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The great square (or rather, oblong) bursts to life in the morning sun every Tuesday to Sunday with the world-famous flower market. Come evening, bar and restaurant terraces buzz. On Monday mornings the flower market is replaced by an antiques market. This is Old Nice’s focal point, colourful and vigorous.

From the façade to the grand staircase and 17th-century noble’s apartments beyond, the scale and decor of this Baroque palace is sumptuous.

If you see only one of Nice’s Baroque churches, make sure it is this one. The splendour of the decoration makes it one of the world’s best examples of the style.

“Castle Hill” was the stronghold of Nice until medieval times. The castle was destroyed in 1706, but the hill boasts breathtaking views.

When the Dukes of Savoy ruled Nice they worshipped in this soaring, 17th-century church, beneath the majestic dome and within the extravagance of the stuccoed Baroque decor.

This delightful square, overseen by an 18th-century clocktower and a Baroque palace, is the site of the daily fish and herb market, held around the dolphin fountain.

This busy thoroughfare is home to two Nice institutions: the Rococo Pâtisserie Auer at No. 7 and Alziari, olive and olive oil specialists, at No. 14.

Daily life courses through the tiny streets and squares, and beneath the washing and trompe l’oeil house decorations in the most authentic sector of Vieux Nice.

Here, street commerce reaches its zenith. Food shops spill over with socca (pan-cakes), salt cod and spicy meats, jostling for space amid Provençal frocks and jewellery. It’s a bracing turmoil of aromas, colours and Niçois accents.

French composer Hector Berlioz (1803–69) stayed here for a year in 1844. Now the tower, at the foot of the Colline du Château, houses an interesting maritime collection of weapons, model boats, instruments and paintings.