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10. Must See Sights in Nice, France

1. Cimiez

Cimiez is a district of luxury villas and palatial residences in the low hills overlooking the city. A monument dedicated to Queen Victoria outside her favourite winter residence – the recently renovated Hotel Regina – serves as a reminder that Cimiez was frequently visited by royalty at the turn of the century. It is still considered to be Nice’s smartest residential quarter. The remains of a small amphitheatre have also been excavated at the top of the Boulevard de Cimiez. A small, modern museum (Musée d’Archéologie) displays the finds and illustrates the city’s history from the Bronze age to medieval times.

2. Marc Chagall Museum

Located in the heart of a Mediterranean Garden at the foot of Cimiez hill is the striking, modern Marc Chagall Biblical Message Museum, especially designed by André Hermant to exhibit Chagall’s ‘Bibilical Message’ – a series of 17 monumental canvases, created between 1954 and 1967, evoking the Garden of Eden, Moses and other Biblical themes. Chagall was a highly individualistic Russian-Jewish painter who drew his main themes from the Old Testament and Russian-Jewish folklore. Born in Vitebsk in 1887, he spent the war years in America, before moving permanently to St-Paul-de-Venice in 1950. He opened the museum himself in 1973. He also created the mosaic of the prophet Elijah, cleverly reflected in the pool, and the beautiful blue stained-glass windows representing The Creation of the World in the concert hall. Other works were donated to the museum after Chagall’s death in 1985, making this the largest and most important permanent collection of his work.

3. Négresco

Churchill, Chaplin, Piaf, Picasso, Burton and Taylor, the Beatles… the Négresco’s guest list is legendary. It was built in 1912 for Henri Négresco, once a gypsy-serenader, who wentbankrupt eight years later. Nevertheless, it remains a famous Riviera landmark, a National Historic Monument and one of France’s most magnificent hotels. The interior is full of surprises, ranging from the world’s largest Aubusson carpet to gaudy, gold glittery bathroom suites. The décor is inspired by Versailles and the lavatories are more lavishly ornamented than many other hotel lounges. From the outside, its pink-and-white turreted façade looks more like a wedding cake than a hotel. You may have trouble finding the main entrance because it is in a small back street. The whole hotel was built backwards to protect guests from the then unfashionable sun.

4. Museum of Fine Art

Once home to a Ukranian princess, this handsome residence, built in the style of 17th-century Genoese palaces, is now home to Nice’s Museum of Fine Art. The collection began with a donation from Napoleon II and includes works from 17th century Italian Old Masters right through to contemporary works. One entire gallery is given over to 18th century Niçoise artist Carle van Loo (1705–65) and the main staircase is adorned with the works of Jules Chéret (1836–1932), a popular belle époque lithographist, who introduced colour advertising to France in 1866. The École Française is also well represented, with works by Degas, Boudin and Sisley. Sculptures by Rodin and Carpeaux also form part of the collection, together with important impressionist and post-impressionist works by Bonnard, Vuillard and Van Dongen (including his famous Tango of the Archangel – an entertaining evocation of the roaring twenties on the Riviera.) The main attraction of the museum is an exceptional collection of works by the impressionsit café-society artist, Raoul Duffy, moved from the old Musée Dufy on the waterfront because the salt air was affecting the paint.

5. Musée d'Art Moderne et d'Art Contemporain (MAMAC)

The grey towers and glass walkways of the Musée d'Art Moderne et d'Art Contemporain (MAMAC) may not inspire enthusiasm at first glance, but its collections are excellent and the views of Nice from the roof garden beautiful. It’s testament to the fact that in the 1960s Nice became the focal point of nouveau realisme, the French version of pop art, and the features the movement's most famous artist, Yves Klien – a native of Nice. Particularly interesting, even for non-art lovers, are the photographs of Klein smearing naked models in blue paint so that they might create his celebrated ‘arthrometric’ prints. MAMAC’s collections also contain work by Warhol, Lichtenstein and Gilbert and George. They are exhibited in rotation, and reflect the main avant-garde movements of the last 40 years in France and the US. The primary focus is on French neo-realism and the artists of the second École de Nice, featuring works by Rayasse, César, Arman, Ben, Tinguely and Yves Klein. Many of the works involve smashing, tearing, burning or distorting mundane objects of everyday life as a spoof on society and the highbrow art world.
Look out also for artists of the support-surface movement (who sought to reduce painting to its materialistic reality, concentrating on the frame and the texture of the canvas) and the graffiti-obsessed ‘fluxus’ movement, best portrayed in the fun, push-button Little Shop of Ben exhibit. American abstraction, minimalism and pop art are also well represented. Highlights include several Lichtenstein cartoons and Warhol’s famous Campbell soup tins. On special occasions the roof terraces play host to the illumination of Klein’s Mur de Feu (Wall of Fire) – a unique spectacle.

