12 Things to Do in Nice
Nice packs a genuine lived-in city and a Riviera resort into one walkable seafront, which is exactly why a first trip can feel scattered. Here is the short list that actually matters, in the order most people should tackle it.
1. Walk the Promenade des Anglais. Seven kilometers of curved seafront, free and always open, funded originally by the English winter colony in the 1820s. A 20 to 30 minute stroll covers the central stretch. The famous blue chairs were pulled for restoration in spring 2026 and reinstalled in stages from May, so confirm before you plan a photo around them.
2. Get lost in Vieux Nice. The old town below Castle Hill is a warren of pastel facades, baroque churches (Sainte-Reparate is the standout), and socca stalls. Go before 10am for the quiet, come back after dark for the lantern-lit version.
3. Take the free lift up Castle Hill. There has been no castle since 1706, but the Colline du Chateau park hands you the best panorama over the bay and the old town, plus a waterfall and two atmospheric historic cemeteries. The free public lift saves the stair climb, and the view is identical either way.
4. Do the Cours Saleya market early. Flowers and produce Tuesday through Sunday, roughly 6am to 1:30pm; on Mondays the whole square flips to an antiques and flea market. Arrive by 9am for the best of it.
5. Eat socca, done right. The chickpea-flour pancake baked in a wood-fired oven is the city’s signature street food. Chez Pipo in Vieux Nice is the best-known name, around 12 EUR a plate, and the Cours Saleya stalls do a cheaper version. Skip any salade nicoise served with boiled potato or green beans: the authentic recipe has neither.
6. Cross Place Massena. The grand checkerboard square is the hub between old town, Promenade, and modern city. Come back after dark when Jaume Plensa’s seven seated figures are lit.
7. Visit the Matisse Museum in Cimiez. The largest public Matisse collection sits in a 17th-century villa near the Roman ruins, 12 EUR, closed Tuesdays. Pair it with the monastery gardens and the Roman arena in one Cimiez half-day.
8. Visit the Chagall Museum, separately. This is a common mix-up: the Chagall Museum is a different institution near the centre, not in Cimiez with Matisse. It holds the Biblical Message cycle, 8 EUR, free the first Sunday of the month. (MAMAC, the modern-art museum, is closed for renovation until 2028, so do not count on it.)
9. Step inside the Russian Orthodox Cathedral. Five onion domes, the largest such cathedral outside Russia, built in 1912 for the Belle Epoque Russian colony. Modest dress; it is still a working church.
10. Wander Port Lympia and Rauba-Capeu. The harbor’s pastel Genoese facades are a quieter register than the Promenade, and the clifftop war memorial at Rauba-Capeu is a free viewpoint most visitors walk right past.
11. Swim off the pebble beaches. Nice’s beaches are pebble and shingle, not sand, so pack water shoes and a thick mat. The trade-off is genuinely clearer water, and several beaches hold Blue Flag status.
12. Climb Mont Boron for the bigger view. A 1.5 to 2.5 hour round-trip forest hike east of the port, with a 16th-century fort and sweeping views from Cap Ferrat to the Esterel. Prefer the sea to legwork? A short Baie des Anges boat trip runs about 20 to 35 EUR.
That is a comfortable four days without leaving the city. Read more in the full Nice travel guide , or map it out with the 2-day Nice itinerary .