A Closer Look at Nice, Beyond the Promenade and Riviera Beach Clubs
Observer ·
Once the summer crowds thin, Nice invites a longer stay, with grand hotels, lively markets, Niçois restaurants and cultural treasures tucked into the hills above the Mediterranean.
Come September, Nice’s beach clubs pack away summer one striped mattress at a time. As the loungers leave the pebbles, the city returns to the season that first made it fashionable. British and Russian visitors seeking gentler air shaped the 19th-century resort that UNESCO calls the “Winter Resort Town of the Riviera.” British residents funded the coastal path that became the Promenade des Anglais, while villas and garden hotels spread inland toward the Russian Orthodox cathedral, its onion domes rising above the palms.
For many Americans, however, Nice has long been simply where the plane landed before the car continued on to Cannes or Monaco, a habit that, over the last few years, has looked increasingly dated. In 2025, the United States remained the largest foreign market for hotels and tourist residences in the Nice Côte d’Azur metropolitan area. Airlines have noticed: La Compagnie will continue its all-business Newark service through winter 2026-27, while American Airlines will add daily JFK service in summer 2027 , creating a fourth direct connection between Nice and New York.
The appeal of staying longer becomes clearer a few streets back from the waterfront. In Vieux Nice (Old Nice), small workshops and wine caves occupy the ground floors, and lunch can be as simple as socca (a crispy chickpea pancake) eaten at a market counter. These are useful neighbors when you’re staying in a grand hotel, adding a welcome dose of informality to a few days on the Riviera. Around the port, newer restaurants and bars offer reasons to return to the same streets after dark. Cimiez warrants a separate afternoon uphill, where Roman ruins and Belle Époque villas tell a longer story than the beachfront alone suggests. With autumn taking the heat out of those climbs, there’s less reason to hurry between a museum and a dinner reservation. Where you unpack your luggage will shape how you get to know the city, whether your mornings begin facing the Mediterranean or stepping out into the Old Town, which is exactly where this guide begins.
1 rue Honoré Ugo, 06300 Nice, France The lanes of Vieux Nice grow steeper and calmer before Hôtel du Couvent appears behind its old walls. Reopened in 2024 after nearly a decade of work, the 17th-century convent now holds 88 rooms and suites, with lime-plastered walls and terracotta floors warmed by oak furniture. Louis-Antoine Grégo preserved the architecture, and Festen made it comfortable to inhabit. Bread made from heritage grain starts the morning before the terraced gardens draw you down to a 66-foot lap pool. Later, step into the waters of the Roman-inspired baths, in a sequence that nods to ancient Cimiez. Once a month, local producers turn the grounds into a neighborhood market.
13 Promenade des Anglais, 06000 Nice, France After dark, the restored 1929 facade gives the Promenade a little of its old theater back. The Palais de la Méditerranée returned in June 2026 under Hyatt’s Unbound Collection with 145 rooms and 28 suites (173 accommodations in all). Linda Boronkay kept Charles and Marcel Dalmas ’ surviving Art Deco shell in view, placing Olivia Cognet ceramics near Marion Flamand stained glass as Louis Cane paintings loosen the formality. Ask for a sea view, then swim in the indoor-outdoor pool once the beach clubs begin packing up. Downstairs, Zouzou takes its name from Josephine Baker ’s 1934 film, a fitting reference for a hotel rediscovering its glamour.
37 Promenade des Anglais, 06000 Nice, France Le Negresco is the Promenade’s grand eccentric, ideal for anyone who finds immaculate beige unimpressive. Across 102 rooms and 28 suites, Louis XIII furniture and contemporary art mingle with Jeanne Augier ’s collection of roughly 6,000 works. Jean-Philippe Nuel made his boldest move upstairs, turning Augier’s former apartment into the 4,305-square-foot Jeanne & Paul Penthouse, with a terrace above the bay. Leave time to wander before dinner, because the restored 1913 façade is only the beginning of the tour. Even the indoor pool has a sense of humor, complete with an underwater sound system.
11 Quai Rauba Capeu, 06300 Nice, France Where the Promenade bends toward the port, Hôtel La Pérouse slips into Castle Hill. The 53 rooms and suites climb the cliff through rock-cut corridors, and the best open onto private terraces above the Baie des Anges. Friedmann & Versace ’s 2023 redesign keeps that geology close, setting mixed-clay tile and molded plaster against coral lamps from Palermo and work by more than 10 artisans. Book a terrace room because the cliffside perch is the reason to stay here. The sheltered pool suits a late-afternoon reset, though the final drink belongs on the rooftop solarium as the light moves across the bay.
