Nice

Nice is a city in France. It is by the Mediterranean Sea, close to Italy.

The weather is mild, so long ago many visitors came here for the winter.

UNESCO describes Nice as a city on the Mediterranean, at the foot of the Alps and near the Italian border. Wikidata places it in the Alpes-Maritimes department of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region.

France's statistics office, INSEE, gives Nice 357,737 people in its 2023 census figures. That is up from 340,017 in 2017. Around 4,974 people live on each square kilometer.

INSEE's 2023 census figures give the commune of Nice 357,737 residents, after 343,629 in 2012 and 340,017 in 2017: an average rise of 0.9% a year between 2017 and 2023. In 2023, 15.4% of residents were under 15 and 7.9% were 80 or older.

Universalis (Lucien Tirone, with 2018 figures) calls Nice the capital of an urban region covering the Alpes-Maritimes department, with about 1 million people in the wider urban area, more than four-fifths of the department's population. It says that number doubled after the mid-20th century, driven by people moving in rather than by births.

In the photo, a long stone wall sticks out into the blue sea. It keeps the harbor calm. Big ships wait at the edge.

Behind the harbor is a green hill, and the bay curves far away.

The photo looks down on the harbor of Nice. A long stone breakwater with a small light tower at its end protects the water, a big white ship and a big yellow ship are tied up at the quays, and small sailboats dot the sea. A green, rocky hill stands behind the harbor, and the long curve of a bay runs away into the distance.

That bay is the Baie des Anges. Along its shore runs the Promenade des Anglais, which UNESCO says began in 1824 as a modest path made by British winter visitors.

The photo was taken on 18 November 2006, according to its Commons file page, which files it under Harbour of Nice and Baie des Anges. In front: the breakwater and its light tower, ships at the quays and buildings with red-tiled roofs climbing the slope at the right. Behind: a rocky green hill and the city stretching along the bay toward distant hills.

Wikidata lists the Colline du Château as a fortified structure in Nice, and dates Place Masséna, a square in Nice, to 1863. UNESCO says the Camin dei Ingles, made in 1824, later became the Promenade des Anglais, and names it and the Terrasse des Ponchettes as walks that let people enjoy the site and its mild climate.

Long ago, rich families from Britain and other countries came to spend the winter in Nice, where winters are mild. Hotels, villas and gardens were built for them.

Today the old winter town is a World Heritage Site.

From the middle of the 18th century, UNESCO says, families from abroad, mainly British, began spending their winters in Nice for its mild climate and lovely setting. In 1832 the city set up a board, the Consiglio d'Ornato, with a town plan and building rules to make Nice attractive to visitors.

Hotels, villas and gardens followed, built in styles brought from many countries. In 2021 UNESCO added Nice, Winter Resort Town of the Riviera, to its World Heritage List.

UNESCO describes Nice as a meeting point of British, Italian, French, Russian and other influences, seen in neo-classical, Belle Époque, Art Deco and other styles, and in three kinds of lodging for foreigners: the travelers' hotel, the villa and seasonal rentals. A street grid of north–south avenues and cross streets turns many façades to the south, with views toward the hills or the sea.

From 1920 beach life and the summer season grew, and after the war the summer season replaced the winter one. Universalis (2018 figures) says that from the 1960s Nice attracted new-technology industries and gained a university. It says the expression Côte d'Azur appeared in 1887 in a book by Stéphen Liégeard.