“Art Is Everywhere” – one of many aphorisms by the late Niçois artist Ben Vautier, whose whimsical black and white calligraphed panels adorn the tram stops in Nice — seems particularly true in France’s fifth largest city and UNESCO World Heritage site. It’s a notion continued behind the walls of some of the best hotels in Nice. Call it the art of making old new. Steps away from the city’s main square, Place Masséna (where Catalan artist Jaume Pensa’s seven illuminated fiberglass figures mounted on 10-meter poles slowly change colour as soon as night falls), two recently opened five-star hotels in Nice have totally transformed the historic ‘Golden Square” urban landscape. Or take the gorgeously reinvented luxury Hôtel du Couvent in Vieux Nice, where respect for historic detail pervades the spirit of the place. But that’s not all – along with Nice’s shimmering 300-days-of-sunshine intensity and the red, yellow ochre and peach facades of the Italianate architecture, are the food-worshipping Niçois – the socca-loving, courgette flower-eating folks who scour the outdoor markets for the freshest produce. And unsurprisingly, the city’s earthy back-to-the-roots restaurant scene showcases terroir cooking with an official cuisine nissarde label.
Whether it’s the reinvention of landmark local institutions, like the brasserie Félix, pure novelty at the Mediterranean-meets-South African new Bistro de Jan, dreamed up by Michelin-star chef Jan Henrik Van Der Westhuizen – or wildly original cocktails at hipster bars like Povera, helmed by master Experimental Cocktail Club mixologist Maxime Potfer – there are plenty of options to explore. In June 2025, the city hosts the United Nations Ocean Conference, along with a venue of festive cultural events to celebrate the sea and a new 6400m2 seaside Convention Center, Le Pavillon de la Mer. Ultimately, unlike its neighbours, Cannes and Monaco, razzmatazz and red-carpet glitz seem irrelevant in this tradition-steeped city, where, to quote Ben, “life never stops.”
For more inspiration on where to stay in Nice, visit our edit of the best Airbnbs in Nice, or to extend your trip, consider the best hotels in the South of France and the best hotels in St Tropez.
