Nice and the French Riviera: towns, life, property and moving in 2026

Nice is the capital of the French Riviera: 357,737 residents, France’s second-busiest airport and 88 days a year when the temperature reaches 25°C. The median price of a flat here, based on 2025 sales, is €4,848 per m², less than in Cannes, Villefranche or Saint-Tropez. France has no residence permit for buying property: people move on a visiteur visa or a Talent Passport.

Below is a guide to the coast and its towns from Saint-Tropez to Menton, the history of Russian Nice and a detailed section for those considering a move: which status to choose, what flats and rentals cost according to official data, which taxes apply to property, from taxe foncière to the real estate wealth tax (IFI), plus schools, healthcare and the downsides that guidebooks leave out.

Where Nice and the French Riviera are

The French Riviera (Côte d’Azur) is not an administrative unit but the name of the Mediterranean coast in south-eastern France, between Saint-Tropez and the Italian border beyond Menton. Almost all of its best-known stretch lies in the Alpes-Maritimes department (06): Nice, Cannes, Antibes, Menton, Villefranche-sur-Mer and Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, and inland Grasse and Valbonne with the Sophia Antipolis technology park. Saint-Tropez belongs to the neighbouring Var department (83). Both departments are part of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region.

The division matters not for geography but for money: taxes on buying property are set by the department, and taxes on owning it by each commune separately. Neighbouring towns on the same coast can differ by half again in their rates — the figures are below.

Nice’s climate according to Météo-France normals

The Météo-France climate normals for the Nice weather station (the airport, observations from 1991–2020) explain why people move here for the whole year, not just for the summer:

Winters are mild but not tropical: in January daytime temperatures are around 13°C, and a home without heating is cold — bear this in mind when choosing a property with floor-to-ceiling windows. The wettest months are October and November: they account for almost a third of annual rainfall, and downpours can be heavy. Summer heat by the sea is moderate: Nice has fewer than ten days a year above 30°C.

Getting there: Nice airport

Nice Côte d’Azur is France’s second airport after those of Paris: in 2025 it handled 15.23 million passengers, and its direct flights connect it with 122 destinations in 45 countries.

• To central Nice — tram line 2 runs from both terminals to Jean Médecin station and the port, a journey of under 30 minutes.
• Along the coast — Cannes, Antibes, Nice, Villefranche, Monaco and Menton all lie on the same seaside railway line.
• Saint-Tropez is off the railway: you get there by car or by sea.

There are no direct flights from Russia: travellers fly with a connection. How to apply for a long-stay visa and what applies to Russian passport holders is covered in our article on how to move to France.

Towns of the French Riviera

First, a comparison based on official data. Price is the median of flat sales for 2025 (DVF); rent is the advertised rate for Q3 2025 (the Ministry’s Rent Map); the share of second homes comes from the 2023 INSEE census; and the second-home tax surcharge is from DGFiP data for 2025.

Population is the municipal population according to INSEE as at 1 January 2023 (in force from 1 January 2026). Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat saw only 26 flat sales in 2025, and its rent figure is calculated for a group of neighbouring communes, so its numbers are a guide rather than an exact price.

Nice

The only truly large city on the coast: a university, a university hospital, the prefecture, a business district by the airport and life all year round. That is why Nice is the most “lived-in” town on the Riviera: second homes make up just 13.8% of its housing, against 44% in Cannes. The median flat price is €4,848 per m², but the spread is wide: a quarter of sales are below €3,837 and another quarter above €6,071 per m². The median flat sale in 2025 was €230,000, so the market consists mostly of small flats; a flat of 100 m² or more with a sea view costs several times the median.

Cannes

The city of the film festival and business conferences, with slightly fewer residents than Antibes; 44% of its housing is second homes. Flats cost €5,714 per m², 18% more than in Nice, with almost the same rent. Cannes is the only major town on the coast that had no second-home tax surcharge in 2025: for the owner of a flat that stands empty for most of the year, that is a noticeable saving. Whether there is a surcharge in 2026, check your tax notice.

Antibes and Juan-les-Pins

Antibes, with its resort district of Juan-les-Pins, is the coast’s second-largest town by population, between Cannes and Nice. Flats across the town cost €5,189 per m², houses €6,635 per m². A plus for families: the Sophia Antipolis technology park is nearby, as is the international campus in Valbonne, covered below.

