When is the best time to visit Nice? With a mild Mediterranean climate and over 300 sunny days a year (see climate chart below), anytime is a good time to come to Nice… but the best time is in the spring and the autumn, when the weather in Nice is warm and sunny but not overly hot.
Winters can be very seductive on the French Riviera as well; at the turn of the century Nice was only a winter resort, an escape from the bleak winters elsewhere in Europe, and only the nouvelle riche who didn’t know any better would come to Nice in the heat of the summer!
Winters on the Cote d’Azur are sunny and crisp, with no crowds, and a real village feel. The coldest it gets is in the 40’s (5-7c) and on most winter days it gets up to the mid 50’s (13-15c). Expect 6-7 days of rain a month during the winter, and maybe a dusting of snow only once every couple of years (although you can drive 90 minutes and be schussing at an alpine ski resort!)
Really, the only month to avoid, ironically, is late July and all of August, when temperatures are at their hottest (high 80’s or 28-29c), and all of Europe goes on a month’s vacation, jamming the roads, beaches, hotels and restaurants.
Nice Weather Forecasts: Click here for the current Nice 10-day forecast.
Because of Nice’s situation with the sea in front and the mountains close behind, it can be difficult to predict the weather, but my personal rule-of-thumb is that if the forecast is for sun, it will be sunny, and if the forecast is for anything else, there is a 50% chance that it will be… sunny! In fact, Nice has around 300 days of sun a year.
Check it out for yourself with this up-to-the-hour webcam view from the Prom! There are 8 webcams at various points along the seaside, so just click on the one closest to you and check out how crowded the beach is before you go!
Average Temperatures in Nice by month, with average rain and snow days
Celcius J F M A M J J A S O N D
Hi Temp 13 13 15 17 21 24 27 28 25 21 17 14
Low 5 6 8 10 14 18 20 21 17 14 10 6
Fahrenheit F M A M J J A S O N D
Hi Temp 55 56 59 63 69 76 81 82 76 70 62 57
Low 42 43 46 50 57 63 68 69 63 57 49 43
Rain days 6 3 4 6 5 3 2 3 5 5 7 4
Snow days 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
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Photo credits: Nice travel poster and L’hiver a Nice poster available from Zazzle.com. Weather chart data from Wikipedia.fr
