France
Nice in December
🧥 WinterCool and some showers.
🎒 Pack: warm jacket for evenings
Why December scores 8.7What goes into the score
How it works- Weather comfort8.1
- !Cool (14°C highs / 7°C lows)
- ✓Comfortable humidity (dew point 7.8°C)
- ✓Mostly dry (~90 mm rain)
- Air quality9.6
- ✓Good (within WHO guideline) (PM2.5 ~7 µg/m³)
- Seasonal hazards10.0
- ·No notable seasonal hazards
- Safety baseline7.5
- ·Increased caution
| Dec | May | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 8.7 Excellent | 9.6 Excellent |
| Season | 🧥 Winter | 🌷 Spring |
| High / low | 14° / 7° | 21° / 15° |
| Rain | 90 mm | 40 mm |
| Humidity | dew pt 8° | dew pt 14° |
| PM2.5 | 7 µg/m³ | 8 µg/m³ |
Typical-month data: NASA POWER (MERRA-2 reanalysis) 2015–2024 (modelled, not a forecast). Temperatures: Nice weather-station normals. Rainfall: Nice weather-station normals (national met service).
Holidays & crowdsDecember 2026
Long weekendThere's at least one long weekend. Domestic travel picks up and popular spots get busier over those days.
- Christmas Day 25–27 Dec · 3 days off in a row
National holidays only; regional holidays and school breaks aren't included. Source: holidays (open-source public-holiday calendar).
Explore NiceEvents, sights, food & souvenirs
Check event dates locallyThe main city of the French Riviera, with a seafront promenade, a pastel old town, art museums and easy access to Monaco and hilltop villages.
No major events on our calendar for December.
Coming up later
Nice CarnivalDate variesUsually mid-February to early March, about two weeks
One of the world's major carnivals, with parades of giant floats and flower battles.
Why go: Parade seating is ticketed; book in advance.
Where: Place Masséna and Promenade des Anglais
Monaco Grand PrixDate variesUsually late May or early June
The Formula 1 street race in Monte Carlo.
Why go: Hotels in Nice fill up with race visitors.
Where: Monaco, a short train ride away
Bastille DayEvery year14 July every year
France's national day, usually with fireworks over the bay.
Why go: Public holiday; the seafront is very crowded.
Where: Seafront
Promenade des Anglais
The long seafront walkway along the Baie des Anges.
💡 The beaches are pebbly; water shoes help.
Vieux Nice and Cours Saleya
The old town's narrow lanes and the Cours Saleya flower and food market.
Colline du Château
A hilltop park on the site of the old castle with views over the bay and port.
Musée Matisse
A museum of Matisse's work in a villa in the Cimiez district.
Musée Marc Chagall
A museum built to house Chagall's biblical paintings.
Èze and Villefranche-sur-Mer
A clifftop medieval village and a harbour town nearby along the coast.
Socca
A thin, crisp chickpea-flour pancake cooked in a wood-fired oven.
💡 Stalls in Vieux Nice and the Cours Saleya
Salade niçoise
A salad of tomatoes, eggs, olives, anchovies or tuna and raw vegetables.
Pissaladière
An onion tart topped with anchovies and black olives.
Pan bagnat
A round sandwich filled with the ingredients of a salade niçoise.
Petits farcis
Vegetables stuffed with meat and herbs, then baked.
Olive oil
Oil from local Cailletier olives.
💡 Olive oil shops in Vieux Nice
Candied fruit
Whole candied fruit and flowers, a traditional Riviera confection.
Provençal fabrics
Brightly printed cotton tablecloths and textiles.
💡 Shops and market stalls in the old town
Perfume
Fragrances from nearby Grasse, France's perfume capital.