Cimiez

Up on the hill above the centre, Cimiez is the city's most refined residential quarter, laid out around Roman ruins, an old monastery with its garden of clipped hedges and olive trees, and the Belle Époque palaces that once housed wintering aristocrats. The Matisse and archaeology museums sit in the green of the Arènes park, and it is the kind of place to spend a slow, cultured morning rather than an evening. Dining is sparse and mostly tied to the museums or the few quiet local addresses. Come for the calm, the views and the art, then descend for dinner.