5 Days in Nice — Sun, Art, and the Bluest Sea You’ve Ever Seen

I’ve been to Nice three times now, and every single time the Côte d’Azur light catches me off guard. There’s something about the way the sun hits the water along the Promenade des Anglais that makes the whole world look like a Matisse painting — which makes sense, because Matisse moved here for exactly that reason. He came for the light and stayed for decades. I understand the impulse completely.

My first visit was a quick overnight on the way to Monaco. The second was a long weekend that ended too soon. This time, I gave myself five full days, determined to go deeper — beyond the postcard views of the Baie des Anges and the tourist-packed old town restaurants. I wanted the real Nice: the markets where locals actually shop, the hilltop villages in the backcountry, the quiet corners of the city where the Belle Époque architecture crumbles beautifully in the salt air.

What I found was a city that’s far more complex and interesting than its reputation as a retirement destination or cruise ship stop suggests. Nice is gritty in places, elegant in others, always warm, always surprising. Five days turned out to be just right — enough to explore thoroughly without rushing, with time left over for the essential Riviera activity of doing absolutely nothing on a beach.

Day 1: The Old Town and Castle Hill

I checked into a hotel near the Promenade des Anglais in the late morning and immediately headed for Vieux Nice, the old town. The narrow streets here are painted in every shade of ochre, rust, and terracotta, and the shutters come in that specific Mediterranean blue-green that photographs so well. Laundry hangs between buildings, baroque churches appear around corners, and the sound of accordion music drifts from somewhere you can never quite locate.

My first stop was the Cours Saleya market, which runs every morning except Monday. It’s a riot of color — flowers, fruits, vegetables, olives, socca (the local chickpea flatbread), and lavender everything. I grabbed a portion of socca from a vendor who’d been making it for thirty years. It’s simple — just chickpea flour, olive oil, and salt, baked in a wood-fired oven until crispy — but the flavor is nutty and satisfying in a way that surprises you.

After wandering the old town, I hiked up to Castle Hill (Colline du Château), the park that sits on the rocky promontory at the eastern end of the Promenade. The castle itself is long gone, destroyed in the 18th century, but the park is lovely — shaded paths, a waterfall, and what is probably the best panoramic view of Nice. From up here, you can see the entire sweep of the Baie des Anges, the terracotta rooftops of the old town below, and on a clear day, the distant snowy peaks of the Alps. I sat on a bench for a long time, just looking.

That evening I booked a food tour through the old town that introduced me to Niçois specialties I hadn’t tried before — pissaladière (an onion tart with anchovies and olives), pan bagnat (essentially a salade Niçoise in sandwich form), and tourte de blettes, a Swiss chard pie that can be either savory or sweet. The sweet version, dusted with powdered sugar, was unexpectedly delicious.

Day 2: Museums and the Promenade

Nice has an embarrassment of riches when it comes to art museums, and I’d set aside Day 2 to visit the ones I cared about most. First up was the Musée Matisse, housed in a beautiful 17th-century Genoese villa in the Cimiez neighborhood. I grabbed tickets for the Matisse Museum in advance, which saved time at the entrance. The collection spans Matisse’s entire career, from early still lifes to the famous paper cut-outs of his final years. Seeing his work in the city that inspired so much of it adds a layer of meaning you don’t get in Paris or New York.

Nearby in Cimiez, I also visited the Musée Marc Chagall, which houses the largest public collection of Chagall’s work. His “Biblical Message” paintings are enormous, vivid, and deeply moving — all jewel-toned blues and floating figures. The stained glass windows in the museum’s concert hall alone are worth the visit.

The afternoon was for the Promenade des Anglais, Nice’s iconic seafront boulevard. I walked the full four-kilometer stretch, from the airport end to the old town, watching joggers, cyclists, and rollerbladers share the wide path while the Mediterranean sparkled to my left. The beaches here are famously pebbly rather than sandy — uncomfortable at first, but you get used to it, and the water is incredibly clear. I rented a lounger at one of the private beach clubs, ordered a glass of rosé, and spent a couple of hours doing nothing whatsoever. It felt like exactly the right use of my time.

Day 3: Day Trip to Èze and Monaco

The hilltop villages of the Riviera backcountry are some of the most picturesque places I’ve ever visited, and Èze is the crown jewel. I booked a day trip to Èze and Monaco that departed from Nice’s Promenade in the morning.

Èze is a medieval village perched on a rocky peak 427 meters above the sea. The streets are so narrow that two people can barely pass each other, and the stone buildings are draped in bougainvillea. At the very top is the Jardin Exotique, a cactus garden with views that make you gasp — on a clear day you can see all the way to Corsica. Nietzsche used to walk the path from the coast up to Èze (it’s still called the Nietzsche Path), and he reportedly conceived parts of Thus Spoke Zarathustra during those climbs. Standing at the top, you understand how a place this dramatic could inspire philosophy.

