Nice, France-4-day-itinerary

There’s no such village as Saint-Pierre-de-Toulon, and La Croisette is Cannes’ beach promenade, not Nice’s. Get those two mixed up and you’ll waste a chunk of a short trip chasing places that don’t exist where you think they do. Here’s an actual four days in Nice, with the real hilltop villages, real transit lines, and real dishes.

Day 1: Arrival and Old Town

Nice Côte d’Azur Airport connects to the city center via Tram Line 2, running to Port Lympia in about 25 to 30 minutes for 1.70 euros a single ticket, or 10 euros for a round-trip airport ticket that includes a 74-minute transfer window onto other buses and trams. This beats a taxi on both cost and, often, speed given traffic on the Promenade. Skip line 98 references you might see in older guides; the tram is now the standard route.

Check in and head straight for the Old Town. Cathédrale Sainte-Réparate is worth a quick look for its baroque interior, but the real activity here is just walking the narrow streets, ducking into small shops, and getting slightly lost, that’s the point of Nice’s old quarter. For lunch, grab a pan bagnat, essentially a salade niçoise stuffed into a round bread roll with tuna, olives, and anchovies for purists; Chez Felix has been making them since 1966 and is considered the standard-bearer. In the evening, walk the Promenade des Anglais at golden hour, when the light off the Baie des Anges is genuinely worth the crowds.

Day 2: Beaches, Harbor, and Chagall

Start at Place Masséna, then head down to the beach. Nice’s public beaches are pebble, not sand, which surprises first-timers, so bring water shoes or expect to wince a bit walking in. Public sections are free; private beach clubs charge for loungers and umbrellas, and it’s worth paying once just to see the difference in the crowd and amenities.

The Chagall Museum, dedicated entirely to Marc Chagall’s biblical-themed works, is one of the better single-artist museums in France and worth two unhurried hours. Afterward, walk the port area (Port Lympia) to see the boats; it’s smaller and more low-key than the yacht harbors further along the Riviera in Antibes or Monaco, so temper expectations if you’re picturing superyachts.

For a memorable splurge dinner, book well ahead at a Michelin-recognized restaurant in the hills above Nice or in nearby Beaulieu-sur-Mer; reservations for the well-known coastal fine-dining spots fill weeks out in summer, so this is not a same-week decision if you’re visiting June through August.

Day 3: Hilltop Villages

Skip any itinerary that sends you to a fictional “Saint-Pierre-de-Toulon.” The real hilltop day trip options from Nice are Èze and Saint-Paul-de-Vence, and they’re different enough in character to justify picking based on your mood rather than defaulting to whichever is more famous.

Èze is the closer, more dramatic option: a medieval village perched on a rock spur with sweeping Mediterranean views, reachable by bus 82 (Lignes d’Azur) or bus 602 (the regional Zou network, which replaced the old bus 112) in about 30 minutes. Load a rechargeable Lignes d’Azur card before you go; a single ticket costs 1.70 euros on the card versus 4 euros if bought from the driver, and it’s included if you’re already holding a day or week pass.

Saint-Paul-de-Vence, an art-world favorite since the mid-20th century, no longer has a direct bus from Nice. Take the train to Cagnes-sur-Mer, about 15 minutes, then transfer to bus 655 for Saint-Paul or Vence; note your Lignes d’Azur ticket doesn’t cover that transfer, you’ll need to buy a fresh 2.10-euro ticket from the driver. Doing both villages as a loop through Cagnes-sur-Mer in one day is possible if you start early, but it’s a full day, not an afternoon add-on.

Back in Nice for the evening, head to Cours Saleya, the flower and produce market by day that becomes an open-air dining strip by night. Try socca here, a thin chickpea-flour pancake cooked over a wood fire in a wide copper pan and served hot, cut into rough pieces. Théresa’s socca stand at the market has real standing among locals, though Chez Pipo down at the port claims the title of best socca in the city and has the sign, “Aquì, si mangia la socca,” to prove it.

Day 4: Musée Matisse and Departure

If you didn’t fit in the Chagall Museum earlier or want a second art stop, Musée Matisse, set in a 17th-century villa surrounded by olive trees, rounds out Nice’s genuinely strong art museum offering. Spend your last morning here or back in the Old Town for final souvenir shopping rather than splitting the day between both; Nice rewards a slower pace over a checklist approach, especially on a departure day when you don’t want to be rushing across town.

Getting Around

Lignes d’Azur runs Nice’s buses and trams. A single ticket costs 1.70 euros, and it’s worth buying a rechargeable card at any tram stop rather than paying the driver premium repeatedly; day and week passes exist and pay for themselves quickly if you’re taking more than two or three rides a day. Taxis exist but cost meaningfully more and rarely beat the tram for the airport run specifically.

Practical Notes

Nice runs warm and dry May through September, with July and August bringing serious crowds and higher prices across restaurants and hotels; if your dates are flexible, late May, June, or September give you similar weather with noticeably more breathing room. The city is generally safe by any standard measure, though normal city awareness around bags and pockets in busy tourist areas like the Old Town and the Promenade applies here as much as anywhere.

Learn a handful of French phrases before you go; Nice sits close enough to Italy and draws enough international tourism that English gets you by, but a bonjour and merci go a long way with shopkeepers and older residents in particular. And when in doubt about a dish, order the pan bagnat or the socca rather than something unfamiliar sounding on a menu that promises to be a Nice specialty; both are genuinely native to this city and rarely disappoint.