Promenade des Anglais

The famous seafront curve is less a neighbourhood than the city's front porch — a long sweep of pebble beach, blue chairs and the wide walkway where everyone in Nice eventually ends up at some hour. Behind it stand the grand hotels and a string of beach clubs where you pay for a lounger and a sea-facing lunch. It is undeniably touristic and the dining is geared to the view rather than to anything inventive, but the early-morning and late-evening walks, when the light is soft and the traffic thins, are genuinely worth setting an alarm for. Treat it as a promenade and a swim, not a culinary destination.