A riot of colour and life: rediscovering Nice

Lunchtime on a warm spring Saturday on the Cours Saleya – Nice’s famous flower market, tucked away just one row of elegant fin de siècle buildings from the sea – and it’s hard to see how any business can be open in town, apart from restaurants and cafés. Everyone, it seems, is here; every table taken beneath the canopies and parasols, queues forming outside the most popular eateries, every bench taken with families tucking into paper-wrapped socca – a salty chickpea pancake – or gelati. It feels like high summer; the sky is a vivid blue, the palazzos and mansions beneath blazing butter yellow and warm, burnished terracotta.

It’s years since I’ve visited Nice, and the grand dame of the Côte d’Azur has certainly had a facelift in the intervening time. The town’s grandiose squares have been repaved, frontages repainted and a new tram system has gone some way to calming the gridlocked traffic. Palm trees billow in the breeze; on the Promenade des Anglais, neat lines of deckchairs are all taken, rows of faces tipped towards the sun. After the grey drizzle of home, it’s like stepping into an Insta-filtered world; a riot of colour and life.

And yet Nice has somehow dropped off the radar in recent years, its old-school glamour superseded by edgier, hipper weekend break destinations in eastern Europe and Spain. But the Victorians who first made the resort famous in the mid-19th century weren’t wrong. Easily reachable – a TGV ride from Paris or Lille – Nice is the most accessible town on the Cote d’Azur in other ways, too. Alongside the rash of five-star hotels and Michelin-starred eateries, there are plenty of affordable places to stay and good cheap eats, giving the town a more bohemian, youthful air than its grander sibling, Cannes, just up the coast.

As with any small city, the best way to explore Nice is on foot, and I set off across the Place Masséna – one of the town’s biggest squares, with scarlet-hued palazzos left as a legacy of the centuries of Italian rule – to walk along the Promenade des Anglais to the shady lattice of streets that make up the Old Town. I weave my way through the Cours Saleya flower market– past swathes of purple bougainvillea and neat lines of pots filled with hibiscus and sweetly-scented jasmine – and dip into the quiet alleyways, dotted with boutiques, galleries and gelaterias.

Although there are plenty of touristic shops in the Old Town, there are still gems to be found. I drop into Trésors Publics to browse the eclectic mix of ceramics, stationery, cosmetics and perfume – all artisan-made in France – and pick up olive oil and herb mixes from Nicolas Alziari, as shoppers have been doing since the store first opened in 1932. A dip into the Fromagerie Métin reveals the glass cabinets stacked with rounds of grey-skinned chèvre, wedges of nutty mountain cheeses and slabs of navy-veined blue. Peckish, I stop for socca and a can of pop (for the princely sum of £3) eaten at an outdoor, rickety bench at Lou Pilha Leva (10 Rue de Collet).

If food is one of Nice’s passions, the other is art. Claude Monet’s visit to the Côte d’Azur in 1885 opened the door for some of the greatest painters of the era – Picasso, Chagall and Matisse among others – drawn by the extraordinary, pin-sharp light and the picturesque montage of sea and mountain scenery. It would be quite possible to spend an entire weekend doing nothing but visiting galleries, but the Musée Matisse is the highlight, a collection of 130 works from his own collection, which charts the life, travels and changing techniques of one of France’s best-loved artists.

But in spite of the wealth of galleries and museums, Nice really is an alfresco kind of town. On my second day, I head up the winding staircase at the eastern end of the Promenade des Anglais, and find myself in the leafy Jardins du Colline, with wonderful views across the sea in one direction, and north to Provence, and the foothills of the Alps in the other. The park is filled with families, couples sitting beneath the trees, elderly men in flat caps and knitted cardigans sitting like bookends on the benches, eyes closed against the warm sun.

It’s this I think, that makes Nice so special; the sense that the glamour and beauty is appreciated as much by locals as visitors; that in spite of its status as a major tourist hub for two centuries, there is still an authentic French heart. I round off my weekend with lunch at Restaurant Safari where £20 buys me a huge plate of Niçoise appetisers, including crispy cod beignet, artichoke salad and stuffed peppers, rich with oil. In a way, it’s the perfect metaphor for the town itself: a mix of tradition and modernity, a little bit indulgent – and an absolute treat.

Three places to spend the night in Nice

Budget The rooms may be compact at this price option from French hotel chain Happy Culture, but they come with all the essentials: comfortable beds, free wifi and complimentary tea, coffee and water in reception. Hotel Nap’s location – at the heart of the Old Town – makes exploring super easy, with dozens of restaurants nearby.
Rooms from £52, hotel-nap.com

Mid-level Immerse yourself in Nice’s artistic vibe, with a stay at the Hotel Windsor where each of the rooms are designed by a different artist, featuring works encompassing everything from graffiti to paintings and sculpture. The charming patio terrace is a lovely retreat on hot days, and the restaurant offers classic brasserie dishes.
Rooms from £78, hotelwindsornice.com

Bling The most talked-about opening this year, the Anantara Plaza is the rebirth of one of Nice’s finest belle epoque buildings, with lovely views of the Jardins Albert 1er to the sea. The big draw is the rooftop cocktail bar and restaurant, Seen by Olivier, where a glass of rosé and a lobster roll might just be the perfect Nicoise lunch.
Rooms from £234, anantara.com