The Top Nice France Attractions

Begin your vacation by getting the lay of the land with a tour of the city. A bike tour is my favorite way to sightsee in Nice because you can stop and go as you wish on a bike, and you can navigate the narrow streets in Old Nice. Take a 3-hour bike tour with the friendly, English-speaking staff of Nice Cycle Tours. Sights you'll see on the tour include the Promenade des Anglais (pictured), Henri Matisse's apartment, the Albert I gardens, the Hotel Negresco, Old Town Nice, Cours Saleya, Place Massena, Place Garibaldi, and the Chateau du Colline (Castle Hill).

Reservations and a 10 euro deposit are required in advance. The knowledgeable tour guides will give you historical background and a great overview of Nice. You can stop at scenic spots for photos, and the guides will give you restaurant recommendations and point out other highlights you can check out on your own.

The total cost for the Nice bike tour is 30 euros. Take your camera, sunglasses, and a small backpack for your personal belongings.

Cours Saleya's famous flower market (Marche aux Fleurs) runs Tuesday through Sunday. (It's a flea market on Mondays). I don't know about you, but I don't have much use for flowers when I'm on vacation, so you should know what other goodies you can get at the market.

How about ripe apricots and sweet strawberries, marzipan, fresh lavender, and olive oil? Now that I can work with. The market starts to wrap up around 1:30, and then the restaurants and cafes along the sidewalk take over. Their open air tables spill out into the street, transforming the market space into a restaurant square. Be sure to come back to dine here in the evening. It's quite a sight.

Near the start of Cours Saleya, close to the Nice Opera House, you can find some souvenir shops with great merchandise (open on Sundays, which is a rarity in Nice). Cours Saleya is a top Nice Attraction, so don't miss it.

The narrow streets of Old Nice (Vieux Nice or Vieux Ville) are lined with shops, restaurants, palaces, apartment buildings, food stands, bars and nightclubs, and historic churches. The heart of Nice Old Town is the Place Rosetti. Old Nice is my favorite Nice France attraction.

The layout may seem random, but there's a method to the madness -- the streets of Nice's old quarter are themed. Rue du Marche, for example, has mostly clothing boutiques, while Rue Droite has lots of galleries and art and furniture boutiques. Rue Droite is also the bike pick-up/drop-off point for Nice Cycle Tours, across from Palais Lasacaris.

Here are a few shops you might want to seek out in Old Nice for unique gifts, souvenirs, and treats.

1. For olive oil, gourmet peppers and spices, stop at La Maison de l'Olive at 18 Rue Pairoliere.

2. Get more flavored salts, peppers and spices at Girofle et Cannelle, 2 Rue Pairolière.

3. For candies, cookies and chocolate-covered olives (not real olives, more like M&M's with much better chocolate), stop by La Cure Gourmande at 2 Rue Sainte Reparate, near Place Rosetti.

4. Try the rich flavors of gelato from Fennochio, at 2 Place Rosetti.

(Remember that most shops are closed on Sundays in Nice.)

There are so many attractions in Cimiez, including beautiful gardens, Roman ruins, Henri Matisse's grave, the Franciscan Museum, and the Matisse Museum. Spend a day in Cimiez during your Nice vacation.

>> Get a full list of Cimiez Nice attractions.

If you're into churches and architecture, be sure to visit the Russian Cathedral in Nice, a remnant from the days when the Russian aristocracy used to winter in the South of France.

A Romanov heir died here and a chapel to Saint Nicholas was built in his memory. The cathedral, later built on land for Russian worshippers in Nice, was partly financed by Tsar Nicholas II.

Grab a yellow laminated English guide (straight ahead when you enter the church, just look for the Union Jack), and take a seat in the back tof the church to take everything in. Listen to the hymns and chants playing softly in the background while you read the history of the cathedral. Then when you're ready, follow the map and find the highlighted stops on the self-guided walk-through tour.

You might also want to do some reading about the church in a guidebook in advance. I found that I got more out the experience because I knew to look for interesting Romanov family symbols and items that weren't mentioned on the church's guide sheet.