3 avenue des Fleurs, 06000 Nice, France Two blocks inland, Hôtel Amour Nice is a rakish alternative to the Promenade’s typical grand hotels. Its 38 rooms mix flea-market furniture, books, pinup photography and midcentury finds chosen by André Saraiva and Thierry Costes with the late Emmanuel Delavenne . Fanciful pink marble bathrooms appear more frequently than televisions or phones. Beneath the trees, the Greek-leaning courtyard taverna works for a long lunch and an equally forgiving breakfast after a late night. The small pink rooftop pool belongs to the hottest part of the afternoon, when leaving the hotel can wait another hour.
Cours Saleya market and 28 rue Droite, 06300 Nice, France Watch the socca leave Chez Thérésa ’s wood fire, then eat it from the paper before the center loses its custardy softness. The business has worked the Cours Saleya since 1925, and the market counter remains the liveliest introduction to Nice’s chickpea pancake, with the old town moving around you. Continue to the rue Droite shop for the full lesson. An oven installed in 1867 turns out pissaladière beside the socca, and the sweet-savory tourte de blettes earns an order of its own. Outside, olive oil and smoke cling to the wrapper until the final bite.
4 rue Raoul Bosio, 06300 Nice, France Twenty-four seats and a chalkboard were enough for Dominique Le Stanc after leaving Le Negresco’s two-star kitchen. For three decades, he has cooked Niçois food without overthinking it, letting the market decide whether the board turns to stockfish, daube niçoise, pissaladière or tourte de blettes. La Merenda holds a 2026 Bib Gourmand, although Le Stanc’s plan to step away in April 2027 makes a fall trip this season all the more enticing. Accept the close quarters and order what sounds richest that day. Grand-hotel precision disappears into food served without ceremony, with Le Stanc behind the chalkboard for only a few months more.
23 rue Meyerbeer, 06000 Nice, France Read Le Canon ’s menu once, then ask what came in that morning. Nearby farms and the day’s catch keep the board short, perhaps coastal mullet against ratatouille or tomatoes sharpened into gazpacho with buffalo mozzarella. Dining here rewards appetite more than pre-trip research, because there is no signature dish to treat as an assignment. Once the food is settled, put the bottle in Sébastien Perinetti ’s hands. His cellar leans natural and low-intervention, and he knows when a coastal white needs texture rather than polish. At a table that likes to share, the market can decide the whole meal before any greatest-hits list gets a vote.
247 boulevard du Mont-Boron, 06300 Nice, France At Pialha , roughly 20 diners sit within arm’s reach of Benjamin Millard , who moves between stove and table and may even pour the wine himself. The former L’Agastache chef opened in Nice-Riquier in early 2026, earning a place in Michelin’s selection by August. Menus start at €25 for lunch and reach €45 for the longer dinner, modest prices for dishes such as zucchini cannelloni with fresh cheese and tomato water, or pork cooked for 10 hours and served with house-made gnocchi. For the cheese course, he turns Bleu d’Auvergne, a cow’s milk blue cheese from central France, into ice cream and foam.
16 rue Lascaris, 06300 Nice, France Bronze dies leave Tina’s house-made pasta with the rough surface that slow-cooked ragù needs. Florencia Montes and Lorenzo Ragni brought the portside trattoria to life in March 2026, drawing on the Piedmontese and Lombard food of Ragni’s childhood. The Argentine-Italian couple also runs Michelin-starred Onice , though Tina feels closer to the table they might set for friends. Begin with fried Fassona-veal tripe, then choose between tajarin and the kitchen’s carefully judged vitello tonnato. Dessert should be zabaglione gelato with amarena cherries.
8 rue Fodéré, 06300 Nice, France Every table at Epicentre points toward the open kitchen, keeping Nice-born chef Sélim M’Nasri in view as he seasons fish and vegetables. Sansho and Timut pepper sharpen a plate, with green cardamom or black lime adding warmth without turning dinner into a spice seminar. M’Nasri came home in 2025 after eight years with Marcel Ravin at Blue Bay in Monaco, then earned his first Michelin star in March 2026. The dining room never grows too solemn because the kitchen keeps the meal conversational. From a seat near the pass, you can watch each plate take its final shape.
