Where to Stay in Nice (2026): The Best Areas, 12 Hotels and the Tourist Tax

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Nice adds a tourist tax to every hotel bill, per person and per night, and the rate climbs with the star rating: €3.48 at a four-star, €4.69 at a five-star and €6.43 at a palace. About a quarter of each figure is a 34% surcharge for a railway project. Where you sleep decides how much of the city you cover on foot and how far you are from the tram.

This guide covers five areas, from the Old Town to the harbour, 12 hotels, the airport links and the tax. The hotels are researched picks, chosen for location, what each property publishes and consistent guest feedback, and each was checked as operating in October 2026. No hotel pays to appear here.

The short answer

Not sure which area? Rank these areas for your trip: pick what matters and see the reasons.

Nice’s tourist tax in 2026

The Métropole Nice Côte d’Azur sets the taxe de séjour, and its rate sheet for 1 January 2026 lists two parts: the metropolitan tax and an additional tax of 34% for the Ligne Nouvelle Provence Côte d’Azur, a rail project. A national finance law of 2022 introduced that surcharge in the Alpes-Maritimes, Var and Bouches-du-Rhône. The sheet lists no other surcharge. Per person, per night:

Under-18s pay nothing. For accommodation without a rating, the 6.70% applies to the price per person per night before tax: on the Métropole’s own example, two people in a €80 room pay €2.68 each, €5.36 a night. The tax is not always in the room rate, so a hotel may ask for it at the desk. The portal says the 2027 rates stay the same as 2026, and the same grid applies across the Métropole’s 51 communes, Èze included.

Here is our arithmetic, not an official figure: a couple spending four nights in a four-star hotel pays 2 × 4 × €3.48 = €27.84 on top of the room, of which €20.80 is the metropolitan tax and €7.04 the surcharge. At a five-star the same stay is €37.52. Paris charges more at the same ratings, and the tourist taxes of other cities are set out in our comparison.

Getting in from the airport, and around

Nice Côte d’Azur has two terminals, and tram line 2 serves both.

• Tram line 2 runs from Terminals 1 and 2 to the Jean Médecin station in the city centre in less than 30 minutes, according to the airport, and on to Port Lympia. A tram runs about every 7 to 8 minutes on weekdays. The link between Terminal 1, Terminal 2 and Grand Arénas is free.
• Fares are set by Lignes d’Azur. A Solo ticket for one journey, with transfers for 74 minutes, is €1.70, and return trips are not allowed on it; a Pass 1 jour is €7. The network also sells a one-day airport return for €10, with transfers for 74 minutes after the first validation. The airport’s page lists Solo among the tickets sold at the terminals’ tram stops, and an anonymous reloadable card costs an extra €2, a refundable deposit. We found no Lignes d’Azur page saying which ticket the airport section needs, so check the machine at the stop.
• Bus 12+ stops at “Aéroport / Promenade”, 150 metres on foot from Terminal 1, and serves the Promenade des Anglais, Place Masséna, the Old Town and Place Garibaldi. Tickets are not sold on board.
• Taxis have a flat fare from the airport to the city centre of €32, tax included, among the airport’s indicative 2026 fares. A taxi shows a TAXI Ville de Nice sign and a meter; a receipt is compulsory from €25, and you can pay by card.
• Trains run from the Nice-Ville station along the coast: the tourist office says the TER trains link Nice with the main towns of the Côte d’Azur. The Pass Sud Azur Explore covers train, tram and bus in the Alpes-Maritimes and Monaco for three, seven or 14 days.

Vieux Nice: lanes, markets and the beach

The city’s tourist office describes Vieux Nice as a maze of coloured lanes, baroque churches and façades, markets and restaurants serving Niçois cuisine. The flower market of the Cours Saleya is at its centre; on Mondays the Cours turns into an antiques market of more than 200 exhibitors. It is the base to choose if you want to walk everywhere.

Where to stay in Vieux Nice

How the hotel links work: a hotel’s name goes to its own website. “Check rates” opens it on Booking.com through our partner Stay22, which pays us a commission if you book, at no extra cost to you.