6. Matisse Museum

The Matisse Museum in Cimiez is a 15-minute bus ride from the centre of Nice. The bus slowly winds up, and higher up, a precariously twisty road, through leafy suburbs lined with grand houses and rows of cypress trees. Near the top of the hills, alongside Roman ruins from about 100 AD, is a 17th-century Genoese villa that features a cleverly painted trompe-l’oeil façade, colonnaded staircases and Italianate terraces, all set in the midst of a large olive grove. It houses a collection of Matisse's paintings, prints, sculpture and sketches, as well as some personal effects – like a plump, cozy Louis XV chair, covered in peppermint-candy striped silk. Matisse came to live in Nice in 1917 and, shortly before his death in 1954, he bequeathed his entire personal collection to the city. Together with a second, even bigger donation from his wife in 1960 (including over 100 personal effects from his studio in the nearby Hotel Regina), it formed the basis of a priceless collection that celebrates the life, work and influence of this great artist. The museum allows visitors an overview of Matisses’s entire working life, starting with copies of Old Master paintings that he made during his apprenticeship, through an era of sober, dark-toned paintings of the 1890s, his impressionist and fauvist phases, to the bright colours and simple shades of his maturity, best portrayed in his decorative post-war paper cut-outs, silk-screen hangings and works such as Nu Bleu IV and Nature Mort au Grenache. The museum also boasts all the bronze sculptures that Matisse ever made, and the world’s largest collection of his drawings and engravings, including his illustrations for James Joyce’s novel Ulysses, and his powerful sketches and stained-glass models for the remarkable Chapelle du Rosaire at Vence.

7. Quartier de Port

Quartier du Port. For centuries there was no port at Nice. Local boats simply moored in the lee of the castle rock while larger ships anchored in Villefranche Harbour. It was only in 1750 that Charles-Emmanuel II, Duke of Savoy, saw the potential trading benefits, and excavated a deep-water port at the mouth of the Lympia River. Today Lympia port is busy with craft of all kinds from tiny traditional fishing barques to car ferries from Corsica. It is flanked by striking red-ochre, 18th century buildings and the neo-Classical church of Notre-Dame-du-Port. It is best approached via a windy headland, aptly named quai Rauba-Capèu (‘hat-thief’), past a colossal monument commemorating the 4000 Nicoise who died during World War 1. On a hill to the east, the Musee de Terra Amata, built on the site of an excavated fossil beach, documents prehistoric life in the region.

8. Train des Merveilles

The small and panoramic Train des Merveilles leads you into the deep countryside of the region, between the hills of Paillon and La Roya-Bévéra. On your way to Tende, the terminus, you will cross beautiful Provençal mountain villages such as Breil sur Roya or L'Escarène. The best time to take this scenic railway is in the summer when lavender turns the fields purple. Don't forget to take the 9.24am train from Nice if you want a guide to accompany you throughout the trip.

9. Russian Orthodox Church

An incongruous, but beautiful addition to the architecture of Nice is the Russian Orthodox Church, a magnificent pink and grey structure, crowned by six gleaming, green, onion-shaped cupolas. It was built by Tsar Nicholas II in 1903 in memory of his beloved son. The Romanovs were prey to many congenital health problems and the young Tsarevich suffered from consumption. He was brought to Nice in 1865 for the beneficial effects of its gentle climate, but died soon after and is buried in the church’s grounds. The stunning interior is crammed with precious icons, frescoes and treasures. The lavish iconostasis separating the sanctuary from the nave features a striking icon of Our Lady of Kazan, painted on wood and set amidst a riot of silver and precious stones. The church still conducts regular services in Russian and is well worth the visit.

10. Colline du Château

Colline du Château is something of a misnomer, as there is no chateau there. The city’s fortress was destroyed by the French in the early 18th century when Nice belonged to Savoy. But there is nothing misleading about its reputation for beautiful views. It is most easily reached up the steps from Quai des États-Uni, or by lift from nearby Tour Bellanda, which also houses the small naval museum. Once you’ve reached the top you’ll be rewarded by the natural shade offered by the maze of greenery, the cool air created by the lovely fountain and peerless vistas of the crowded old port (Quartier du Port), the gleaming, glazed tiles of the old town and surf fringed crescent of the Baie des Anges. It was on this imposing site that Nice originated as the ancient Greek town of Nikaïa. Archaeologists have since discovered Roman and Medieval remains, some of which have been housed in a tiny lapidary museum on the hill.