What is it?

Nice is the sun-drenched capital of the French Riviera, a city where the Mediterranean glows an almost unreal shade of blue — the very colour that lured Matisse, Chagall and Dufy to set up their easels here. Its heart is Vieux Nice, a labyrinth of ochre and terracotta lanes strung with laundry, where you'll eat socca (a blistered chickpea pancake) straight from a copper pan and smell lavender, olives and candied fruit drifting from the Cours Saleya market. Above it all curves the Promenade des Anglais, seven kilometres of palm-lined seafront built with English money in the 19th century, still patrolled by joggers, roller-skaters and locals in the famous blue chairs. Nice only became French in 1860 — before that it belonged to the House of Savoy — and that Italian inheritance lingers in the dialect, the pasta-stuffed menus and the pastel facades. Climb Castle Hill at sunset and the whole crescent of the Baie des Anges unfurls beneath you, red rooftops meeting cobalt sea, with the Alps rising snow-tipped at your back.

Where is it?

Nice sits on France's southeastern Mediterranean coast in the Alpes-Maritimes department, roughly 30 km from the Italian border and a short hop from Monaco, Cannes, Antibes and the medieval hill village of Èze. Base yourself in Vieux Nice or the elegant Carré d'Or for walkability, and use the excellent trains and trams to reach the Matisse and Chagall museums in Cimiez or day-trip along the Côte d'Azur. May–June and September–early October offer warm seas, long evenings and thinner crowds; July and August are glorious but packed, while February brings the riotous Carnaval de Nice.

What makes it worth it?

Nice is the rare city that rewards doing almost nothing beautifully. Visitors talk about the moment they first saw the sea from the Promenade — 'that impossible blue' — or the afternoon they gave up their sightseeing plans and simply swam, ate peaches from the market and watched the light change over the bay. It's a place that recalibrates your sense of pace: three-hour lunches, aperitifs at dusk, the clack of pétanque balls under plane trees. The city has an easy generosity, too, mixing world-class art collections and Belle Époque hotels with grandmothers selling socca for a few euros. Years later, what people remember isn't a monument but a feeling — salt drying on your skin, the smell of rosemary and diesel and sea, and the certainty that you'd come back tomorrow if you could.

How accessible is it?

Nice is one of Europe's easiest destinations: Nice Côte d'Azur is France's third-busiest airport, connected to dozens of cities, and a tram links it to the centre in about 25 minutes for around €2. The Riviera welcomes millions of visitors each year and Nice itself is compact, flat along the seafront and highly walkable, though Vieux Nice's cobbles and the climb to Castle Hill (there's a free lift) can challenge those with mobility issues. Budget travellers can manage on €80–120 a day with hostels and market food; mid-range stays run €150–300 a day, while seafront palace hotels in August climb far higher. No special gear is needed beyond swimwear, sunscreen and water shoes for the pebble beaches; EU citizens need no visa and many nationalities enter France visa-free or via ETIAS. Book accommodation months ahead for July–August, Carnival or the Cannes and Monaco Grand Prix weekends, when the whole coast fills up.