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Monastère Notre Dame de Cimiez Museum
The Monastère Notre Dame de Cimiez houses a small museum illustrating the everyday lives and activities of its Franciscan monks.
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Musée Archéologique de Nice-Cimiez
Nice's little-spoken but lingering language, Nissart, derives most of its vocab from the Roman city of Cemenelum, founded by Augustus in 14 BC. Its ruins form the focus of the Musée Archéologique de Nice-Cimiez. Both the public baths and amphitheatre - the venue for outdoor concerts during the Nice Jazz festival - can be visited.
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Musée d'Art Moderne et d'Art Contemporain
European and American avant-garde works from the 1950s to the present are the focus of Nice's don't-miss Musée d'Art Moderne et d'Art Contemporain. Highlights among the permanent 2nd- and 3rd-floor exhibits include items wrapped by Christo; a red model-T Ford crunched into a 1.6m-tall block by Marseillais sculptor César; and the mundane objects (rubbish, letters, children's toys) encased in Perspex containers by Nice-born Arman.
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Musee de Paleonthologie Terra Amata
East of the port, this museum displays objects from a site inhabited 400,000 years ago by the predecessors of Homo sapiens .
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Musée des Arts Asiatiques
Ornamental treasures from Cambodia, China, India and Japan are showcased in the striking white-marble Musée des Arts Asiatiques , designed by a Japanese architect, near the airport. Participating in a Sunday afternoon traditional Chinese or Japanese tea ceremony including museum visit; advance reservations essential)is a highlight.
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Musée des Beaux-Arts
Find Nice's Musée des Beaux-Arts in a fantastic cream-and-apricot villa built in 1878 for Ukrainian princess Elisabeth Vassilievna Kotschoubey. Its decorative stucco friezes and six-column rear terrace overlooking luxuriant gardens make it typical of Nice's belle époque .The collection is a mishmash of absolute gems, like Jan Brueghel's Allegory of Water and Allegory of Earth, and yawnsome 18th-century portraits.
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Musée et Site Archéologiques
Behind the Musée Matisse lie the ruins of the Roman city of Cemenelum - the focus of the Musée et Site Archéologiques where you can visit the public baths, amphitheatre and original paved streets, and view relics like ceramics, glass, coins and tools. The Archaeology Museum comes alive when the public baths and the amphitheatre become the venue for outdoor concerts during the Nice Jazz Festival. However, both can be visited any time of year.
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Musée Masséna
Also called Musée Masséna, this museum was closed for renovation until 2007 at time of writing, although the marvellous Italianate neoclassical villa (1898) housing the museum is worth a gander.
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Musée Matisse
The Musée Matisse, 2km north of the centre, houses a splendid assortment of works by Henri Matisse. Its permanent collection is displayed in a red-ochre 17th-century Genoese villa overlooking the olive-tree-studded Parc des Arènes. Temporary exhibitions are hosted in the futuristic basement building.
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Musée National Message Biblique Marc Chagall
The Musée National Message Biblique Marc Chagall houses the largest public collection of works by Belarusian painter Marc Chagall (1887-1985), known for his characteristic flying animals, flowers, violinists and kissing couples.The exuberant swathes of colour used by Chagall to illustrate Old Testament themes are set off by the severity of this purpose-built museum.
Read more about Musée National Message Biblique Marc Chagall
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Palais de Justice
Palais de Justice, the imposing law courts built in neoclassical style in 1885 can be found in rue de la Préfecture.
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Palais de la Méditerranée
Don't miss the Art Deco Palais de la Méditerranée on Promenade des Anglais, the prized property of American millionaire Frank Jay Gould and France's top-earning casino until the 1970s, when his luck changed and the place closed down.
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Palais de la Préfecture
Rue Bénoît Bunico runs into rue de la Préfecture, the old city's main artery, dominated by the imposing Palais de la Préfecture, the 17th-century home of the princes of Savoy.
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Palais Lascaris
Baroque Palais Lascaris was owned by the Lascaris-Ventimiglia family in the 17th century and is a frescoed orgy of Flemish tapestries, faïence and gloomy religious paintings. On the ground floor is an 18th-century pharmacy.
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Parc du Château
Vieux Nice's eastern extremity is flanked by Parc du Château, a towering 92m-high rock offering a cinematic panorama of Nice and the Baie des Anges.
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Parc Phoenix
At the prom's western end, playground-equipped Parc Phoenix makes a relaxed picnic spot.
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place Garibaldi
At the northeastern corner of Nice's old town lies arcade-lined place Garibaldi, built during the late 18th century and named after Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807-82). Born in Nice to a fishing family, Garibaldi went on to become a sailor, merchant captain, guerrilla fighter, leader of the Red Shirts and popular hero of Italian unification.
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place Masséna
At the southern end of av Jean Médecin, Nice's main commercial street, sits place Masséna, with early-19th-century, neoclassical arcaded buildings painted in shades of ochre and red.
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Plage Publique des Ponchettes
If you don't like sand between your toes, Nice's beaches - covered with smooth, round pebbles - are for you. Free public sections of beach with lifeguards, first-aid posts and cold showers alternate with 15 private beaches equipped with restaurants, comfy sun-lounges (obligatory; at a fee) parasols (optional, at a fee), warm showers and changing rooms.
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Quai des États-Unis
East towards Vieux Nice, promenade des Anglais becomes quai des États-Unis, named after the United States in honour of President Wilson's decision in 1917 to join WWI. Contemporary art exhibitions are hosted by two former fish halls here.
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rue Bénoît Bunico
Parallel to Palais Lascaris, rue Bénoît Bunico served as Nice's Jewish ghetto after a 1430 law restricted where Jews could live.
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Tour Bellanda
The 12th-century castle was razed by Louis XIV in 1706; only the 16th-century Tour Bellanda, the round tower you can see from quai des États-Unis, remains.