3 rue de la Tour, 06300 Nice, France By aperitif hour, the granito counter at Cave de la Tour has the easy intimacy of a family kitchen with a very good cellar. Jean-Philippe and Marie Gazan are the fourth generation behind the address, which has occupied this corner of Vieux Nice since 1947. Marie favors small Alpes-Maritimes growers she often knows personally, so a glass of Bellet starts a conversation about the rare braquet and folle noire grapes grown above the city. Local art hangs over the chalkboard, and pissaladière emerges from the tiny kitchen.
11 rue du Pont Vieux, 06300 Nice, France At Cave Tambour , choose a bottle first, then ask the staff what to pair it with. Hugo Loubert , the chef behind neighboring Lavomatique, has stocked this Old Nice wine bar with hundreds of natural and low-intervention wines. Wooden shelves cover the stone walls, while secondhand tables and apple crates furnish the room, with records beside a Chesterfield sofa. A red from nearby Bellet, made from folle noire grapes, is a good introduction to Nice’s own wines. If you’re after something different, describe what you like and let the staff work through the shelves.
18 rue Emmanuel Philibert, 06300 Nice, France At Povera , Niçois bartender Maxime Potfer turns his Experimental Group training toward the thrift and invention of cucina povera. Raw walls and furniture from the 1960s and 1970s keep the port-side space relaxed, though the drinks reveal exacting technique. Kitchen offcuts and imperfect produce move easily between bar and snack menu, making thrift a source of flavor. The Lavoisier 5 captures the idea: tomato chutney and white rum meet cacao bitters and oat orgeat, finished with matcha and black-sesame salt on the rim. It arrives savory and faintly creamy, with the salted edge sharpening the final sip.
22 rue d’Angleterre, 06000 Nice, France Cave Romagnan looks as though every argument and late glass has left a mark on the walls, and that accumulated disorder is part of the charm. Political debate has shaped the place for years, with concerts and poetry readings sharing the same low-key stage. Mismatched furniture keeps the mood closer to a neighborhood salon than a designed wine bar. Manu pours Côtes de Provence without ceremony, and the right order is usually the simplest glass he recommends. Saturday’s free ApéroJazz gives the room its dependable pulse, though the pleasure lies in never knowing who might take the microphone or which conversation will carry into the next song.
22 rue François Guisol, 06300 Nice, France At Vibes , the morning’s produce decides what reaches the cocktail list, so repeat visits rarely begin with the same choice. London Edition alumni Manon Vieules and Yoann Tarditi transformed a 1960s garage near the port in 2025 with music expert Bryan Gaillard , selecting each day’s 14 drinks from an archive of roughly 1,500 recipes. The sound gets equal attention, as tube amplifiers feed vintage speakers with funk, boogie, disco and Afrobeat. A Ricard-based Maurescolada makes an especially Niçois aperitif, and the Vibes Spritz is easier company for a croque nissart. Let the bartender steer you toward the market’s best find.
Cours Saleya, 06300 Nice, France On Mondays, Cours Saleya trades flowers and produce for the private life of the Riviera. More than 200 professional brocanteurs fill the long square with objects from cupboards and dressing tables. Monogrammed linen lies beside café glassware, ceramic serving dishes and silver, with old perfume bottles, paintings and travel-worn leather luggage claiming the remaining space. The smaller pieces reward close looking and fit a carry-on, though a sun-faded canvas may test your resolve. Work down one side, stop for coffee beneath the ocher facades and circle back, since the object worth taking home often appears on the second pass.
3 rue de la Préfecture, 06300 Nice, France Pause at the window of Le Palais d’Osier, where Serge Maindret recanes a chair against the blue façade as baskets rise behind him in the century-old shop. A Piedmontese family ran it as Vannerie Di Stefano before Christine and Serge took over in 1999, preserving the protected frontage and learning caning from the former owner. The French-willow market baskets are the surest buy, elegant enough for town and useful at the beach. Raffia clutches and woven trunks complicate the decision. For a larger gesture, choose a leather-handled couffin that will look better after a few summers of use.
