What to Do in April in and around Nice – 2025

April Fool’s Day Nicois-style!  What to expect on April Fool’s Day in Nice…

Catch the last day of the Nice International Tattoo Festival!  First weekend in April, tbd – at the Hippodrome in the next town down from Nice, Cagnes-sur-mer. Get there by car,  Bus #620 stop Hippodrome, or by train, stop Cagnes-sur-Mer.  Entry 10€/8€ for students.  To get you in the mood, here are some trippy photos of people that have scenes of Nice tattooed on their body!

Early Bird Insider tip: April 1 is when the sign-ups open for the free Outdoor Festival 06  in May with tons of outdoor activities/sports to discover at over 140 sites throughout the region, but they fill up fast.

No Finish Line Nice – first weekend in April – Join an open-ended run/walk for good cause! You pay a small entry free, then for every kilometer that you run/walk on the seaside course during the 5 days.4 nights, you raise 1€ for children’s charities.  Day, night, running, walking, fast, slow, alone, with friends… every kilometer clocked is a good deed done. Update: for 2024 the event set a new record with 6000 participants that collectively logged over 100,000 kilometers, raising over 100k.

Bellet Gourmand Festival first weekend in April 2025 date tbd, 5:30pm-10:30pm.  Free entry, but small fees for the tastings. Three local wineries and 7 local chefs team up to bring the wines direct from the vineyards and right into town for a fun weekend wine tasting/wine paring.  Accompanied by music, demos and even 2 boules courts, it all happens in the gazebo next to the Theatre de Verdure, in the park across from the Hotel Meridien, just across from the beach.

Monaco Big-Top Weekend Flea Market – first weekend in April tbd – Every spring the Monegasques empty their fabulous closets to make room for the new styles, and donate them to Monaco’s annual Kermesse de Soeur Marie, a giant festive charity sale/prize raffle held under the big top circus tent in Monaco’s Fontvieille district.

Biot et les Templiers Medieval Festival – free – first weekend in April tbd.  Take the train to Biot and step back in time.

Don’t miss this multi-artist exhibition in an extraordinary abandoned villa!  I can’t decide which is more captivating: the art or the elegantly decaying ruins of the once stately Villa Cameline.  It’s not a squat: the owner gives a free hand to chosen artists every spring, 2025 dates tbd.  Open Wednesdays and Saturdays only from 3pm-6:30pm.  Free!  43 ave Monplaisir, tram stop Borriglione, then from the tram stop a 6 minute walk along Ave Romain Rolland that curves into ave Monplaisir up the hill.   Worth the effort!

Stand up Comedy in English – Sunday, 2025 dates tbd – The new Bobar Comedy Club in Old Nice does twice-monthly stand-up comedy shows in English  ‘Spill the Tea’, at 5:30pm and cover charge is just 8€ or 5€ students.  27 rue Benoit Bunico, tram stop Cathedrale.

 

Blind Date?  Here’s an out-of-the-box idea, a Blind Dinner! Blindfolded before being lead to your table, you’ll experience your meal in a way you will never forget!  Tickets for the 3-course blind dinner are 60€, and you select your surprise 3-course menu based on meat, fish or vegetarian.  Starts at 8:30pm at Ornato Restaurant 54 blvd Jean Jaures, tram stop Massena or Opera.

If you like vintage cars and motorcycles, don’t miss Legendes de Nice on the Prom right across from the old town – FREE –  second weekend in April, a giant classic car/motorcycle festival right on the seaside, open from 10am-5pm, including a car parade Saturday at 2pm.

 

Les Visiteurs du Soir (The Visitors in the Night) – 2 nights of surprising art in unexpected places, April 2025 dates tbd – FREE.  Les Visiteurs du Soir is a kind of sprawling, ephemeral, almost ‘underground’, yearly contemporary art festival. During two days, the public is invited to a free nighttime self-guided tour to discover approximately sixty locations in Nice: artists’ studios, private apartments, cultural or offbeat locations… even a fabulous abandoned mansion, the Villa Cameline (see photos above). The purpose of this event is to have contemporary art leave its walls and make it more accessible through a surprising itinerary that shows modern creations in unexpected places.  From the link above just continue scrolling down and the program is just after the map.

