Nice is the fifth most populous city in France and the capital of the Alpes-Maritimes département. Located in the French Riviera, on the south east coast of France on the Mediterranean Sea, at the foot of the Alps, Nice is the second-largest French city on the Mediterranean coast and the second-largest city in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region after Marseille. Founded by the Greeks and later a retreat for 19th-century European elite, the city has also long attracted artists. The metropolitan area of Nice extends beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of about 1 million on an area of 278 sq mi. Nice is about 8 miles from the principality of Monaco, and its airport is a gateway to the principality as well.

The area of today's Nice contains Terra Amata, an archaeological site dating from the Lower Palaeolithic age, which displays evidence of very early uses of fire, construction of houses, and flint findings dated to around 230,000 years ago. The first known hominid settlements in the Nice area date back about 400,000 years.  Around 350 BC, Greeks of Marseille founded a permanent settlement and called it Nikaia, after Nike, the goddess of victory in honor of a victory over the neighboring Liguarians. Through the ages, the town has changed hands many times. Its strategic location and port significantly contributed to its maritime strength. The city soon became one of the busiest trading ports on the Ligurian coast; but it had an important rival in the Roman town of Cemenelum, which continued to exist as a separate city until the time of the Lombard invasions. The ruins of Cemenelum are in Cimiez, now a district of Nice.  For centuries it was a dominion of Savoy, and was then part of France between 1792 and 1815, when it was returned to Piedmont-Sardinia until its re-annexation by France in 1860.

The city is nicknamed Nice la Belle (Nissa La Bella in Ni�ard), which means Nice the Beautiful, which is also the title of the unofficial anthem of Nice, written by Menica Rondelly in 1912.  Nice has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate, enjoying mild winters with moderate rainfall. It is one of the warmest Mediterranean climates for its latitude. Summers are warm to hot, dry, and sunny. Rainfall is rare in this season, and a typical July month only records one or two days with measurable rainfall. The temperature is typically above 68 �F and frequently reaches 86 degrees F. Summer temperatures are often higher in the city. The average maximum temperature in the warmest months of July and August is about 81 degrees F. The highest recorded temperature was 99.9 degrees F on 1 August 2006. Autumn generally starts sunny in September and becomes more cloudy and rainy towards October, while temperatures usually remain above 68 degrees F until November where days start to cool down to around 63 degrees F.

Winters are characterized by cool days (52 to 63 degrees F), cool nights (39 to 48 degrees F), and variable weather. Days can be either sunny and dry or damp and rainy. Frost is unusual and snowfalls are rare. The most recent snowfall in Nice was on 26 February 2018. Nice also received a dusting of snow in 2005, 2009. and 2010. Spring starts cool and rainy in late March, and Nice becomes increasingly warm and sunny around June.


The natural environment of the Nice area and its mild Mediterranean climate came to the attention of the English upper classes in the second half of the 18th century, when an increasing number of aristocratic families took to spending their winters there. The city's main seaside promenade, the Promenade des Anglais ("Walkway of the English") owes its name to visitors to the resort. The clear air and soft light have particularly appealed to notable painters, such as Marc Chagall, Henri Matisse, Niki de Saint Phalle and Arman. Their work is commemorated in many of the city's museums, including Musée Marc Chagall, Musée Matisse and Musée des Beaux-Arts. Nice has the second largest hotel capacity in the country and it is one of its most visited cities, receiving 4 million tourists every year. It also has the third busiest airport in France, after the two main Parisian ones. It is the historical capital city of the County of Nice. 

Being a vacation resort, Nice hosts many festivals throughout the year, such as the Nice Carnival and the Nice Jazz Festival.  Nice has a distinct culture due to its unique history. The local language Ni�ard (Nissart) is an Occitan dialect (but some Italian scholars argue that it is a Ligurian dialect). It is still spoken by a substantial minority. Strong Italian and (to a lesser extent) Corsican influences make it more intelligible to Italians than other extant Proven�al dialects.

In the past, Nice welcomed many immigrants from Italy (who continue to make up a large proportion of the population), as well as Spanish and Portuguese immigrants. However, in the past few decades immigration has been opened to include immigrants from all over the world, particularly those from former Northern and Western African colonies, as well as southeast Asia. Traditions are still alive, especially in folk music and dances, including the farandole - an open-chain community dance.  Since 1860 a cannon (based at the Ch�teau east of Old Nice) is shot at twelve o'clock sharp. The detonation can be heard almost all over the city. This tradition goes back to Sir Thomas Coventry, who intended to remind the citizens of having lunch on time.