Menton

The last French town before Italy. Flats cost €5,000 per m², almost the same as in Nice, but rent is higher at €21.06 per m². 42% of its housing is second homes.

Villefranche-sur-Mer

A small town on a bay between Nice and Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat. A flat here costs €8,715 per m², almost twice as much as in neighbouring Nice. Half of its housing is second homes.

Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat

A peninsula of villas with a population of 1,531, it is the most expensive commune in our selection: flats at €14,193 per m², and a median price of €3,050,000 across 9 house sales in 2025. Almost two-thirds of its housing is second homes. This is a market where the price is set by the individual villa, not the commune average.

Saint-Tropez

Saint-Tropez is in the Var department, away from the railway. It has 3,582 residents, and 68% of its housing is second homes; between 1968 and 2023 the number of main residences fell from 2,261 to 1,902, while second homes grew 4.7-fold. Flats cost €11,826 per m², houses €21,864 per m², and the median house sale is €3,787,500. Saint-Tropez is the least suited of all to year-round living: most of its housing is occupied only in season.

Monaco: a neighbour, not France

Between Nice and Menton lies Monaco, a separate state with its own residence rules and taxes. A French residence permit does not give the right to live in Monaco, and the French tax rules in this article do not apply to it.

Russian Nice: the history of the community

Russians on the French Riviera are nothing new: the community took shape in the 19th century, when the coast became a winter resort for the aristocracy. Traces of it survive in monuments that the French Ministry of Culture has listed as historic monuments:

• The Church of Saints Nicholas and Alexandra on Rue Longchamp in Nice — the first Russian parish church built in Western Europe, in 1859. The money was raised by a subscription opened in 1856–1857 by the Dowager Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. A listed monument since 1990.
• The chapel in memory of Tsarevich Nicholas Alexandrovich, who died of tuberculosis in 1865, was built in 1867–1868.
• St Nicholas Cathedral — the main symbol of Russian Nice. Construction began in 1903 to a design by the architect Preobrazhensky, and it was consecrated on 18 December 1912. The cathedral and the chapel have been a historic monument since 1987. Under a 2013 French court ruling, the owner of the cathedral is the Russian Federation.
• The Church of St Michael the Archangel in Cannes was built in 1894 with funds from the Russian community and the involvement of Grand Duke Michael; a listed monument since 2022.

Official statistics do not say how many Russians live in Nice today: INSEE does not publish the number of immigrants by country of birth for individual cities. Across France as a whole, 77,000 people born in Russia were living there at the start of 2023. Russian parishes in Nice and Cannes are active, but this is not a “Russian town”: without French, dealing with bureaucracy, doctors and school is hard. For more on language, money and daily life in France in general, see our article living in France: pros and cons.

Moving to Nice: which residence permit fits

Anyone can buy a flat on the French Riviera, but the purchase gives no right to live in France: there is no residence permit for property in France. Without a residence status you can spend up to 90 days in any 180 in France, like a tourist. To live there you need one of the following statuses:

The visiteur route has simpler requirements but does not allow you to work in France and is issued for a year. The Talent Passport gives a card for up to 4 years for the whole family and the right to work, and after 5 years of residence you can apply for citizenship. All the visiteur requirements are in our article on the French visiteur visa, the Talent Passport categories in our overview of the French Talent Passport, and the other grounds in our article on French residence permits.

Property in Nice and on the French Riviera

Prices from actual sales

Listings on agency websites show the price the seller is asking. Actual sale prices are published by the French tax authority in the DVF database. For 2025, it shows:

Relotus calculation based on DVF: 2025 sales involving a single dwelling, with the price divided by the living area. Over the year, the median for flats in Nice rose by 2.3%, from €4,737 to €4,848 per m². In Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, and for houses in small communes, there are few sales, so the median there can shift considerably with a single transaction.

What this means in money: a 100 m² flat in Nice at the median costs around €485,000, and in the upper quarter from €607,000; in Saint-Tropez the same floor area costs from €1.2 million. A seafront flat with a terrace goes beyond the upper quarter.