7 rue Saint-François de Paule, 06300 Nice, France The Florentine interior across from the opera turns buying a box of sweets into a small ceremony. Maison Auer dates to 1820 and ranks among France’s oldest working confectioners, its rococo cases bright with candied fruit and chocolate. When the Dolfi family took over in 2024 after five generations of Auers, it kept the historic recipes and artisanal methods. Whole candied fruit comes closest to the house’s original trade, its colors nearly as tempting as the taste. For the suitcase, marrons glacés and pâtes de fruits travel more neatly, as do princess almonds and a box of pralines.
14 rue Saint-François de Paule, 06300 Nice, France The tiled Nicolas Alziari shop makes olive oil feel as considered as perfume. The family’s story began in 1868, when César Martin revived an abandoned mill in La Madeleine, and his son-in-law, Nicolas Alziari, later approached blending with a winemaker’s precision. Pauline Alziari opened this boutique in 1936. A side-by-side tasting clarifies the differences between the Cailletier-led extra virgins and the house blends, making a large tin easier to choose. The colorful cans have a graphic charm of their own, but flavor should lead the decision. Tapenade and prepared olives fill the smaller gaps around the oil in a suitcase.
16 quai des Docks, 06300 Nice, France Coffee and clothing share the floor with bike rental and a working repair bench at Café du Cycliste’s port flagship, which keeps one foot on the road outside. The label began in 2009 inside a cycling café in the hills above Nice, and regular group rides return it to that original terrain. Those same Alpes-Maritimes roads continue to shape and test the collection. Long-sleeve merino jerseys make the most persuasive souvenir for riders, especially beside one of the pared-back waterproof handlebar pouches. Even off the bike, the best pieces carry the coast lightly, with technical fabrics doing more work than any Riviera motif.
Begin at 160 avenue des Arènes de Cimiez, 06000 Nice, France On Cimiez Hill, centuries sit within an easy morning’s walk. The climb away from the water changes the pace before the first ticket is scanned. Begin among the baths and amphitheater of Roman Cemenelum, where traces of old streets and an early Christian baptistery survive, then cross to the Musée Matisse. The museum pairs Matisse with Yves Saint Laurent through Sept. 28, 2026. Alex Katz takes his place from Oct. 28, 2026, through Jan. 18, 2027. Continue into the monastery garden before entering the neighboring cemetery, where the morning ends with two names on stone: Matisse and Raoul Dufy .
15 rue Droite, 06300 Nice, France Step off rue Droite when Old Nice is at its loudest, and the change in volume does half the work. Palais Lascaris retains the proportions of a private Niçois Baroque residence shaped by Genoese influence, beginning with a ceremonial staircase under frescoes and stucco. Beyond it, the galleries close around one of France’s largest public collections of historical instruments, a more intimate encounter than another procession of grand salons. Through Jan. 11, 2027, scientific curiosities and rarities sit among the permanent holdings, sharpening the sense that someone has opened a collector’s rooms for the afternoon. Look up again on the way out because the staircase deserves a second pass.
20 avenue Stephen Liégeard, 06105 Nice, France The right first move at Villa Arson is upward. Michel Marot threaded roughly 204,500 square feet of concrete around an older ocher villa, replacing standard school corridors with interior streets and patios that open onto planted roofs. From there, the national art school and contemporary art center feel like parts of one long architectural walk, with student life continuing alongside the exhibitions. The gardens became a year-round public route in 2026 and remain open between shows. By the time Nice reappears beyond the terraces, the visit feels closer to a hill walk than a museum circuit.
89 route de Turin, 06300 Nice, France When the French Riviera’s polished rooms start to blur together, make the eastward trip to Le 109, where this former slaughterhouse became a cultural complex without losing its industrial scale. From Sept. 19 through Nov. 29, 2026, L’Automne de l’Image brings photography and artists’ books into the building before turning to film and experimental cinema, with performances continuing in smaller cultural rooms across Nice. The detour deposits you in an eastern district that most first visits pass without seeing, inside a building where artists keep studios beside the exhibition spaces.
Check in at the SNCF station esplanade, Roquebrune-Cap-Martin Take the TER east to Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, where Cap Moderne compresses a century of Riviera design into a guided walk beside the sea. The visit begins at Eileen Gray and Jean Badovici ’s E-1027 before bringing Le Corbusier’s Cabanon into view, with the camping units and Étoile de Mer completing the ensemble. Against the same rocky shore, each building makes a different wager on how much space and furniture seaside life needs. Doorways and built-ins carry more weight than square footage. The 2026 season ends Oct. 31, so reserve ahead and leave time before the return train to look back from the shore.