Easter in Nice

Easter Sunday (Paques in French) is April 20, 2025, but the most impressive is Good Friday, which falls on April 19 this year. On Good Friday, come into the Old Town to experience the Chemin de la Croix Candlelight Procession – Free

The solemn procession starts at Place Rossetti in front of the Cathedral Sainte-Reparate at 8:30pm, and progresses from one ‘station’ to another in the streets of Vieux Nice, each with dramatic artwork representing the various stages of Christ’s walk to his crucifixion.  As darkness falls, the candles are lit, and the procession ends in an eerily surreal scene at the top of rue Rossetti.

By the way, there are two very interesting churches in Nice to visit, especially around Easter time: At the top of Cours Saleya, the Saint Suaire Chapel once held the famous Shroud of Turin (Saint Suaire in French), the burial cloth which may or may not bear the imprint of the resurrected body of Jesus Christ.  And the Monastery on Cimiez has a little Franciscan Friar Museum (free) with a very detailed display on the shroud, showing a replica of the actual imprints on the cloth, life size.

FYI Easter Monday is a bank holiday and many businesses and museums are closed.

For Sporty Types

Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters Tennis Tournament, April 5-13, 2025.  Ticket prices are surprisingly affordable: as low as 20€ for the high seats for the qualifying matches, so you can watch world class tennis for practically the price of 2 movies.  Even the finals are not bad at only 47 to 101€ .

Easy to access by train, they open up the normally shuttered Monte Carlo Tennis Club train station, so the train will let you off right at the entry.  By the way, the Monte-Carlo Tennis Club is not only not in Monte-Carlo, it’s not even in Monaco, it’s actually located just across the border, in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin.  World-class tennis, affordable tickets, gorgeous weather, sea-view tennis courts, and door-to-door service to boot… what’s not to ‘love’?

Nice International Semi-Marathon, April 27 tbd, 2025  A gorgeous completely flat double loop route that runs along the seaside and finishes with a big concert at Place Massena. Plus additional shorter races for all levels including a 5k, 10k and family 1.5k.  2024 had 11,000 participants!

The month-long Festival des Jardins Garden Festival is held the whole month of April up and down the entire Cote d’Azur… but only every other year, and this is the year!

Free Parc Phoenix Weekend for local residents – Free – The first full weekend of each month Parc Phoenix nature park/arboretum is free to local residents (but you need to bring proof: a recent phone or electric bill, or tax notice).  Right after lunch is the busiest time with a line to get in so mornings or late afternoons are best.  Tram stop Parc Phoenix

Catch the final weeks of Spring Skiing:  The two highest-altitude resorts, Auron and Isola 2000, are open through April 13, and you can take the bargain snow-bus for just 14€ round trip.

Music and Concerts

Jazz/Blues/Rock Concerts in Nice  Besides nightly concerts at local jazz clubs and rock bars, there is also a robust monthly concert schedule with Nice Music Live;  the concerts at Theatre de Verdure, Black Box, and Stockfish, all have easy tramway access.

Sunday Orchestra Concerts – FREE – Every Sunday at 3:30pm the Nice Orchestra d’Harmonie gives a free concert in the either the Church in the Port (tram stop Port) or the Basilica Notre Dame (tram stop Jean Medecin).  Click here for this week’s concert program.

Classical Concerts in Nice – There is a whole slate of at least 10 classical concerts every month by different Baroque and Classical ensembles performing in Nice’s fabulous Baroque Churches.

Candlelight Concerts   Ranging from classic, to themed, to classical interpretations of rock legends, these eclectic concerts are lit by a sea of candles and held at the Center Universitaire Méditerranéen which has great sightlines and is super easy to get to. Tickets start at 35€. Tramstop Center Universitaire Méditerranéen (CUM) on line 2.

The Nice Opera has all kinds of events going on every week: Here is this month’s schedule

• Insider Tip:  The Nice Opera ticket office has a last-minute ticket line, where one hour before the performance, unsold tickets drop to half-price …and for students and under-30s tickets are just 5€!