Nice France Itinerary: How to Spend 2 Days in Nice!

A Nice France itinerary! Nice is an incredibly beautiful city and the water is TRULY as blue as the term “Côte de Azure” indicates. It is a great mix of historic charm, coastal vibes and great shopping. It can be hard to narrow down which places to add to your French Riviera itinerary, but Nice must be on it (especially for your first trip to the French Riviera!)

Though you can spend loads of time exploring everything Nice has to offer, if you are headed to the French Riviera for 6-7 days (like us!), I don’t recommend spending all of your time in Nice. There is just so much to see and so many amazing small cities in the South of France!

Therefore, I recommend spending about 2 days in Nice in which you will be able to explore the old town of Nice, enjoy the beach and still have time to visit some of the other main sites around the city.

Here is how to spend 2 days exploring the city of Nice, France!

Spend 2 days exploring the beauty of Nice!

• Day 1: Harbor, Viewpoints, Old Town
• Day 2: Newer Portion of Nice, Promenade, Beach Time
• Options for an additional day in Nice and day trips

Morning: Explore the Harbor & The East Side of the City

Nice’s main harbor, Port Olympia, is one of the most eastern highlights of the city, so begin here! The harbor is beautiful, full of nice yachts, fishing boats and even cruise ships at times. And, it isn’t just the boats; the architecture around the harbor is beautiful as well!

From the harbor, continue down Quai Lunel road (M6098), which will take you toward the Adriatic Sea. There is a nice promenade walk that extends from the harbor all the way down the azure coast.

On your way to the old town you will pass by the Monument aux Morts de Rauba-Capeù, a memorial for the French soldiers that died in World War I.

• The monument is bigger than the picture makes it out to look below; its 32 meters (nearly 105 feet) high and carved into the rocky cliffside. Its quite impressive.

If you continue down the coastline, you will run into the “I Love Nice” sign. Whether you want the photo opportunity with the sign or not, THIS is where you get the BEST view of the blue waters and the palm tree-lined promenade of Nice!

By the “I Love Nice” sign is a pathway up to the Colline du Château and the Point de vue Colline du Château. Colline du Château is a park with a manmade waterfall and a cafe that sits atop a hill that towers over Nice, just west of the port.

You will also find a cemetery at the top of the hill, all of which will provide you with panoramic views of the promenade on one side and the port on the other side.

• Be prepared for quite the climb to the top, but it is definitley the highest point in Nice.
• I still think the view by the “I Love Nice” sign makes for some of the best photos due to having a closer proximity to the blue waters, however, both will be worth seeing if you have time!

Bonus Activity!

Afternoon/Evening: Old Town

Spend the afternoon exploring old town Nice! Nice’s old town is picturesque with beautiful pastel colors and incredible architecture. A lot of the highlights of Nice you will want to see in your 2 days in Nice will be found here.

From the viewpoints of Nice, you can take a walk down the promenade a little way and enter the old town.

Start by visiting the Cours Saleya. This is a great market that sales beautiful flowers, souvenirs, food and more! However, on Mondays you will find an antique/flea market (from what I have read! We visited on a Saturday).

Next, head a little deeper into the old town of Nice to the Nice Cathedral and Place Rosetti. This is one of Nice’s liveliest areas and most beautiful squares! You will find lots of shops and restaurants here and can spend a lot of time winding down the small streets that stem from the square.

After shopping around, make your way to the Palace de Justice and the Tour de l’Horoge Square. Though the Palace de Justice is nothing to speak of really, the Tour de l’Horoge square is one of the main ones in Nice and the clock tower is beautiful with its pastel pink coloring!

AND, I hope you are lucky enough to visit on the day it has a flea market! If you like to shop second-hand clothing, jackets, shoes as well as other knickknacks, THIS is your market! Of the three markets we visited, this was the most unique and our favorite!

On the edge of the old town you will find the Fontaine du Soleil and Place Masséna. These are two very recognizable landmarks in Nice; the fountain and the checkered ground are hard to miss.

Just past the fountain you will begin to leave old town and step into the newer portion of Nice.

Day 1 Alternative: Walking Tour then the Port

Dinner Recommendation?

We ate at Bistrot de l’Opéra where we sat by a pair of older ladies that had eaten at the restaurant two nights in a row because they loved it.

• It is centrally located in old town Nice and affordable
• I opted for the lasagne with a balsamic salad (recommended by one of the ladies) and it was great!
• However, the reviews online are subpar, so take my recommendation with a grain of salt 😅😆

Morning: Shopping and Cathedrals

By now you should have seen most of what the old town has to offer, so spend the morning exploring outside the old town. You can visit the shopping district of Nice along Avenue Jean Médecin where you will also find the beautiful cathedral of Basilique Notre-Dame de l’Assomption.

Another interesting cathedral to visit is the Russian Orthodox cathedral, Cathedral of Saint Nicholas. It has the traditional Russian style architecture and is very different from the other cathedrals found in Nice.

*I failed to get a photo of the Notre-Dame cathedral and we didn’t have time for the Saint Nicholas Cathedral (sadly!!!), so the photos below are not mine*

Afternoon/Evening: Beach Time and The Promenade

Spend the afternoon enjoying the promenade! If you would like to see the famous Le Negresco hotel, it is located on the far-west end of the oceanfront walk.

The Le Negresco hotel is a 5 star hotel that is over 100 years old and iconic to Nice! It has been seen the likes of a host of celebrities including Elton John, The Beatles and more! You can either admire the hotel from the outside only or you can visit the lobby and see the art for free as well.

Would I pay to stay there? Absolutely not. But, it is worth seeing the beautiful hotel towering over the oceanfront property of Nice!

As I mentioned, Le Negresco hotel is located on the oceanfront promenade, so from here you can make your way to the beach for some beach time!

Be aware, the beaches along the promenade were pretty busy when we visited in mid-September, so I can imagine it is SUPER busy during the summer months. And, do know that the beaches in Nice are made of mostly pebbles/rocks.

However, the water is INCREDIBLY blue and makes it worth spending time there! You will find water sports down the coast and on the far east beach, near the “I Love Nice” sign you will find some beach bars and restaurants to relax in as well!

Dinner Recommendation?

If you stay at the beach long enough, you are in an incredible spot to watch the sunset and watch the planes roll in (they fly super close the the Nice beaches!)

Grabbing some to-go food and having a beach picnic is an excellent choice! We saw loads of people doing this while we were watching the incredible sunset at the beach.

OR, the aforementioned ladies of our previous dinner also mentioned that they did a food walking tour and LOVED it. Sadly, we found this out a little too late, but if you want to get some dinner options and recommendations from a local, this is a great way to do it!!

The food walking tour below begins at 11am and lasts about 3 hours and provides food samplings throughout the tour. The ladies said they received great dinner and ice cream shop recommendations from the local tour guide. If I were to do Nice again, I would take a food tour!

Option 1: Museums in Nice

As you’ve probably noticed, there aren’t any museums on this itinerary and this is mostly due to my not being a big museum fan. However, Nice is home to many museums including the Marc Chagall National Museum, Musee des Arts Asiatiques, the Fine Arts Museum Musee des Beaux-Arts and more.

You can fill nearly a whole day in Nice visiting the museums!

With a whole extra day, you can even combine a day to Villefranc-sur-Mer with Saint Jean Cap Ferrat or Ezé.