Buying costs

In France, a property purchase is handled by a notaire. The buyer’s costs, known as frais de notaire, amount to around 7–8% of the price for resale property and 2–3% for new-build, according to the French Chamber of Notaries. Most of this is taxes, not the notaire’s fee. The departmental rate of transfer tax in Alpes-Maritimes is the base 4.5%: the department has not used its right to raise it by 0.5 points until 30 April 2028. In neighbouring Var, as in Paris, the rate is 5%; the base 4.5% applies there only to a buyer of a first main residence (DGFiP table as at 1 June 2026).

Example: for a €1,500,000 flat in an older building, buying costs come to around €105,000–120,000 on top of the price. They need to be in the budget from the start. How the purchase works is explained in our article on how to buy property in France.

Property taxes: taxe foncière, second-home tax and IFI

Owning a home on the French Riviera costs money every year, and the amount depends on two things: where the property is and whether it is your main residence.

• Property tax (taxe foncière). Paid by whoever owns the property on 1 January. The base is half of the property’s cadastral rental value, and the rate is voted by the commune and its intercommunal grouping. The combined rate in 2025: Nice — 42.43%, Villefranche — 39.44%, Menton — 39.01%, Saint-Tropez — 30.30%, Antibes — 28.61%, Cannes — 28.07%, Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat — 25.82%. The household waste collection charge is a separate line — 10.46% in Nice — and can be passed on to a tenant.
• Second-home tax (taxe d’habitation sur les résidences secondaires). Taxe d’habitation on main residences was abolished in 2023, but it remains on second homes. It is paid by whoever has the use of a furnished home on 1 January. In communes with a tight housing market, a surcharge of 5% to 60% is added to the communal part of the tax. In the region, 132 of the 156 communes entitled to do so introduced it for 2026. In 2025: Nice, Menton, Villefranche and Saint-Tropez — 60%, Antibes — 50%, Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat — 40%, Cannes — no surcharge.
• Real estate wealth tax (IFI). Payable if the net value of your property on 1 January exceeds €1,300,000; the scale is calculated from €800,000, with rates from 0.5% to 1.5%. A non-resident of France pays only on French property, a resident on worldwide property, but a new resident also pays only on French property for the first 5 years. A main residence gets a 30% allowance on its value, and debts relating to the properties are deductible.

Two more calculations on the 2026 IFI scale, with no debts and no other property. A €3,000,000 villa as a second home — €15,690 a year. The same villa as a main residence after the move — €8,100 a year: the 30% allowance reduces the base to €2,100,000. The practical conclusion: if you plan to live on the French Riviera rather than just come for the summer, main-residence status significantly reduces the taxes on the property.

What to decide before the move

For a wealthy family, the order of steps matters more than the choice of neighbourhood. These are mistakes that are expensive to fix after the move:

1. The date of tax residence. A French resident pays tax on worldwide income, and IFI on worldwide property. For the first 5 years, a new resident pays IFI only on French property, provided they were not resident in the previous 5 years. Asset sales and restructuring are best done before the move.
2. Inheritance. If an heir has lived in France for 6 of the last 10 years, French inheritance tax may also apply to assets abroad; for children the rate goes up to 45%. A family with capital needs to factor this in when deciding which of its members become resident.
3. Russia and the tax treaty. Since 8 August 2023, most of the Russia–France double taxation agreement has been suspended. A French resident with income from Russia needs to recalculate it from scratch — see our article on taxes in France for details.
4. How to structure the purchase. In your own name, jointly as a couple or through a company — this affects IFI, inheritance and tax on resale. The decision is made before signing the preliminary contract, not after.
5. Status for the family. The Talent Passport is also issued to the spouse and children; with a visiteur visa, each adult must prove their income, and nobody will be able to work in France.

If you are choosing between France and Spain, compare taxes and the route to residence in our article Spain or France; the Spanish alternative to the French Riviera is Marbella.

Renting in Nice

Before buying, many people rent for a year first — and it makes sense: it lets you test the neighbourhood, the noise of the summer season and the school run. Advertised rates for Q3 2025, including service charges:

• Nice — €20.43 per m² a month, €19.73 for flats with 3 or more rooms. A 100 m² flat costs around €1,970 a month at the average rate; with a sea view and terrace, more.
• Cannes, Antibes, Menton — €20.25–21.06 per m², almost the same as Nice.
• Villefranche, Saint-Tropez, Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat — €26.41–27.73 per m²: almost as much as in the most affordable part of Paris, the 19th arrondissement (€27.70).

