Things to Do in Nice, France: Walking Guide

The best things to do in Nice range from exploring the Baroque landmarks of Vieux-Nice to discovering Russian Orthodox architecture, historic military sites and museums devoted to art. The city rewards slow exploration, with distinctive places spread across its old center, hills and former port districts. Neywo offers a free audio guide for Nice with 132 narrated places.

What to See in Nice

Palais de la Préfecture

In Vieux-Nice, the Palais de la Préfecture connects the city’s royal past with its present-day administration. Its entrance of honour opens onto Place Pierre-Gautier, and the building now houses the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes and serves as the prefect’s residence.

Before Nice became part of France in 1860, the palace was a royal residence of the kings of Piedmont-Sardinia. Earlier still, before 1720, it had been the palace of the dukes of Savoy in Nice. Major changes in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries mean little of the original building survives, but the palace has been listed, and partly classified, as a historic monument since 1996.

Nice Cathedral

Nice Cathedral, or Sainte-Réparate Cathedral, stands at 3 Place Rossetti in the heart of Vieux-Nice. It is a Catholic cathedral and the seat of the Diocese of Nice, dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin Mary and Saint Reparata.

The present Baroque building began in 1650, with its main body completed in 1685. It was consecrated in 1699, although additions and decorative work continued until 1949. Its long construction history is part of what gives this old-city landmark its layered character.

Palais Lascaris

The Palais Lascaris is a former aristocratic residence devoted today to early musical instruments. Built in the first half of the seventeenth century for the Lascaris de Vintimille family, it contains around 500 instruments.

The palace is also one of Nice’s most richly decorated interiors. Frescoed salons, a grand staircase and ornamental stucco make it the finest example of Genoese Baroque in the city. The architects remain unknown, but the building’s Genoese Baroque character is unmistakable.

Monument to Giuseppe Garibaldi and the Chapelle du Saint-Sépulcre

Place Garibaldi brings together two notable landmarks. The monument to Giuseppe Garibaldi has stood in the square since its inauguration in 1891.

The Chapelle du Saint-Sépulcre, also known as the Chapel of the Blue Penitents, was built between 1782 and 1784 by Antoine Spinelli. Its façade combines Neoclassical and Late Baroque elements, while a balcony added in 1841 enriches the interior. The chapel has been recognized as a Monument historique since 2000.

Musée des Beaux-Arts Jules Chéret

The Musée des Beaux-Arts Jules Chéret occupies a former private mansion built in 1878 for the Russian Princess Elizaveta Vasilievna Kochubey. Its Neo-Renaissance architecture provides a distinctive setting for works associated especially with French artists of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

The museum opened on 7 January 1928 as the Palais des Arts Jules Chéret. It later became closely associated with Jules Chéret, the painter and poster artist who lived and worked in Nice during his final years and died in the city in 1932.

Russian Orthodox Cathedral

The Russian Orthodox Cathedral of Saint Nicholas is one of Nice’s most distinctive religious landmarks and the largest Eastern Orthodox cathedral in Western Europe. Built at the beginning of the twentieth century, it opened in 1912 with assistance from Russia’s Tsar Nicholas II.

The cathedral reflects the importance of Russian Orthodox worship in Nice. It is owned by the Russian Federation and belongs to the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate. Its history also includes a legal dispute over ownership, settled in 2011, after which the congregation came under the Russian Orthodox Church’s Korsun diocese.

Abbey of St Pons

The Abbey of St Pons is one of the oldest monastic foundations on the French Riviera, alongside Lérins Abbey. Its origins date to between 774 and 800, when the original monastery was entrusted to the Benedictines. The monastery was destroyed by the Saracens in 890 during a failed attack on Nice.

The present church was rebuilt in 1724 in the Baroque style. In 1860, the monastery was dissolved and the building became state property before being sold to the city of Nice. It later became an annex of Saint Roch Hospital, while the church became the parish church of Saint Pons. The church was classified as a monument historique in 1913, and the façades and roofs of the church and cloister received protection in 1949.

Villa Arson

On the northern hillside of Saint-Barthélemy, Villa Arson combines contemporary art, education, creation and research across a two-hectare estate. The complex includes the École Nationale Supérieure d’Arts de Nice, a contemporary-art centre, an artists’ residence and a specialised multimedia library.

Its twenty-thousand-square-metre site brings together the original villa, exhibition spaces, workshops, student accommodation and gardens. The institution was inaugurated in 1972 under the authority of the French Ministry of Culture. The art school, founded in Nice in 1881, moved there that year, and an art museum was added in 1973.

Caserne Lympia

Caserne Lympia, also known as Espace Lympia, has a distinctly penal history. The site was home to the prison of Nice, reserved for forced labour, from 1770 to 1854. It could accommodate as many as 200 convicts and stood east of the Port of Nice, at the far end of Quai d’Entrecasteaux.

Its location makes it a useful stop when exploring the city’s port area and the historic institutions connected with it.

Sainte Jeanne d’Arc Church and Saint-Roch Church

Sainte Jeanne d’Arc Church stands in the Fuon-Cauda district and is dedicated to Joan of Arc. Its highly original white architecture has earned it the nickname “the Meringue”. The design has divided opinion in Nice, but the church has been a protected historic monument since June 1992.

Saint-Roch Church, or Église Saint-Roch, offers a quieter religious landmark elsewhere in the city. It is a Catholic church in Nice, in the Alpes-Maritimes department.

Fort of Mont Alban

The Fort of Mont Alban occupies the hill between Nice and the harbor of Villefranche-sur-Mer. Built between 1557 and 1560 after the Siege of Nice in 1543, it formed part of the military defenses of this strategic height.

The fort is a remarkably well-preserved example of military architecture from the middle of the sixteenth century. Only a small number of French fortifications from this period survive in such good condition.

Statue de Masséna

The bronze Statue de Masséna commemorates Marshal André Masséna and now forms part of the Promenade du Paillon. Created by Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse, it was inaugurated in 1869.

The statue originally stood in the former Square Général-Leclerc, on the oldest section of the Paillon to have been covered between 1866 and 1868. Today, it remains part of the promenade’s surroundings.

Explore Nice with a Self-Guided Audio Guide

A Nice self-guided walking tour lets you discover the city without joining a group or following a fixed schedule. Neywo has five walking tours, one bus route and one bike route in Nice, covering 132 narrated places in total. Narration is available in 11 languages.

The five walks include:

• Vieux-Nice: 1.37 km, 118 minutes and 12 narrated stops.
• Place Masséna and the gardens of the Paillon: 3.11 km, 113 minutes and 12 stops.
• Cimiez: 3.49 km, 119 minutes and 10 stops.
• Castle Hill, the port and Mont Boron: 3.78 km, 114 minutes and 9 stops.
• Russian Nice: 3.35 km, 101 minutes and 8 stops.

There is also a 3.8 km, 16-minute bus route with 7 stops, and a 1.4 km, 7-minute bike route with 4 stops. The app tells the story of each place as you reach it, at your own pace, with no group and no schedule.

Download Neywo and explore Nice with a free audio guide that turns the city’s streets, churches, palaces and hills into a narrated journey. You can also continue exploring the region with Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, or discover nearby Villefranche-sur-Mer, Menton and Èze.