Nice is the queen of the French Riviera — a city of azure water, ochre facades and palm-lined boulevards curving around the Baie des Anges. Founded by Greek colonists around 350 BC as Nikaia, city of victory, it spent centuries under the Dukes of Savoy before joining France in 1860, and its blend of Italian warmth and French elegance is still what locals celebrate when they call it Nissa la Bella — Nice the Beautiful. It's a city built for unhurried discovery, and with self-guided audio tours you can wander it at your own pace while the stories behind each landmark play in your ears.
The invention of the Riviera
Nice is where the whole idea of the Riviera holiday was born. From the late 18th century, British aristocrats began wintering here for the mild climate, and in the 1820s the English community funded a seaside path that grew into the Promenade des Anglais — seven kilometers of Mediterranean seafront, iconic blue chairs and Belle Époque splendor, crowned by the pink dome of the Hôtel Negresco (1912). Russian nobility followed, leaving behind the onion-domed Saint-Nicolas Orthodox Cathedral, one of the finest outside Russia. In 2021 UNESCO inscribed Nice as the Winter Resort Town of the Riviera — and an audio guide turns that stroll along the water into a walk through two centuries of glamour.
Old Town lanes and market mornings
Behind the seafront, Vieux Nice is a tangle of narrow baroque lanes where laundry hangs between shuttered windows and the scent of socca — the local chickpea pancake — drifts from hole-in-the-wall kitchens. Mornings belong to the Cours Saleya flower and produce market; afternoons to hidden squares, the baroque Cathédrale Sainte-Réparate and the grand red arcades of Place Masséna. Climb (or ride the lift up) Castle Hill for the classic panorama over rooftops, port and bay, with a waterfall and the ruins of the city's medieval fortress at the top.
Art, light and easy escapes
The Riviera light seduced painters, and Nice keeps their legacy: Matisse's collection fills a 17th-century villa amid the Roman ruins of Cimiez, while the Marc Chagall National Museum glows with his biblical cycle and stained glass. When you're ready to roam further, the perched medieval village of Èze and the pastel harbor of Villefranche-sur-Mer are minutes away — each with its own story waiting to be told as you explore.
Sea, market, museum, mountain village — few cities pack so much Riviera into a single day's walk.