These are average advertised rates across each town, not rents under existing leases. In summer, some housing on the coast goes to short-term lets, so a one-year lease is easier to find out of season. For a visiteur visa, you need a lease before you apply — see the visa article for details. How Nice compares with the capital, where rates reach €37.89 per m², is covered in our article on Paris.

Schools: the international campus in Valbonne

In France, schooling is compulsory from 3 to 16, and state schools are free. For families from abroad, the main option on the French Riviera is the Valbonne International Campus (Centre International de Valbonne) in the Sophia Antipolis technology park, near Antibes and Cannes:

• a state institution, from the first year of collège (6e) to the preparatory classes for the grandes écoles;
• six international sections — German, American, Chinese, Spanish, Italian and Russian — plus the Franco-Italian Esabac section;
• the collège admits pupils only to the international sections, and the lycée has boarding;
• 2,300 pupils from 65 countries.

The Russian section lets a child follow the French curriculum while keeping up Russian language and literature at school level. Check admission requirements and deadlines with the campus itself well in advance, ideally a year before the move. There are also private international schools on the coast — check their terms and fees on their own websites.

Healthcare in Nice

Nice has a university hospital, CHU de Nice, with its main sites at Pasteur 2 and Archet 2 (which also houses the maternity unit). Healthcare on the coast is the same French system: after 3 months of residence you can join the state health insurance scheme, PUMa, choose a registered GP (médecin traitant) and get a carte Vitale. A GP visit costs €30, and the health insurance fund refunds €19 if you have a registered GP.

For the first year, especially on a visiteur visa, you need private insurance for the full period. Look for a registered GP straight after the move: without one, the fund will refund only €8.40 for the same visit. How the system works as a whole is explained in our article on living in France.

Downsides of living on the French Riviera

• Prices. Rent in Nice is €20.43 per m², the highest among France’s ten largest cities after Paris; in Villefranche and Saint-Tropez it is almost as high as in the 19th arrondissement of Paris.
• Taxes on second homes. Nice, Menton, Villefranche and Saint-Tropez charge the maximum 60% surcharge on the second-home tax.
• Seasonality. In Saint-Tropez 68% of housing is second homes, in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat 64%, in Cannes 44%. In summer the population of the resorts swells; in winter many houses stand empty.
• Tourism in Nice. In summer the centre, the seafront and the beaches are full of tourists; an airport with 15 million passengers a year is both a convenience and a constant flow of visitors.
• Autumn downpours. October and November bring almost a third of annual rainfall, and downpours can be heavy.
• Language. The Russian community is old, but everyday life, school and paperwork are in French.
• Buying gives no status. A flat by the sea does not solve the residence permit question — status first, then the move.

Key points about living on the French Riviera

• Nice is a large, year-round city: 357,737 residents, a university hospital, France’s second airport and around 2,760 hours of sunshine a year.
• Flats in Nice, based on 2025 sales, cost €4,848 per m²; in Cannes, €5,714; in Villefranche, €8,715; in Saint-Tropez, €11,826; in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, €14,193.
• Buying costs are 7–8% of the price for resale property; the departmental transfer tax is the base 4.5%.
• A second-home owner in Nice pays a 60% surcharge on the second-home tax; a main residence is exempt from this tax and gets a 30% allowance for IFI.
• France has no residence permit for buying property: to live there, you need a visiteur card or a Talent Passport, and after 5 years, citizenship.
• For children, there is the state Valbonne International Campus with a Russian section.

If you are choosing between Nice, Cannes and Menton, deciding whether to buy before the move, or unsure whether a visiteur visa is enough for you or a Talent Passport for the whole family would work better, request a free assessment. We will look at your income, family and plans and tell you which status fits and in what order to act.

Frequently asked questions

Can you get a French residence permit by buying a flat in Nice?

No. France has no residence permit for buying property. Owning a home helps with a visiteur visa application — it meets the housing requirement — but you still need to prove income of at least €1,477.93 a month per person. An investment of €300,000 or more in a business that creates jobs is a Talent Passport, not a flat purchase.

