The best neighborhoods to visit in Nice

Nice may be the biggest city on the Côte d’Azur, but this beloved, palm tree-fringed destination isn’t large enough to be broken up into arrondissements (numbered neighborhoods) à la Paris, Marseille or Lyon. Its compact size means the city still has a laid-back, relaxed feel. Another advantage is that you’ll have no trouble visiting its core neighborhoods during something as short as a weekend break to the city.

At the foot of the Colline du Château, a rocky promontory the Greeks settled around 350 BCE, the Vieille Ville (or Old Town) is Nice’s oldest neighborhood. Here, lintels on medieval doorways serve as date-stamped markers indicating a building’s age. The next major expansion came in the 19th century, as the city stretched further along the waterfront, hoisting up sea-facing hotels and even a whole new waterfront path, the Promenade des Anglais, to accommodate the influx of travelers from Britain and beyond in search of the winter sun. Nice now stretches up into the north, where you’ll find residential neighborhoods like Cimiez and Libération.

From pedestrian-only areas brimming with traditional restaurants to wide, leafy streets with designer boutiques or lively local hangouts, you can find a neighborhood in Nice to match your travel mood. Here’s an introduction to them.

1. Vieux Nice 

Best for history and local flavors

Vieux Nice might be Nice’s first neighborhood, but its magnetism still pulls travelers in and the Vieille Ville, as it’s also called, is likely to be one of the first places in the city you head to on arrival. Amid this maze of shop- and restaurant-lined pedestrian streets, you’ll find everything from a 200-year-old chocolate shop, Maison Auer, to a cavernous local wine cellar, Cave de la Tour, and fresh-from-the-oven portions of socca, the quintessential niçois street food dish, at Chez Theresa. Everywhere you turn, facades in every hue of pastel beckon to be photographed, while tokens of history reveal themselves to those who take the time to look, like on the corner of rue Droite and rue de la Loge, where a cannonball, fired in 1543 by Turkish forces during the Siege of Nice, is attached to the wall. All roads lead to the Cours Saleya, the main square and the setting for fragrant produce and flower markets on Tuesday to Saturday mornings. 

Though it is touristy, Vieux Nice is also beloved by locals, which creates an intoxicating energy – if you stay here, be warned that the streets can be noisy late into the night. Most accommodations are private, short-term lets. But if you are in the mood to splurge, the sublime Hôtel du Couvent is an oasis of calm amid the buzz, complete with a lemon-shaded courtyard, on-site herbalist and thermal baths. The five-star hotel opened in 2024 after a painstaking renovation of an abandoned 17th-century convent. Clinging to the Colline du Château with a hidden pool and sea views, the four-star Hôtel La Pérouse is one of Nice's best-kept secrets and a real special occasion spot. For couples, Hôtel Rossetti is a charming three-star option, with seven rooms and a hidden terrace in the shadow of Cathédrale Ste-Réparate. 

2. Carré d’Or 

Best for Belle Époque buildings and chic boutiques

The Carré d’Or (Golden Square), a grid of streets between the Promenade des Anglais and Bd Victor Hugo to the west of Vieux Nice, contains some of Nice’s most exclusive real estate, with grand, light-filled apartments inside richly historic Belle Époque buildings, many now UNESCO-heritage listed. The street-facing boutiques switch between designer brands or trendy French labels and popular brunch spots and cozy bistros like neighborhood favorite Le Canon, which focuses on hyperlocal produce. The district is a hub for stylish locals, so dedicate a few hours to simply wandering the patchwork of shopping streets, browsing the wares on display while people-watching, especially along the shaded rue Longchamp. For those on a budget, the good news is that Hostel Meyerbeer Beach, one of Nice’s finest hostels, has long called the Carré d’Or home, while, for solo female travelers, Hôtel Arome is a secure, centrally located three-star hotel run by a wonderful Franco-Italian couple. For a touch of international glam, luxury hoteliers Anantara chose an address in the neighborhood to open its first hotel in France, the Hôtel Anantara Plaza Nice. The rooftop bar and restaurant is the place to be seen.

3. Promenade des Anglais

Best for beaches

When you picture Nice, the 4-mile-long beachfront strip, the Promenade des Anglais, is likely to be the first image that comes to mind. The “prom,” as it is affectionately known by locals, is the beating heart of the city. You’ll find parents pushing strollers, kids on scooters, people on rollerblades, joggers and plenty of flaneurs. There’s also a dedicated bike lane, the perfect place to get to grips with the city’s duo of shared e-bike services, Pony and Lime. Beneath it, Nice’s beaches beckon for a swim. Stretch out for free on a public beach or, if pebbles aren’t your thing, book a sun lounger at one of the city’s private beaches, like Bocca Mar.

