Nice, the market in the morning, the sea at the end of every street.

What is Nice like?

A big city facing the sea, with two faces. Vieux Nice, the old town, is a maze of narrow streets with ochre and yellow façades, Baroque chapels and the Cours Saleya market. To the west begins the Nice of the 19th century, that of the English who came to spend the winter: avenues, villas and white-fronted hotels along the Promenade des Anglais, some seven kilometres of seafront. Because of that past as a winter-holiday city it has been a World Heritage Site since 2021.

The beach is in the very centre, but it is pebbles, not sand. Bring jelly shoes or flip-flops for getting into the water. There are public, free stretches and private beaches with paid sunloungers.

What to see on foot?

Nice is explored on foot. A day that works:

• In the morning, the Cours Saleya. The flower and fruit-and-vegetable market opens every morning except Monday, when the same promenade fills with antiques stalls. Around it, in the streets of Vieux Nice, try the socca, a thin chickpea-flour pancake, and the pissaladière, with onion and anchovy.
• Mid-morning, the Castle Hill. Almost nothing is left of the castle, but at the top there is a park with an artificial waterfall from 1885 and the best view of the Baie des Anges and the port. You climb by steps from the end of Vieux Nice or in a free lift next to the quai des États-Unis, which doesn't run in the rain or when under maintenance.
• In the afternoon, the Promenade des Anglais. On foot or by bike, as far as the Hotel Negresco, with its pink dome, and back along the beach.
• At dusk, the port. The Lympia port, on the other side of the hill, with fishing boats and the red façades of place de l'Île de Beauté. From March to October a one-hour boat trip to Villefranche bay leaves from there.

Which museums are worth it?

The two of painters, on the Cimiez hill, north of the centre, which you reach by bus. The Matisse Museum is in a red Genoese villa, next to an olive grove and the cemetery of the Cimiez monastery, where the painter is buried; admission costs €10 according to the museum (€12 on the city council website), and the four-day pass for the municipal museums, €15. Under-18s and students don't pay. Halfway along is the Marc Chagall National Museum, with the great canvases of the Biblical Message: it is a national museum, so the city pass doesn't cover it.

Where to eat and sleep?

For eating, three very different places. Chez Pipo, next to the port, has made socca in a wood-fired oven since the 1930s, without booking and at bar prices. Le Safari, on the Cours Saleya itself, is the Niçoise-cooking classic with a terrace over the market, open all day. And Le Plongeoir, on a rock at the harbour mouth, is the special dinner with the sunset.

For sleeping, look to the centre and the tram. The Hôtel Beau Rivage is between Vieux Nice and the beach and admits dogs; the Hôtel Windsor, a few steps from the Promenade des Anglais, has rooms painted by artists and a tropical garden with a pool; the Villa Saint-Exupéry Beach Hostel, next to Masséna, has dormitories and private rooms, all with bathroom.

How do you get there from Spain?

By plane: there are direct flights from Madrid and Barcelona to Nice Côte d'Azur airport, by the sea, west of the city. From both terminals, tram 2 drops you in the centre and at the port. The single ticket costs €1.70 and there is an AERO return of €10. You pay with a rechargeable €2 card, sold by the machines at the stops, or with the Lignes d'Azur app: there are no paper tickets any more. By car, from the La Jonquera border it is more than 600 km of toll motorway via Montpellier, Aix and the A8. In Nice a car is surplus to requirements: parking is expensive and traffic is dense.

Which day trips can you make without a car?

Nice is the best base on the coast for getting around by train and bus. The TER regional trains leave Nice-Ville station frequently all day:

• Eastwards: Villefranche-sur-Mer, with its bay and citadel, a few minutes away; Beaulieu; Monaco, in under half an hour; and Menton, already next to the Italian border.
• Westwards: Antibes, with the walled old town and the Picasso museum, and Cannes.
• Èze, the stone village hanging over the sea, is reached on Lignes d'Azur bus 82 or on the regional Zou network's 602. If you go by train, get off at Èze-sur-Mer, next to the beach, and go up on bus 83 or on foot along the Nietzsche path, a steep trail among pines that takes a good hour to climb.