Nice itinerary for first-timers

Nice's main square is a chequerboard of black and white paving framed by deep red arcaded buildings, with the Fontaine du Soleil and its marble Apollo at the southern end. From here the Promenade du Paillon, a long park laid over the covered river, runs down past the water mirror and the Jardin Albert 1er to the sea.

• Fontaine du Soleil
• Red arcaded façades
• Promenade du Paillon water mirror
• Jardin Albert 1er

The square is at its emptiest early in the morning; by late morning the mist jets of the water mirror are full of children.

The long square at the seaward edge of the old town fills every morning except Monday with flower, fruit, vegetable and spice stalls, while on Mondays antiques take over. Striped awnings, ochre façades and the chapel of the Miséricorde make it the picture of Nice most visitors carry home.

• Flower market
• Provençal produce stalls
• Chapelle de la Miséricorde
• Place Charles Félix

The market winds down after lunch, so come before midday; the stalls make way for restaurant terraces in the afternoon.

Behind the market the old town is a knot of narrow lanes painted in ochre, pink and yellow, with laundry strung between the windows. Rue Droite was the street of the old nobility and keeps the baroque Palais Lascaris; the fish market is on Place Saint-François; and Place Rossetti, with the Cathédrale Sainte-Réparate and its ice-cream terraces, is the heart of it all.

• Rue Droite
• Palais Lascaris
• Place Saint-François fish market
• Place Rossetti
• Cathédrale Sainte-Réparate

Socca, the chickpea pancake, is baked in wood ovens at a few old-town stands; it is eaten hot, with pepper, standing up.

The rock between the old town and the port was the site of the original city and its castle, demolished in 1706. Today it is a shady park with the best view in Nice: the whole curve of the Baie des Anges on one side, the rooftops of Vieux Nice below and the port on the other, plus an artificial waterfall and the ruins of the old cathedral.

• Grand panorama over the bay
• Castle Hill waterfall
• Views over the port
• Tour Bellanda

Take the free lift beside the Tour Bellanda up and walk down the steps on the old-town side, which brings you out near Place Rossetti.

As the heat fades the seafront east of Place Masséna, the Quai des États-Unis, fills with people watching the light change over the bay, and the lanes of the old town come alive: the Cours Saleya turns into one long terrace, musicians play on the squares and Place Rossetti glows under the cathedral dome.

• Quai des États-Unis
• Cours Saleya terraces
• Place Rossetti by night
• Place du Palais de Justice

North of the centre, where Avenue Jean Médecin becomes Avenue Malausséna, the Libération quarter has the market the Niçois actually shop at: long rows of fruit, vegetable, cheese and fish stalls around the old Gare du Sud, a restored railway station that is now a food hall. It is less of a postcard than the Cours Saleya, and much more of a neighbourhood.

• Avenue Jean Médecin
• Libération market stalls
• Gare du Sud food hall

Come in the morning, when the stalls are at their fullest and the quarter is doing its shopping.

The hill of Cimiez was Nice's grand winter quarter, where European royalty and aristocrats spent the season in palace hotels. Today the Matisse Museum sits in a red Genoese villa beside the ruins of a Roman arena and baths, in a park of old olive trees, and the gardens of the Franciscan monastery at the top look out over the whole city.

• Musée Matisse
• Roman arena & archaeological park
• Monastère de Cimiez gardens
• Belle Époque palace hotels

Matisse and Raoul Dufy are buried in the monastery cemetery, a few steps from the garden terrace.

The seven-kilometre seafront walkway was laid out in the 19th century for the English who wintered here, and it is still where Nice walks, runs, skates and sits on the famous blue chairs facing the sea. Heading west from the Quai des États-Unis you pass the pebble beaches and Belle Époque façades to the pink dome of the Hôtel Negresco, the promenade's great landmark.

• Blue chairs
• Pebble beaches
• Belle Époque and Art Deco façades
• Hôtel Negresco dome

The sun goes down towards the western end of the bay, so walking west in the evening keeps the light in front of you.

The oldest of Nice's great squares, laid out in the 18th century in the Turin style with ochre arcades and trompe-l'oeil façades, stands at the top of the old town between the Promenade du Paillon and the port. The statue of Garibaldi, born in Nice, looks down on the café terraces.

• Garibaldi statue
• Turin-style arcades
• Chapel of the Saint-Sépulcre
• Upper Promenade du Paillon

The newer, upper stretch of the Promenade du Paillon starts beside the square and makes a pleasant green route back towards Place Masséna later in the day.

Nice's rectangular harbour is lined with ochre and red façades, fishing boats, the ferries for Corsica and some very large yachts. Place de l'Île de Beauté and the church of Notre-Dame-du-Port close the northern end, antique shops fill the streets behind, and from the Quai Rauba Capeu at the harbour mouth the #ILoveNICE sign faces the whole bay.

• Harbour quays
• Notre-Dame-du-Port
• Antique shops of the port quarter
• #ILoveNICE sign

Beyond the harbour mouth, a path follows the rocky shore east below Mont Boron: past the sailing club, the small swimming coves and Le Plongeoir, the old diving platform perched on a rock, where locals swim off the rocks in summer. It is the quickest escape from the city into open sea views.

• Sentier du littoral
• Swimming coves
• Le Plongeoir rock
• Views back to Castle Hill

Bring swimming things in summer; the coves along the path are where many locals swim rather than the city beaches.

The wooded hill east of the port is a park of Aleppo pines and viewpoints, with villas on its lower slopes and the 16th-century Fort du Mont Alban on the summit. From the top you see both bays at once: Nice and the Baie des Anges on one side, Villefranche's harbour and Cap Ferrat on the other.

• Mont Boron forest paths
• Viewpoint over Nice
• Parc du Mont Boron
• Fort du Mont Alban

Stay for sunset at the fort, then take the bus or walk back down to the port for dinner.