I need to tell you about the cheese first, because I did not see it coming.
I do not like vegan cheese. Never have. Twelve years vegan and I have quietly agreed with every non-vegan who has pulled a face at the rubbery orange stuff and asked how I can eat it. I can’t, mostly. I don’t. The honourable exception has always been proper artisan cashew cheese, and that is rare.
Then I went to Nice, and France did to vegan cheese what France does to everything edible. The cheese boards I had there were the best I have ever tasted, vegan or otherwise adjacent. I have no idea what they are made of. I did not ask, because I did not want to break the spell. I would go back to Nice for the cheese alone, and I am only slightly joking.
So this is a vegan long weekend in Nice: where to eat, what I actually did across four nights, and the day trips that made it. Let me be honest up front, though. The dedicated vegan scene has thinned since I visited, and I will tell you exactly what has gone.
Getting there
Easy, and cheap, which sets the tone.
The tram (line 2) runs straight from the airport into the centre for about 1.70 euros and takes twenty to thirty minutes. It drops you at Masséna, right in the heart of everything. No taxi negotiation, no fuss. For a glamorous stretch of coast, Nice is refreshingly simple to arrive in.
Where I stayed
Right on Place Masséna, in an Airbnb in the square itself.
I cannot oversell the location. You walk straight down to the beach, straight into the old town, straight to the tram. Everything I am about to describe was within a short stroll. If you are doing Nice for a few days without a car, somewhere around Masséna or the edge of the old town is what you want. You will barely need transport again once you have dropped your bags.
The vegan food, honestly
Here is the thing: Nice is one of my favourite European cities for vegan food so far. A few of the all-vegan places have sadly closed, and I will be honest about which. But the quality and taste of what is here is outstanding. Slightly pricey in places, though not everywhere, and worth it.
Here is the bittersweet part.
The best thing I ate, the vegan cheese board at Utopia, is gone. It has closed permanently, and it genuinely saddened me to confirm it, because it was extraordinary. I am leaving it in this guide anyway, partly as a small memorial and partly so you understand the calibre of what Nice can do. If it ever reopens under any name, run.
What is still standing:
Koko Green, a fully plant-based spot in the old town, still going, though on limited hours (roughly Thursday to Sunday, so check before you build a plan around it). I had vegan cheese here too, and again, delicious. There is a theme developing.
Paper Plane, which I also ate at, and where we clearly did not hold back: a smoothie, two mains and a dessert between us, and a very happy table. Vegan-friendly and generous, worth a look.
Socca, and this is the one nobody tells vegans about. Socca is Nice’s own street food, a thin chickpea-flour pancake cooked in olive oil, crisp at the edges, and it is completely vegan by default. No substitutions, no asking, no confused waiter. It is just chickpeas, oil and salt, sold in wedges to eat while you wander. Seek it out. It is the easiest, most authentic vegan thing you will eat in the city.
Cabane du 12, the first vegan grocery in Nice, near the centre. This is where I stocked up on vegan cheese to bring home: brie, camembert, hard cheeses, the lot. All delicious, and yes, we are still on the cheese. If you want to smuggle some of that France-does-it-better magic back in your suitcase, this is your stop.
Supermarkets, and self-catering. Do not overlook these. There are plenty of supermarkets around, including one right on Place Masséna, selling fruit, veg, hummus, olives and every kind of snack. We had a kitchen in the apartment, so it was easy to grab bits and put together our own meals. We still ate out as much as we could, because the food was divine, but if you are watching the budget, self-catering in Nice is effortless.
So the dedicated vegan scene is thinner than it was, but between the cheese, the socca, Cabane du 12, Koko Green and easy self-catering, you will eat very, very well. Like a lot of European cities, you will not be left hungry. Just keep an eye out for the specialist vegan places, and the cheese, always the cheese.
What to do across four nights
We arrived late on the first night, so really we had three full days, and we packed a lot in.
Walk up Colline du Château. This is the hill at the end of the beach with the castle ruins on top. From the bottom it looks like a proper climb and slightly daunting. It is not. The walk up to the Bellanda Tower is gentle and the view over the whole sweep of the bay and the terracotta old town is the one you have seen on every postcard, except now it is yours. When I was up there, buskers were playing flamenco and fingerstyle guitar at the top, which was exactly the right soundtrack. A couple of little cafes for a drink too.
Hire electric bikes along the Promenade des Anglais. Do this. Whizzing along the front with the sea on one side is a genuine joy and covers far more of the coast than your feet will.
Swim. I went in June and the water was a beautiful colour and perfect for swimming. Fair warning, the beaches are pebbles, not sand, so bring something for your feet. Worth it for that Mediterranean blue.
Catch a free gig at Amour Beach. This is my favourite tip. Amour Beach (47 Promenade des Anglais) puts on live music and DJ sets right at the water’s edge through summer. You can buy a ticket and go down onto the sand, and what a place to watch a band. But here is the local trick: loads of people simply sit up on the seawall above and watch the whole thing for free. So if you are passing and hear music, go and have a look. You do not need a ticket to enjoy it from the wall.
The Musée Matisse. When I was there in summer 2024 they had a huge MiróMatisse exhibition, which was superb. That particular show has ended, but the museum is permanent and well worth it, so check what is on when you go.
Wander the old town, and find the Palais Lascaris. Vieux Nice is all narrow lanes and faded colour and is lovely just to get lost in. Tucked inside it is the Palais Lascaris, a small museum of historic musical instruments, which was a genuinely cool surprise.
Honestly, the thing I keep coming back to is the atmosphere. The moment you step onto that promenade, something about the light and the sea and the pace of it just lands. I loved Nice. Loved, loved, loved it.
Day trip one: the Train des Merveilles to Tende
This was the standout.
The Train des Merveilles runs from Nice up into the mountains to Tende, near the Italian border, and the journey itself is the point. Two hours each way through the Roya valley, tunnels, viaducts, teetering alpine villages, and at one stretch the train actually corkscrews through full loops inside the mountain to gain height. In summer there is a day pass for around 20 euros that covers the whole thing.
Tende is a small medieval town, and wandering its stacked stone streets I had the strange feeling of being somewhere I belonged. I have no idea if I have ancestry up there, but it felt like home. There is a short hike you can do around the village and into the mountains, and it is beautiful. The town also has the Musée des Merveilles, about the prehistoric rock engravings found in the valley nearby, which is worth a look while you are there.
One honest heads up for vegans: food up there is hard. We could not find much at all, so we were very glad we had brought snacks. There was one bakery that had some little biscuits the staff confirmed had no eggs or butter, and those saved us, but do not go hungry and expecting options. Pack your own lunch. The train ride there and back eats a chunk of the day, but the scenery earns it, and getting up into the mountains is a completely different side of the Riviera.
Day trip two: Monaco
We also did Monaco as a day trip from Nice, which is quick and easy on the coastal train. If you fancy it, I have written that one up separately: Vegan in Monaco.
Would I go back?
In a heartbeat. Four nights gave us the castle hill, the bikes, the swimming, a free gig on the beach, world-class art, a mountain village up a corkscrew railway, and more good vegan cheese than I have eaten in the rest of my life combined.
The vegan restaurant scene is not what it was, and I will not pretend otherwise. But between Koko Green, the socca, the cheese shop and a city this beautiful to simply be in, Nice is an easy yes. I would go back tomorrow. Mostly, if I am honest, for the cheese.
