Nissa la Bella, or Nice the Beautiful, is a French city located between the Principality of Monaco and the world-renown city of Cannes. Lying on the breath-taking Côte d'Azur, Nice is the capital of the Alpes Maritimes department and is the 5th most populous city in France.
This city has plenty to offer and it is a great focal point for anyone who wants to discover the beautiful areas of the French Riviera.
For the days you’ll spend exploring Nice, here are a few areas that everyone needs to visit.
The majority of all the need-to-see spots could be divided into 6 main areas. Those are (moving from South to North) Promenade des Anglais, Vieille Ville, the Port and Place Garibaldi, Avenue Jean Medecin with Place Masséna, Liberation and Cimiez. These areas can be both obvious and less apparent to those who have already made their research about the city, so let me explain, why are these places worth your visit.
Maybe the most iconic landmark in Nice is the Promenade des Anglais. 8 km long walk, stretching along the pebble-stone filled beach is the perfect place to spot both the sunrise and the sunset and is also the place where you can find places like Hotel Negresco, or Villa Masséna.
The Vieille Ville, or the Old Town of Nice, is, you guessed it, the historical centre of the whole city. You can find many important sites connected to Nicoise history.
In the Port you can not only find some fairly interesting buildings, but it also serves as the spot from which you can easily catch a bus once you decide to explore the East side of the Riviera. Place Garibaldi is another historical part of the city, connected more to the modern times, in which Nice became French.
Place Masséna is the main square which connects directly to Avenue Jean Medecin, a shopping street which you can compare to Champs-Élysées of Paris. Moving up north on this street will take you to the main train station as well as to the district of Liberation.
Liberation has one really cool thing to offer (outside of its history). The food court Gare du Sud! This hall used to be a train station, however, nowadays, it serves as a place where the locals can come together and choose from a variety of restaurant stands serving all types of cuisine.
Lastly, the district of Cimiez hides a lot of fascinating things. The remains of the baths from the period of Roman Empire, the Museum of Henri Matisse and Monastery of Cimiez, still occupied by Franciscan monks.
This serves as a quick overview of the main places you can visit while in Nice, however, if you wish to discover more of its treasures, be sure to check out one (or more) of our free tours!
If you’re visiting the French Riviera, Nice is a great place to set up your “base camp”. With easily accessible and well organized public transport it won’t take you long to get anywhere - from Grasse and Cannes to Monaco or Italy. The area, however, has much more to offer than just it’s big and prominent cities. There is plenty of smaller medieval villages that are waiting for you to discover them and beautiful hiking spots that can promise you some of the best views on the Mediterranean sea.