Monaco, just a few kilometers east, is a different world entirely. It’s all supercars and designer shops and gleaming yachts, a tiny principality that runs on glamour and money. I visited the Prince’s Palace for the changing of the guard, walked through the Jardin Exotique (another one, different from Èze’s), and stood at the famous hairpin turn of the Monaco Grand Prix circuit, trying to imagine F1 cars screaming through at 260 km/h. The Oceanographic Museum, built into the cliff face, is genuinely impressive — Jacques Cousteau directed it for decades.

We were back in Nice by early evening, and I had dinner at a restaurant near the port, where I ate the best salade Niçoise of my life — and yes, the authentic version has no lettuce, no cooked vegetables, and uses raw everything except the eggs and tuna.

Day 4: The Backcountry and Local Life

I wanted to see a different side of the region on Day 4, so I picked up a rental car from Nice and headed into the hills. My destination was Saint-Paul-de-Vence, another perched village about 20 kilometers from the coast, famous for its art galleries and as a haven for artists and writers since the 1920s.

The drive through the backcountry is beautiful — winding roads through terraced hillsides covered in olive groves and mimosa trees. Saint-Paul-de-Vence is tiny enough to walk in fifteen minutes, but I spent hours there, ducking into galleries, admiring the ramparts, and having lunch on a terrace overlooking the valley. The Fondation Maeght, a modern art museum just outside the village walls, has an outstanding collection — Miró, Giacometti, Calder — displayed partly outdoors among pine trees and fountains.

On the way back, I stopped in Antibes to walk through the Marché Provençal (another fantastic food market) and along the old ramparts. The Musée Picasso, housed in the Grimaldi Castle where Picasso actually lived and worked in 1946, has a small but fascinating collection of his Antibes-period paintings and ceramics.

Back in Nice, I spent the evening in the Libération neighborhood, away from the tourist center. The local market around Place du Général de Gaulle had closed by then, but the restaurants and bars in the area were lively and refreshingly unpretentious. I ate pasta with pistou (the Niçois version of pesto) at a place where I was the only non-local, which is always a good sign.

Day 5: Villefranche and Farewell

For my last day, I wanted one more dose of Riviera coastline. I took the train to Villefranche-sur-Mer, just two stops east of Nice. The train hugs the coast, and when you step off at Villefranche, you’re greeted by one of the most beautiful bays on the entire Mediterranean — a deep, sheltered harbor with water so clear you can see fish swimming from the jetty.

Villefranche is quieter and smaller than Nice, with a pastel-colored waterfront, a 16th-century citadel, and a covered street called Rue Obscure that’s been in continuous use since the 13th century. It feels almost eerily atmospheric — dark, vaulted, echoing. I also visited the Chapelle Saint-Pierre, a small fishermen’s chapel on the waterfront that Jean Cocteau decorated in 1957 with bold, simple murals of fishermen, the life of Saint Peter, and the gypsies of Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer.

I spent the rest of the morning swimming at Villefranche’s sandy beach (a rarity on this coast), then took the train back to Nice for a final afternoon on the Promenade. I grabbed a guided tour along the Promenade that covered the history of the boulevard and the grand Belle Époque hotels that line it — the Negresco, in particular, is a landmark that tells the entire story of Nice’s transformation from a quiet fishing village to an international resort.

My last meal was socca and a glass of Bellet wine (from Nice’s own tiny wine appellation — yes, they make wine right in the city) at a terrace in the old town, watching the sky turn gold over the rooftops.

Practical Tips & Budget

Getting There and Around

• Nice Côte d’Azur Airport is the third busiest in France. Tram Line 2 connects the airport to the city center in about 25 minutes for €1.50 — one of the best airport transport deals in Europe.
• Within Nice, the tram and bus network is excellent and cheap. A single ticket covers 74 minutes of travel for €1.50.
• For day trips along the coast (Monaco, Villefranche, Antibes), trains are frequent and affordable. A car is only necessary for the backcountry villages.

Where to Stay

• Old Town / Cours Saleya: Central, lively, great for first-timers. Can be noisy at night.
• Carré d’Or (the Golden Square): Upscale area near the Promenade, good for splurging.
• Libération / Port: More local feel, better value. My recommendation for a longer stay.
• Budget roughly €90-180/night for a comfortable room in the center.

Food & Drink

• Socca, pissaladière, and pan bagnat are cheap and delicious street food staples (€3-6 each).
• A mid-range restaurant meal costs about €20-35 per person. Seafood is excellent along the port.
• Don’t skip the rosé — Provence rosé on the Riviera is a life-defining experience.

Money

• Nice is more affordable than you’d expect for the Côte d’Azur, especially if you avoid the waterfront tourist traps in the old town. The streets one block back are noticeably cheaper.

Budget Summary (5 Days, Solo Traveler)

• Accommodation: €450-900
• Food & drink: €250-400
• Activities & museums: €100-200
• Transport (trains, tram, car rental): €80-150
• Total estimate: €880-1,650

Nice is proof that a city can be both glamorous and genuine. Beneath the Riviera sheen, there’s a real place with real food, real art, and a real relationship with the sea. Five days let you see past the postcard and into the soul of the city — and that’s where the magic is.