The Best Museums in Nice
Matisse, Chagall, Yves Klein and a palace full of instruments.
Painters came to Nice for the light, and many stayed. The city's museums are small, beautiful and easy to fit around a beach day, and Cimiez hill alone holds Matisse, Chagall and the Roman ruins.
Most municipal museums close on Mondays (Chagall closes on Tuesdays): check before you go.
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Musée Matisse
☀️ Things To Do & Day Trips · Cimiez & Libération · € · allow 1.5 hrs
Matisse's Nice years in a red villa among the olive trees.
A red 17th-century villa among the olive trees of Cimiez, with works from every period of Matisse's life in Nice, where he lived for nearly 40 years. His grave is in the monastery cemetery a short walk away.
🧒 Good with kids - 2
Musée National Marc Chagall
☀️ Things To Do & Day Trips · Cimiez & Libération · € · allow 1.5 hrs
The Biblical Message paintings, in a museum Chagall helped plan.
Built to house Chagall's Biblical Message cycle of paintings, with stained glass in the concert hall and a garden of Mediterranean plants. Combine it with Musée Matisse further up the hill.
❄️ Air-conditioned - 3
MAMAC (Modern & Contemporary Art)
☀️ Things To Do & Day Trips · Place Masséna & the Centre · € · allow 1.5 hrs
Yves Klein blue, Niki de Saint Phalle and a roof-top walk.
Nice's museum of modern and contemporary art, strong on the artists of the Nice School such as Yves Klein, Arman and Niki de Saint Phalle, with a roof-top walkway over the city. Check opening before you go.
❄️ Air-conditioned - 4
Musée Masséna
☀️ Things To Do & Day Trips · Promenade des Anglais & the Beaches · € · allow 1 hour
Belle Époque Nice, Carnival and the winter visitors, by the sea.
A seafront villa next to the Negresco, telling the story of Nice's winter visitors, the Carnival and the Belle Époque. The garden on the Promenade is free.
🧒 Good with kids - 5
Palais Lascaris
☀️ Things To Do & Day Trips · Vieux Nice (Old Town) · Free · allow 1 hour
A Baroque palace in the Old Town, full of historic instruments.
A 17th-century noble palace in the narrow Rue Droite, with painted ceilings, a grand staircase and one of France's largest collections of historic musical instruments.
❄️ Air-conditioned - 6
Monastère de Cimiez & Gardens
☀️ Things To Do & Day Trips · Cimiez & Libération · Free · allow 1 hour
Painted altarpieces, a rose garden and Matisse's resting place.
A Franciscan monastery with a church of painted altarpieces, a rose-filled Italian garden looking out over the city and the sea, and the cemetery where Matisse and Dufy are buried.
🌊 Sea view💛 Budget friendly🧒 Good with kids - 7
Russian Orthodox Cathedral of Saint Nicholas
☀️ Things To Do & Day Trips · Place Masséna & the Centre · € · allow 30 min
Onion domes and icons from Nice's Russian era.
The largest Russian Orthodox cathedral in Western Europe, finished in 1912 for the Russian families who wintered in Nice. Painted icons inside, onion domes outside. Dress modestly.
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