My favorite item in the Russian Cathedral is the Virgin Mary made from semi-precious stones from the Ural Mountains. I also liked the reliefs where the faces are painted but the clothes and the background are gilt. There are lots of these to the left of the main altar. It's well worth it to get off the beaten path and see the Cathedrale Orthodoxe Russe St-Nicolas.

Visitor Info:
Address: Avenue Nicolas II, 06000 Nice, France (a 10-minute walk from the main TGV train station)
Hours: May-Sept. 9am-noon and 2:30-6p.m., Oct.-April, 9:30am-noon and 2:30-5 p.m.
Crypt tours are given only in the afternoon.
Admission: 3 euros
There's a dress code (no shorts), and no photos are allowed inside.

Marc Chagall Museum Guide
An English-language guide to the Marc Chagall Museum in Nice, including an audio tour of the museum, a photo gallery of selected works, and visitor information.

Nice Map Offline
A Nice map app that you don't need a Wi-Fi connection to use. When you ARE connected to WiFi, it offers location tracking . It also has search and easy zooming capabilities.

Lonely Planet Nice City Guide
This interactive guidebook app allows you to plot your location, access offline street maps, search, and tag your favorite points of interest.

Nice City Walks
Take self-guided walking tour with this offline app. The Nice city walks include City Orientation, Old Town, Shopping, Art Museums, Churches, Significant Landmarks, Nightclubs and more.

Michelin Guide France
Find great places to eat in Nice and in other cities along the French Riviera, on the go.

French / English Translation Dictionary by Ultralingua
Have instant access to French words and English translations with this app.

Rue de France (or zone Pietonne) is the pedestrian zone of Nice. It's a shopping mecca and a hub of social activity with boutiques, cafes, restaurants, bars, gelato shops and of course, souvenir shops.

It's the place to linger at a sidewalk cafe and people watch. "Cafe sitting" is an evening tradition in Nice and a wonderful way to end the day. Sunsets in Nice are really late (after 9 pm in spring and summer), and it's wonderful to idle away the long evenings at a cafe on Rue de France. Go for a grand stroll here after dinner, grab a gelato, and watch the street performers.

* Most restaurants on Rue de France (and throughout Nice) close up at 11 pm, but one that I know of that has a late-night menu (and friendly service) is La Taverne Massena.

A vacation in Nice is not complete without a trip to the beach.

Nice sits on the Baie des Anges, the Bay of Angels, on the Mediterranean coast. Hugging the bay is the Promenade des Anglais, an elevated, paved walkway with benches and chairs, and lanes for bikes, roller skaters and walkers. Along the promenade, you will signs for the various beaches, each with their own lounge chair rentals and beachfront amenities. Pick a point along the promenade to head down to the beachfront.

Nice Beach Tips
You might be surprised to learn that Nice has pebble beaches, not sand. I advise wearing rubber flip flops or an old pair of shoes (because the rocks can damage your shoes). The feeling of stones under your bare feet takes some getting used to, but the locals don't seem to mind it at all.

One more thing to watch out for in late spring and early summer are the tiny blue jellyfish (Velella velella, known colloquially as "sail jellyfish" or "by-the-wind-sailors") that wash ashore in the evenings. Their sting is said to be minor, but avoid them if you can. If you hear the locals mention "les meduses" (the French word for 'jellyfish'), it's time to get out of the water.

Don't be fooled by the signs. There's no actual French chateau in Nice anymore. Louis XIV had it dismantled when the French occupied the area. Today, the old Castle Hill is a park and historic area with playgrounds, hilltop restaurants, majestic vistas, and ruins of the old city wall and a medieval cathedral.

Enjoy the spectacular sweeping views of the city from the Nietzsche Terrace (where the philosopher liked to sit and look at the sea) and other spots atop the hill. There's a terrace cafe, a ornate cemetery in the hillside (definitely worth visiting), a maritime museum, and a large waterfall. By the playground, near the Nice Port overlook, look for a stairway with stone mosaic stairs illustrating the stories from Homer's Odyssey -- a reminder that Nice was once settled by the Greeks, before the Romans. Look for other Greek and Roman stonework around the park.

