Best hotels in Nice: six places between the sea and the old town

A pink dome and art on every floor

You notice the dome before you notice the hotel. The pink cupola of the Negresco is a landmark along the whole bay, and inside, the building is as much a private art collection as a hotel, with paintings, sculpture and furniture from several centuries lining the corridors and salons. Rooms face either the sea or the city, and each is decorated individually, so two neighbours can be sleeping in different centuries.

Staying here means staying at an institution, with uniformed doormen and a breakfast that is an event in its own right. It is made for anyone who wants the classic Riviera once in a lifetime and who values history over minimalism. It is the wrong choice if you want a neutral modern room and a swimming pool, because there is no pool.

An art deco front and a pool on the terrace

The facade is all that survives of the old casino, tall white stone reliefs facing the promenade. Behind it the hotel is modern, built around a broad terrace a few floors up where an outdoor pool looks straight out over the bay, with an indoor pool beside it for the windy days.

This is the simplest family choice on the seafront: generous rooms, a pool for the children when the pebbles get tiresome, and a position halfway between the old town and the Carré d'Or. It feels more international than French, which is part of the point. Not for anyone looking for a small house with a host who knows your name.

A rooftop above the Jardin Albert 1er

The hotel is not on the promenade itself but on Avenue de Verdun, with the Jardin Albert 1er between it and the sea. From the top floors you see both the water and Place Masséna, and the rooftop bar and restaurant are among the best places in Nice for an evening with a view. Place Masséna, with stops for both tram lines, is round the corner.

It is a modern luxury hotel in an old building, light and calm, with rooms larger than central Nice usually allows. For a first visit the position is hard to improve on: old town one way, shopping streets the other, the promenade just across the park. It is ideal for anyone who wants all of it without choosing. Less suited to anyone who wants waves under the window.

Built into the cliff under Castle Hill

The hotel is set into the rock beneath Castle Hill, entered from Quai Rauba Capeu, with rooms climbing the cliff in tiers. From the terrace and the upper rooms you see the whole Baie des Anges side on, the promenade curving away to the west like a pale ribbon. The small pool sits in a garden of lemon trees halfway up the rock.

It is quiet here in a way that is unusual for Nice: the old town's restaurants are round the corner, yet no street passes the door. That makes it one of the best choices for a weekend for two. Rooms range from small and simple to large with private terraces, so read the description carefully. The wrong choice for heavy luggage or bad knees, since there are steps and levels everywhere.

Small and personal in the heart of the lanes

The hotel is in one of the narrow streets beside Place Rossetti, the little square with the cathedral and the Fenocchio ice-cream counter, which puts it at the centre of the old town. It is a small house with a handful of rooms, decorated simply and brightly, and you step out of the door straight into the market streets.

It feels like living in the city rather than next to it. You hear the neighbours, the church bells and the restaurant terraces in the evening, and you wake to the shutters going up. This is the best value on our list, and it suits anyone who uses the room to sleep and spends the rest of the day outside. Not for light sleepers, and not for anyone who wants a big lobby, a view and everything on one level.

Artists' rooms and a garden pool

Rue Dalpozzo is an ordinary city street in the Carré d'Or, and nothing on the facade suggests the garden of palms and the pool behind the house. The Windsor is known for its rooms: a number of them were designed by different artists, with paintings straight onto the walls, and no two are alike. The rest are simpler but kept in the same warm, slightly bohemian spirit.

This is for anyone who wants an alternative to chain hotels and thinks breakfast in a garden beats a sea view. The promenade is a couple of hundred metres away, the shopping streets the same distance in the other direction. Skip it if you want new and streamlined, since the house has personality rather than polish.