Nice is one of France's biggest cities, capital of the Cote d'Azur. Located on the Mediterrean Sea, on the country's south-east coast, it's a sun-drenched tourist magnet popular with Brits since the late 18th century!
There's a promenade named in honour of these early visitors - the Promenade des Anglais (the Walkway of the English).
The Promenade des Anglais sweeps around the Bay of Angels, a stretch of about five miles.
The Old Town, Vieux Nice, is a delightful part of Nice. Like other Old Towns in Europe its streets are narrow, warren-like and higgledy-piggledy. There are little shops and restaurants, cafes and bars. Vieux Nice is a wonderful place to while away a few hours watching the locals going about their business.
The Cours Saleya is a riot of colour on flower market mornings. Markets are on every day except for Monday.
Artists flocked to this part of France for the light and the colour. There are some wonderful museums showing artists' best works. Among them is Musee Matisse on Cimiez Hill, which houses some of his most wonderful art works. Musée Marc Chagall on Avenue Dr Ménard is packed with Chagall's works. His 17 major Biblical Message tableaux are housed here.
Nice has a packed calendar of events and rarely a month goes by when there's nothing on. The festival year starts with opera in January, the carnival season runs from mid-February to the start of March (depending on Easter dates of course) and the jazz festival is on in July. The Jeux de la Francophonie is on every September and the Nice-Cannes Marathon rounds out the year in November.
Plenty of airlines fly to Nice and from Nice-Côte d’Azur Airport transfers are reasonably priced.
Public transport is a breeze. To make your holiday cash go further, there’s a French Riviera Pass, which offers access to museums, an open-top bus tour and lots of other tourist attractions on the Côte d’Azur. It costs about €50 for a three-day stay.