Nice's best guided tours around the hotel
Category : Tourism
As the French Riviera capital and a World Heritage site, Nice offers a multitude of activities. To find yourselves, the Ministry of Cultural Affairs’ professional guides have elaborated a booking platform that allow you to choose from a large selection of guided tours and excursions departing from your hotel. They can be booked directly online and enjoyed as soon as the next day.
To make your trip to the French Riviera enjoyable, Tour Guide France have selected 5 guided tours to do in Nice and its surroundings.
Nice's best guided tours - Credit : Summer Hotels
Visit the “Old Nice” with a professional guide
The “Old-Nice” is composed of areas around the castle’s hill rearranged during the Middle Age. It contains an imposing baroque-styled building, the Sainte-Réparate cathedral, which you can access through a small maze of cobbled streets animated by numerous shops. It is nice to walk in the “Old Nice” during the summer, far from the very warm Promenade des Anglais. The neighbourhood presents nice squares and buildings full of ancient history. To fully enjoy it, follow your guide. With him, you will make some nice discoveries in one of the city’s most authentic places.
Book your tour of the “Old Nice” with Tour Guide France
Matisse museum in Nice - Credit : Summer Hotels
The painters’ Nice, in the footsteps of Matisse and Chagall
The French Riviera, which name was invented by Stephen Liégeard at the end of the 19th century, has been the chosen territory of numerous artists. Among them, Auguste Renoir, Pablo Picasso, Jean Cocteau and Jean Marais left their mark on the place with their presence. In Nice, there are two quality museum institutions that will make you understand the connections between the city and two major painters from the 20th century, Henry Matisse and Marc Chagall. The first one spent a major portion of his life in the Regina Hotel, in the Cimiez neighbourhood, where he turned his room into a studio, whereas the second one lived really close to Nice, in Vence first, then in Saint-Paul-de-Vence where he was buried. While he was living, Marc Chagall had the pleasure of having some of his paintings joining the collection of the Biblical Message National Museum, which was inaugurated in 1973 by André Malraux and then Minister for Culture Maurice Druon.
Book your tour for “Nice and the painters” with Tour Guide France
Discover the original Nice: around Cimiez
Cimiez was the first neighbourhood of the city to be inhabited. It’s a place situated up high, overlooking the Nice Bay. The Greeks settled there in the 5th century BC and supposedly entered in contact with Celto-Ligurian populations that occupied the place. The Romans arrived in Cimiez from the end of the 2nd century BC onwards and connected it to Via Julia, linking the south of Gaul to Italy through Fréjus and Antibes. The first century of our era was Cimiez’s golden age. The Romans built thermae and cultural facilities, like a theatre, which ruins are still visible today. During the Middle Age, the residents occupied the hills of Cimiez and settled in what would become the “Old Nice”. Cimiez then declined but was resurrected in the 19th century thanks to tourism and an influx of wealth, mainly from Lyon, that was invested into residential property and hotel trade. It was during this time that the Regina Hotel was erected, where lots of famous guests like painter Henri Matisse and writer Colette stayed in.
Book your tour of Cimiez with Tour Guide France
The train station and its surroundings, discover today's Nice with a guide
In 1861, the county of Nice, former territory of the Kingdom of Piedmont, became part of France. The railway called the PLM reached the city. As a result, Nice was connected to Paris, Lyon and Marseille and saw an increasing arrival of French and international tourists. The Promenade des Anglais was built, as well as the neighbourhoods surrounding the train station. The city’s squares (place Masséna, place Garibaldi) became privileged meeting and passing places where nationalities mingled.
To visualize the transformations that occurred in the 19th and 20th centuries in Nice around the train station, follow your guide. He will take you from square to square and will have you make all sorts of quirky discoveries.
Book your tour of Nice, “Around the Train Station”, with Tour Guide France
Gourmet tour of Nice - Credit : Summer Hotels
Gourmet Nice : discover the specialties with a guide
Cuisine is an essential element of the local culture. It is impossible to leave Nice without tasting the numerous products that brighten up the residents’ lives every morning at the rhythm of the markets of cours Saleya and Libération. Among them are the Socca, the Pissaladière, the Farcis or the Pan Bagnat. Tour Guide France have conceived for you gourmet routes departing from your hotel. They will allow you to apprehend the local territory through taste.