• Hôtel Palais Saleya, comfortable. A building of the 18th century at 21 rue du Marché, at the entrance to the Old Town, with 26 suites and apartments; by the hotel’s count, the Cours Saleya, the castle hill and the beach are each less than a five-minute walk. Reception is open around the clock and breakfast is served in your room. Choose it for a suite in the Old Town. Watch out: it sells suites and apartments only, the smallest a 25 m² Junior Suite, and the French breakfast is €18 extra. Check rates on Booking.com →
• Hôtel Aston La Scala, comfortable. A four-star at 12 avenue Félix Faure, with the Opéra-Vieille Ville tram stop in front of the hotel. The Premium rooms, of 18 to 23 m², look over Old Nice and the Promenade du Paillon. Choose it for the Old Town at the door and a tram stop below. Watch out: the Comfort rooms, of 17 to 23 m², face the courtyard or the hill, and the hotel runs live music nights, so ask about noise when you book. Check rates on Booking.com →
• Villa Saint Exupéry Beach, budget. A hostel at 6 rue Sacha Guitry with private double, twin and triple rooms and dorms of four to ten beds, all with air conditioning and an en-suite bathroom; by its own count it is 50 metres from the Old Town and two minutes from the beach. It has a bar, a gym and free luggage storage. Choose it for the lowest price in this guide. Watch out: it is a social hostel with a lively bar and a pub crawl, so it is not for light sleepers. Check rates on Booking.com →

Promenade des Anglais: the seafront

The tourist office’s guide calls the Promenade des Anglais the seaside avenue of seven kilometres on the Baie des Anges, with luxury hotels and Belle Époque villas. The guide adds that European aristocrats once took their winter quarters in its Belle Époque hotels.

Where to stay on the Promenade des Anglais

• Le Negresco, splurge. The hotel’s own site counts 102 rooms and 26 suites, each decorated in the style of an era of French art, a restaurant with a Michelin star, Le Chantecler, a brasserie, La Rotonde, a historic bar, Le 1913, and from May to September a beach restaurant. Choose it for the Riviera’s best-known grand hotel. Watch out: the site lists no room sizes or prices, so compare categories before you book. Check rates on Booking.com →
• Hôtel Palais de la Méditerranée, splurge. A five-star behind an Art Deco façade on the Promenade since 1929, with 145 rooms and 28 suites, in the Unbound Collection by Hyatt. It has a heated indoor-outdoor pool that the hotel calls the only year-round heated pool of its kind in Nice, and a restaurant and terrace, Zouzou Riviera. Choose it for a pool in the cooler months. Watch out: at 173 rooms and suites it is large, so it feels less personal than the small houses here. Check rates on Booking.com →
• Westminster Hôtel & Spa, comfortable. A four-star at 27 Promenade des Anglais, opened in 1881 and still owned by the same family, with 99 rooms, junior suites and suites, a restaurant, Le Duc, and a bar, the W, with terraces on the seafront. Choose it for a four-star on the seafront. Watch out: the entry-level Escale rooms are 17 to 19 m², and the 400 m² spa costs extra and is closed to children under 16. Check rates on Booking.com →

Carré d’Or and Masséna: shops and the sea

Place Masséna is, in the tourist office’s words, the heart of the city, the link between the old town and the modern districts. The tourist office’s one-day route sends shoppers to the boutiques of the Carré d’Or and to the avenue Jean-Médecin. The two hotels below are, by their own counts, 100 metres and five minutes from the Promenade.

Where to stay in the Carré d’Or

• Hôtel Villa Rivoli, good value. A three-star of 24 rooms in a Belle Époque townhouse built in 1890, at 10 rue de Rivoli, 100 metres from the beaches and the Promenade, by the hotel’s count. The Superior rooms have a small balcony, and most rooms look over the garden. Choose it for a townhouse near the sea at a lower price. Watch out: the Lower Ground Floor rooms have small windows. Check rates on Booking.com →
• Hôtel Victor Hugo, good value. A two-star of seven rooms on the ground floor of a building of 1905, at 59 boulevard Victor Hugo, each themed on one of the writer’s works and each with a kitchenette. The hotel puts the Promenade five minutes away and the Old Town ten. A breakfast buffet is served each morning. Choose it for a small, personal hotel. Watch out: the Cabin room is 13 m², and reception closes at 7pm, with no arrivals accepted after that hour. Check rates on Booking.com →

Jean-Médecin and the station: trams and trains

The avenue Jean-Médecin is a shopping avenue, and the Jean Médecin stop is where tram line 2 from the airport reaches the centre. The Nice-Ville station is close, with the coast line to Monaco, Villefranche and Èze; Maison Durante’s own page lists rooms from €88 a night.