You've got three ways up to the top of Castle Hill. You can climb the steps (213 of 'em if you take the stairway near the elevator), you can drive or bike up the road (that's what my Nice Cycle Tour did, although I more so "walked" my bike up), or you can take the elevator for a small fee (accessible from Rue des Ponchettes). If you take a tour on the miniature tourist train, a ride to the top of Colline du Chateau is included on the route.

At the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MAMAC Nice, Musee d'Art Moderne et d'Art Contemporain), see sculptures by Niki de Saint Phalle, Andy Warhol's "Diamond Dust Shoes," and works by artists from the School of Nice including Yves Klein, Cesar, and Ben Vautier. (His whimsical installation "La Chambre de Ben / Ben's Room / La Cambra" is a visitor favorite).

MAMAC also hosts engaging temporary exhibitions from world renowned artists. Include this wonderful museum in your Nice itinerary. Be sure to go up to the rooftop gardens for spectacular views of the city.

See more of the French Riviera with day trips from Nice. Many riviera towns are easily reachable by bus or train from Nice. Heading east along the Mediterranean coast, you have Cannes and Antibes, and the Provence region, and to the West, there's Villefranche-sur-mer, Beaulieu-sur-mer, Eze, Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, Cap D'Ail, Monaco, and Menton, near the Italian border.

For a cheap, do-it-yourself tour, pay 1 € and catch the #200 bus to Cannes or Antibes, or the #100 bus to Eze, Villefranche, and Monaco. Both lines depart from the J.C. Bermond bus stop (on Rue Alberti, between Avenue Felix Faure and Blvd. Jean Jaures -- you'll be on a short block, between two of the gardens on the main strip).

Here are some Nice daytrip ideas:

In Antibes, visit the Picasso museum.

In Monaco, make plans to visit the Prince's Palace, do some shopping and see the casinos of Monte-Carlo.

In Eze, hike up the Nietzche trail (or catch a second bus that will take you) to the medieval village, and visit the Fragonard and Galimard perfume factory shops.

In Villefranche, walk through the pedestrian streets of Old Villefranche, visit the Citadel, go to the beach at the port, and have lunch or dinner at one of the port-side restaurants.

While in Nice, be sure to sample these traditional Niçoise delicacies:

Socca - A crispy chickpea crepe. Try some from the takeout counter at La Civette Garibaldi, 1 bis Boulevard Jean Jaurès

Niçoise salad - Salad with fresh tuna and anchovies

Beignets de fleurs de courgettes - Fried Zucchini flower blossoms

Pissaladière - A pizza-like onion tart, covered with caramelized onions, anchovies and olives

Nice Seafood - You can't go wrong with anything that comes from the sea in Nice. Try bouillabaisse or other fish stews, Merou (grouper), oysters, or shrimp. Have the amazing seafood at Café de Turin, a Nice institution. I don't know what kind of angel dust they sprinkle on their food, but it's divine. Whatever you do, have the Moyenne Crevette Rose (Medium Pink Shrimp).

Nice France Gelato - Once again, Nice shows its Italian roots. Have some gelato for dessert at one of the many gelaterias around town.

• Visit the Massena Musuem (Musee Massena), the former palace-turned-city museum, chronicling the history of Nice. Don't miss the gardens.
  
• Visit Phare et digue (the old sea wall) and the Port de Nice, which is Nice's cruise port
  
• Have drinks on the roof of the Grand Hotel Aston, overlooking Place Massena.
  
• Visit Palais Lasacaris, a baroque palace that is now a free museum in Nice.
  
• Do some shopping in Nice at the stores along Avenue Jean Medicin.
  
• Shop at a neighborhood farmer's market in Nice. Get off the main tourist drag and take in some local flavor. Take the Nice tram to the Libération stop (just past the SNCF train station) for the Marché de la Libération, a huge produce market. (Tuesdays - Sundays, 7 a.m. - 1 p.m.)
  
• Take a guided walking Tour of Old Nice (Saturdays, reservation required, 9:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m., leaves from the Nice Tourism office on Promenade des Anglais)
  
• Visit the Nice Observatory and see the dome designed by Gustave Eiffel.
  
• Take a ferry to Corsica from Nice Port.