If you’ve come to Nice for a carefree, seaside holiday, this is the area to zoom in on. The prom is lined with historic hotels originally built to host the winter travelers that put the Côte d’Azur on the tourist map. Of these four- and five-star choices, none is more legendary than Le Negresco, inside a Belle Époque building that resembles a pink and white wedding cake. Each room is unique and styled to a theme, with plenty of original art on the walls.

4. New Town

Best for green spaces and shopping

Nice’s new town in parts feels like any other big city, with fast food joints and budget hotels clustered around the train station and high street names along the main shopping avenue, Jean Medecin. But away from these pockets, the new town has plenty of charm, and it’s here where you’re most likely to feel the recent spate of municipal investments in the city, as streets are torn up for leafy bike paths and concrete makes way for shaded urban parks, particularly in the form of the family-friendly Promenade de Paillon, or Coulée Verte, with its splash fountains and play equipment. The streets near Place Massena, the checkerboard-styled plaza, are also home to some of Nice’s most celebrated restaurants, including Flaveur, the two-Michelin-starred address run by brothers Gaël and Mickaël Tourteaux, with foams, reductions and all the fine dining flourishes. You’ll find no shortage of two-to-four-star hotels in this hood, including one of the best budget choices in the city, Ozz Hostel, with a decor that pops, bunks with curtains and female-only dorms, while, at the other end of the scale, Hôtel Amour has a boho styling and the trendiest hotel bar for miles and works for both romantic getaways and escapes with friends. 

5. Le Port

Best for hip hangouts

The maritime gateway to Nice has, over the past two decades, become the city’s trendiest neighborhood, ever since the arrival of the tramline connecting it with the train station and the airport. Today it can seem like a new hip hangout is opening every week, but it still retains much of its traditional feel thanks to the colorful pointus, or brightly-painted wooden fishing boats, in the harbor and the adjacent antiques quarter with a collection of one-off souvenirs. 

If you could only pick one street in Nice to go out on, rue Bonaparte would be my recommendation, with cool dining and drinking venues like local favorite Café Paulette and popular street food spot Kalōs. A couple of streets down, rue Lascaris is the spot for a fine dining splurge, especially at South African chef Jan Hendrik van der Westhuizen’s moody duo of dining spots, the Michelin-starred Jan and the more casual Bistrot de Jan next door. This is Nice’s LGBTQ+ district and an ideal base for anyone looking to have the city's hottest addresses at their doorstep. Right in the heart of it is the Hôtel du Pin, although the flip side to the great location is the size of the rooms (they’re compact). Closer to the harbor, tucked away from the bustle at the eastern edge of the city, the church-run Le Saint Paul is calm with the best-value seafront rooms in Nice. At the other end of the scale, Mama Shelter brings the hotel brand’s signature cool design and buzzy bar and restaurant scene to the city.

6. Libération 

Best for markets and a local vibe

Libération, located in the north of the city, is the farthest neighborhood from the beach, but what it lacks in a sea breeze, it makes up for in a local feel. This is one of Nice's most family-friendly and least touristy districts. At the heart of it all is Place du Général de Gaulle, with a playground, plenty of cute cafés, a renovated train station turned cultural center and food hall and, from Tuesday to Saturday, Libération markets, the city’s favorite fruit and vegetable markets. Much of the accommodation is charming, family-run two- and three-star hotels with gardens in old niçois villas, such as Villa Saint Hubert.

7. Cimiez

Best for Roman history and art museums

Hilly Cimiez was founded by the Romans as Cemenelum, a separate settlement from the Greek outpost on the Colline du Château. Over the centuries, it grew into one of Nice’s most elegant hoods, with wide, tree-lined streets and grand apartment blocks such as Le Regina, where Queen Victoria preferred to stay during her regular winter visits to the Côte d’Azur (it’s now private residences). Come for your history fix at the Musée Archéologique de Nice-Cimiez, where you can walk through the ruins of Roman baths and add on an art hit: two of France’s finest museums are found in Cimiez: the Musée National Marc Chagall and the Musée Matisse. Afterward, relax under the shade of olive trees at the Jardin des Arènes de Cimiez, the city’s most magical public garden. Cimiez is enough of a walk from the city center that it’s not the most convenient of locations to stay, however - that’s why you won’t find many hotels or even restaurants and bars in this predominantly residential quarter.