Resort Guides › France › French Riviera
The French Riviera’s elegant capital, with a famous pebble beach promenade and genuine year-round appeal.
Overview
Nice is the French Riviera’s biggest and most complete city-resort, built along the sweeping Baie des Anges with the Promenade des Anglais running its full length. It combines a proper working city (galleries, markets, a genuine Old Town) with a straightforward beach holiday, and works as an easy base for day trips along the rest of the coast.
Families & toddlers
The beach itself is pebble rather than sand, which is worth knowing in advance, but the Promenade des Anglais is flat, wide and excellent for cycling or scooting, and the Old Town’s ice-cream shops and covered market (Cours Saleya) are an easy, engaging family outing.
Couples, teens & nightlife
A genuinely sophisticated evening scene, from Old Town wine bars to smarter restaurants along the promenade, well suited to couples, with livelier nightlife concentrated around a handful of central streets for anyone wanting more.
Seniors & accessibility
The promenade is one of the flattest, most pleasant seafront walks on this whole list, and the tram makes getting around without a car straightforward.
Best time to visit
May to September for the beach and warm Mediterranean weather; spring and early autumn are notably quieter and still comfortable for sightseeing.