How much does a flat in Nice cost?

Based on 2025 sales, the median price of a flat in Nice is €4,848 per m², with half of all sales between €3,837 and €6,071 per m². The median sale is €230,000, mostly small flats. A 100 m² flat at the median costs around €485,000; by the sea and with a terrace, considerably more.

How much does it cost to rent in Nice?

According to the Rent Map for Q3 2025, €20.43 per m² a month including service charges, and €19.73 for flats with 3 or more rooms. A 100 m² flat costs roughly €1,970 a month at the average rate; a home with a sea view, more.

Where on the French Riviera can you live all year round?

In Nice: it is the only large city on the coast, second homes make up just 13.8% of its housing, and it has a university hospital, schools and an airport. For families with children, Antibes and the area around Valbonne near the international campus are convenient. Saint-Tropez and Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat empty out in winter: more than 60% of their housing is second homes.

What tax does the owner of a second flat in Nice pay?

Every year, taxe foncière at Nice’s combined rate of 42.43% of half the cadastral value, and the second-home tax with a 60% surcharge. If the net value of your property in France exceeds €1,300,000, IFI is added: for a €1,500,000 flat with no debt, €3,900 a year.

How many Russians live in Nice?

There is no official figure: INSEE does not publish the number of immigrants by country of birth for individual cities. Across France, 77,000 people born in Russia were living there at the start of 2023. Nice’s Russian community took shape in the 19th century: the first Russian church was built in 1859, and the cathedral was consecrated in 1912.

What is the winter climate like in Nice?

According to Météo-France normals, the average daytime high in January is 13.3°C, around 6°C at night, with frost on roughly one day a year. The wettest months are October and November. Sunshine totals around 2,760 hours a year.

Is Monaco part of France?

No. Monaco is a separate state between Nice and Menton with its own residence rules and taxes. A French residence permit does not give the right to live in Monaco, and French tax rules do not apply to it.

Is there a school with Russian in Nice?

Near Nice, in the Sophia Antipolis technology park, the state Valbonne International Campus has a Russian international section: children follow the French curriculum and study Russian language and literature. Check admission requirements with the campus itself well in advance.

How much are frais de notaire when buying in Nice?

Around 7–8% of the price for resale property and 2–3% for new-build. The departmental transfer tax rate in Alpes-Maritimes is the base 4.5%, without the rise to 5% seen in Paris and Var. For a €1,500,000 flat in an older building, that comes to roughly €105,000–120,000 on top of the price.

Official sources

• Nice climate data sheet, 1991–2020 normals — Météo-France
• Communes and population — geo.api.gouv.fr
• Population of communes as at 1 January 2023 — INSEE
• Housing stock in Nice and other communes, 2023 census — INSEE
• Nice Côte d’Azur airport 2025 results — Aéroports de la Côte d’Azur
• Public transport from the airport — nice.aeroport.fr
• DVF sale prices — data.gouv.fr
• Rent Map 2025 — data.gouv.fr
• Costs of buying a home — Notaires de France
• Transfer tax rates by department as at 1 February 2026 — DGFiP
• Departmental transfer tax increase — service-public.gouv.fr
• Local taxes by commune, 2025 — DGFiP, data.economie.gouv.fr
• Second-home tax surcharge in 2026 — DGFiP
• Taxe foncière — service-public.gouv.fr
• Taxe d’habitation on second homes — service-public.gouv.fr
• Calculating IFI — service-public.gouv.fr
• Who pays IFI — service-public.gouv.fr
• IFI for non-residents — impots.gouv.fr
• Inheritance tax and international situations — service-public.gouv.fr
• St Nicholas Cathedral in Nice — POP, Ministry of Culture
• Church of Saints Nicholas and Alexandra in Nice — POP, Ministry of Culture
• Church of St Michael the Archangel in Cannes — POP, Ministry of Culture
• Visiteur card — service-public.gouv.fr
• Talent card — service-public.gouv.fr
• Naturalisation — service-public.gouv.fr
• Valbonne International Campus — the school’s website
• Compulsory schooling from age 3 — service-public.gouv.fr
• Nice University Hospital — CHU de Nice
• Universal health protection (PUMa) — service-public.gouv.fr
• Consultation fees and reimbursement — ameli.fr