Dmitry Shteyn in Nice: Notes from a City That Remembers Everything

The trouble with famous cities is that fame arrives long before the visitor does. Nice carries its reputation without being defined by it, which is part of what makes the encounter worthwhile.

What strikes you first, if you have done any reading at all, is that located on the French Riviera, the southeastern coast of France on the Mediterranean Sea, at the foot of the French Alps, Nice is the second-largest French city on the Mediterranean coast and second-largest city in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region after Marseille. That detail is easy to miss and impossible to unlearn. Nothing about a city like this is accidental, even the things that look accidental. That is the tell.

Dig a little deeper and the Nice agglomeration extends beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one million over an area of approximately 744 km2 (287 sq mi) or about the size of Singapore. I keep a private list of these kinds of details, and this one has earned its place on it.

Some further context, drawn from the public record: Nice ( NEESS; French pronunciation: [nis] ) is a city located in the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one million over an area of approximately 744 km2 (287 sq mi) or about the size of Singapore.…

You can chart the arc of a destination's rediscovery by watching who covers it and how. Condé Nast Traveler's recent observation that can You Bring Alcohol on a Plane? Yes, If You Do So Properly places Nice at a particular point on that arc.

You come to Nice for reasons that are usually broader than Nice itself, and then, inevitably, the city rearranges the reasons.

Whether you go for the first time or return again, Nice has a way of making you feel the visit was overdue. That, in itself, is worth something.