Where to stay near the station

• Splendid Hôtel & Spa, comfortable. A four-star at 50 boulevard Victor Hugo, 400 metres from the station by the hotel’s count, with 130 rooms and suites, a rooftop with a bar, a restaurant and terraces, and a spa. The hotel has been run by one family for four generations. Choose it for a four-star near the station. Watch out: the site gives no room sizes, so ask what each category measures before you book. Check rates on Booking.com →
• Maison Durante, good value. A house at 16 avenue Durante, two minutes’ walk from the station by the hotel’s count, behind a small impasse, with a garden of orange trees and palms. The Classic rooms are 14 m² and, on the hotel’s own page, start at €88 a night; the Superior rooms are 16.5 to 18 m². Choose it for a quiet garden by the station. Watch out: the Classic rooms are small, with a shower and no bath. Check rates on Booking.com →

Port Lympia: the harbour and the castle hill

The tourist office describes Port Lympia as lying between the castle hill and Mont Boron, a mix of tradition, with the painted wooden pointus, and modernity, with large yachts, ringed by bars and restaurants. Tram line 2 ends at the port. The two hotels below are on the quai Rauba Capeu, below the castle hill, at the Promenade’s eastern end.

Where to stay at Port Lympia

• Hôtel La Pérouse, splurge. A four-star boutique hotel of 53 rooms and suites on the castle hill, at 11 quai Rauba Capeu, with a pool carved into the rock, a rooftop over the Baie des Anges, and a garden restaurant under lemon trees. Choose it for a hillside hotel over the bay. Watch out: rooms start at €280 on the hotel’s own site, one of the highest prices here. Check rates on Booking.com →
• Hôtel Suisse, comfortable. A four-star in an Italian-style building at 15 quai Rauba Capeu, with 38 rooms, most of them looking at the sea, and a suite with a private terrace. Choose it for a sea view at a four-star. Watch out: three standard rooms on the castle-hill side have no view, and their windows do not open. Check rates on Booking.com →

Cimiez: a day on the hill

Cimiez, the hill above the centre, holds the Matisse museum among the gardens of the arenas, the Roman remains of Cemenelum and a monastery with its gardens, and the tourist office’s guide sends visitors there for an afternoon. We list no hotel there: treat it as a visit, not a base.

How to book Nice

• Count the tax. It is per person and set by the star rating: €3.48 a night at a four-star, €2.28 at a three-star, €1.07 at a hostel, nothing for under-18s.
• Check the room size. Among the sizes the hotels publish, the smallest rooms run from the 13 m² cabin at the Hôtel Victor Hugo to 14 m² at the Maison Durante. If you need space, book the category above the cheapest.
• Mind the hours. The Hôtel Victor Hugo’s reception shuts at 7pm, and the Palais Saleya, a suite hotel, serves breakfast only in the room, at €18.
• Compare totals. Hotel booking sites compared goes through where to book, and the tax is not always in the room rate.

All 12 at a glance

Before you go

• Before you fly, sort out mobile data (the best eSIM for Europe) and cover (the best travel insurance).

Frequently asked questions

Sources & further reading

• Métropole Nice Côte d’Azur: tourist tax rates from 1 January 2026 (PDF, in English)
• Métropole Nice Côte d’Azur: the tourist tax portal (in French)
• Lignes d’Azur: single-journey tickets
• Lignes d’Azur: day passes
• Nice Côte d’Azur Airport: public transport (in French)
• Nice Côte d’Azur Airport: taxis (in French)
• Nice Côte d’Azur Tourist Office: Nice tourist guide 2026 (PDF, in French)
• Official websites of each hotel named above, checked in October 2026

Prices, fares and hotel terms change. Every detail here was checked in October 2026; confirm rates, room types and cancellation terms with the hotel before booking. These are researched picks, not reviews. This article contains affiliate links: hotel rates on Booking.com and other booking sites through Stay22, and tours, transfers and eSIMs through our partners; if you book through them we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. No hotel pays to be included.

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