Nice guide
Nice is beautiful enough to attract visitors and alive enough not to depend on them. That may be its best quality.
Nice works because it is not built solely for people who come to look at it. Behind the Promenade is a real city, neighbourhoods with their own lives, a market that starts early and locals who have better things to do than pose in your holiday.
If you only have one day
Cours Saleya before everyone else
From Tuesday to Sunday the market fills Old Nice in the morning. Monday is antiques day. Either way, early is better. Other visitors have read the same guide.
Castle Hill
For the view over the Baie des Anges, Old Nice and the Port. There is no castle. Louis XIV dealt with that. The name survived beautifully.
Eat Niçoise food, not necessarily on the seafront
Socca, petits farcis, daube, pissaladière, chard pie. The local repertoire is far better than the international treatment of salade niçoise suggests.
The Port and Cap de Nice
Walk east through Port Lympia towards Franck Pilatte. The city quietens, the coastline gets rockier and the coastal path continues beyond La Réserve above Coco Beach.
Swim
Ponchettes for convenience. La Réserve or Coco Beach if you want the eastern side of town. In summer, supervised beaches operate to published hours. The Mediterranean does not read them.
For a first Riviera trip, stay in Nice rather than Cannes. More city, more contrast, better transport base. Cannes will recover.
If you have a second day
Cimiez
Head uphill for a different city: the Matisse Museum, Roman remains, olive gardens and the monastery gardens sit close together. The Matisse Museum is closed on Tuesdays. Useful information, particularly on a Tuesday.
Old Nice with no objective
Go back without an itinerary. An old town is perfectly capable of surviving ten minutes without Google Maps.
From the airport
Tram line 2 serves both terminals, Jean Médecin and Port Lympia. Lignes d’Azur currently states roughly one airport tram every eight minutes on weekdays. The dedicated Aéro return ticket is currently listed at €10. Check before travelling, because public transport occasionally develops new opinions.
What we would not do
Spend the entire trip on the Promenade des Anglais. Nearly 7 km, very beautiful, still not the whole city.
Do Nice, Èze, Monaco and Menton in one day. You will return with excellent station photography.
Arrive at Cours Saleya at noon in August and complain that Nice is touristy. It is considerably less so at 8:30 am.