Where to stay in Nice: the best neighbourhoods and hotels

Few seafronts are as famous as this one. The Promenade des Anglais curves for miles around the Baie des Anges, a broad ribbon of palm trees, blue chairs, joggers and rollerbladers, with pebble beaches and beach clubs below and a parade of Belle Époque and Art Deco façades above. Sunsets here are a nightly event.

This is where Nice keeps its grandest hotels. The Negresco, with its famous pink dome, is the city's early 20th-century palace hotel, a 10-minute walk from the old town. The Palais de la Méditerranée has a heated indoor-outdoor pool looking straight out to sea, and the Mercure at number 1 has its own deckchairs on a private beach. For families, an aparthotel on the Promenade has studios and apartments with kitchens and balconies, and the tram outside the door.

Place Masséna, with its red-ochre arcades and black-and-white paving, is the hinge of Nice: the old town to one side, the Promenade du Paillon's gardens and fountains running inland, and the beach a couple of minutes' walk away. Behind it lies the Carré d'Or, the 'golden square' of designer boutiques, smart restaurants and elegant apartment blocks, and pedestrian streets packed with cafés and bars.

For a first visit, you can't beat the location. The Anantara Plaza looks over the square with luxury shops at its door, and the Maison Albar Le Victoria is a new five-star between Place Masséna and the Promenade. There's also a Belle Époque-style hotel with an indoor pool and spa in the city centre, and a renovated Art Deco hotel on elegant Boulevard Victor Hugo.

Vieux Nice is a maze of tall, shuttered houses painted ochre, saffron and rose, with washing strung between them and Baroque churches at every turn. The Cours Saleya is its stage: flowers and produce in the mornings, terraced restaurants by night. Above it rises the Colline du Château, Castle Hill, with a waterfall, gardens and the best view in town, and beyond that the old port, lined with fishing boats, yachts and seafood restaurants.

It's lively until late, so pick your street carefully if you're a light sleeper. Hotels include a boutique hotel with kitchens steps from the Cours Saleya, a family-friendly hotel on the beach at the very end of the Promenade, the playful Mama Shelter near the port with a rooftop pool, and a hotel looking across the bay to Castle Hill.

Avenue Jean-Médecin is Nice's main shopping street, a busy tram-lined boulevard running from Place Masséna up to the Nice-Ville railway station. The streets around it are less glamorous than the seafront, but you get more for your money and you're superbly placed for trains along the coast to Monaco and Cannes. West of the avenue, the Musicians' Quarter is a calm residential district of Belle Époque buildings, close to the Promenade.

Pick from a boutique hotel in a refurbished historic building near the station, a renovated hotel a few steps from Avenue Jean-Médecin, a charming Belle Époque hotel in the Musicians' Quarter, and a stylish small hotel two minutes' walk from the station and the tram.

Nice Côte d'Azur airport sits right on the sea at the western end of the Promenade, and the Arenas and Grand Arenas business districts beside it have a cluster of modern hotels. They're practical for early flights or a quick stopover, and the tram has you in the city centre in under 20 minutes. Choose a Radisson directly across from the airport, a Crowne Plaza a tram stop away, a Novotel close to Phoenix Park, or a Holiday Inn by the huge Cap 3000 shopping centre, most of whose rooms have balconies.

Inland from Nice, the land climbs into hills scattered with medieval villages, and Saint-Paul-de-Vence is the most enchanting of them: a walled village of cobbled lanes, art galleries and fountains, where painters such as Chagall lived and worked. The Fondation Maeght, one of France's great modern art museums, is in the woods just outside. Neighbouring Vence, on the hillside opposite, has a lovely old town and Matisse's chapel.

This is the place for a romantic splurge. Stay at Le Saint Paul inside the village, or at Le Domaine du Mas de Pierre, a luxury eco resort of Provençal bastides set in Mediterranean gardens near the ramparts. Above Vence, the Château Saint-Martin occupies a hilltop site chosen by the Knights Templar, with panoramic views. La Vague de Saint Paul, in the woods near the Fondation Maeght, has a big pool and a hammam. You'll want a car.

West of the airport, the coast settles into a gentler rhythm. Cagnes-sur-Mer has two personalities: down by the sea, Cros-de-Cagnes is a former fishing village with a long pebble beach, while up on its hill, Haut-de-Cagnes is a medieval village crowned by the Grimaldi castle. Renoir spent his last years here, and his house is now a museum. Next door, Villeneuve-Loubet is known for the stepped, wave-shaped apartment blocks of Marina Baie des Anges.

It's a smart choice for families, with more space for less money and trains into Nice. Stay in Château le Cagnard, a characterful hotel in the medieval village, an aparthotel 100 metres from the beach at Cros-de-Cagnes, a Hotel Indigo near the new seafront promenade, or a Mercure with a pool and sea views in the Marina Baie des Anges.