A Closer Look at Nice, Beyond the Promenade and Riviera Beach Clubs
Come September, Nice’s beach clubs pack away summer one striped mattress at a time. As the loungers leave the pebbles, the city returns to the season that first made it fashionable. British and Russian visitors seeking gentler air shaped the 19th-century resort that UNESCO calls the “Winter Resort Town of the Riviera.” British residents funded the coastal path that became the Promenade des Anglais, while villas and garden hotels spread inland toward the Russian Orthodox cathedral, its onion domes rising above the palms.
For many Americans, however, Nice has long been simply where the plane landed before the car continued on to Cannes or Monaco, a habit that, over the last few years, has looked increasingly dated. In 2025, the United States remained the largest foreign market for hotels and tourist residences in the Nice Côte d’Azur metropolitan area. Airlines have noticed: La Compagnie will continue its all-business Newark service through winter 2026-27, while American Airlines will add daily JFK service in summer 2027, creating a fourth direct connection between Nice and New York.
The appeal of staying longer becomes clearer a few streets back from the waterfront. In Vieux Nice (Old Nice), small workshops and wine caves occupy the ground floors, and lunch can be as simple as socca (a crispy chickpea pancake) eaten at a market counter. These are useful neighbors when you’re staying in a grand hotel, adding a welcome dose of informality to a few days on the Riviera. Around the port, newer restaurants and bars offer reasons to return to the same streets after dark. Cimiez warrants a separate afternoon uphill, where Roman ruins and Belle Époque villas tell a longer story than the beachfront alone suggests. With autumn taking the heat out of those climbs, there’s less reason to hurry between a museum and a dinner reservation. Where you unpack your luggage will shape how you get to know the city, whether your mornings begin facing the Mediterranean or stepping out into the Old Town, which is exactly where this guide begins.
