Promenade des Anglais

Seven kilometres of seafront, blue chairs and a pebble beach

Hours: Open at all times
Tickets: Free; private beach sunbeds cost extra (varies by club)
Address: The seafront road running west from the Quai des États-Unis below the old town all the way to the airport

This is the curved seafront you've seen in every photo of Nice. Sit on one of the blue metal chairs under the palms and the bay bends away in a long arc, Castle Hill on your left and the airport somewhere far off to the right. The water looks so deep blue partly because the beach is round grey pebbles, not sand. Mornings belong to joggers and cyclists, afternoons to people stretched out on towels over the stones, and the evening to everyone leaning on the railing for the sunset. A walk out to the pink-domed Hotel Negresco and back is the classic loop.