check it on Wikidata

• Pissaladière

  What to order

  The onion and anchovy tart

  A thick bread dough covered with onions cooked slowly until sweet, with anchovies and black olives on top. It is sold by the slice in the bakeries of the old town, and eaten cold or warm.

  Check it on Wikidata

• Pan bagnat

  What to order

  The salad in a bun

  A round bread bun soaked in olive oil and filled with the ingredients of the salad: tuna, egg, tomato, peppers and olives. It is the picnic of Nice, made to be eaten on the beach.

  Check it on Wikidata

Things that change the trip

1. 1Use the coastal trains for Monaco, Villefranche, Antibes and Cannes.
2. 2Climb Castle Hill early in the morning or at sunset.
3. 3Avoid the weeks of the Cannes festival and the Monaco Grand Prix unless you are going for them.
4. 4Eat the chickpea pancake hot in the old town.
5. 5Bring water shoes for the pebble beaches.
6. 6Go to Èze and Saint-Paul-de-Vence early, before the coaches.