Nice

Is Nice safe?

Yes, for nearly every visitor. Nice has far less street crime than France's two biggest cities. In 2025 police recorded 16 thefts from people per 1,000 residents in Nice, against 45 in Paris and 19 in Marseille, and violent thefts at less than half the Marseille rate (Interior Ministry figures). The Alpes-Maritimes had 22 homicides in 2025, about 1.9 per 100,000 people.

Three things pull the score down: drug-gang shootings in a few outer estates, a terrorism threat that has struck Nice twice, and roads that kill more people than in most cities we score. We rate Nice 76, below Paris (79) and Barcelona (78).

Theft on the beach and the Promenade

Most crime a visitor meets in Nice is theft, and it has fallen a long way. Thefts from people without violence dropped from 9,874 in 2016 to 5,714 in 2025. That is still about 16 a day, concentrated where visitors are:

• The public beaches along the Promenade des Anglais, where bags and phones disappear from towels while their owners swim.
• The Promenade itself, where phones are snatched by people on bikes and scooters.
• Vieux Nice, the old town, especially the Cours Saleya market and the bars in the evening.
• Trams and buses, including tram line 2 from the airport, and the area around Nice-Ville station.
• Parked cars. Police recorded 1,299 thefts from vehicles in 2025. Do not leave anything visible in a hire car, even for a few minutes.

Carry a cross-body bag, swim in turns if you are with friends, and keep your phone away from the kerb side when walking.

Drug violence in Les Moulins and Saint-Roch

Nice's serious violence is concentrated in a few estates that visitors rarely see. On 11 May 2026 a gunman opened fire on a busy shopping square in Les Moulins, a district of about 8,000 people in the west of the city near the motorway, killing two people and seriously injuring three. The shooting followed gunfire and an explosion at a grocery in the same area and shots fired at young men in Saint-Roch, in the north-east, in the days before. The prosecutor said the same three weapons were used each time. It was not the first killing there: in October 2025 gunmen in a car shot dead two men with no link to the drug trade on a square in the same district. Authorities counted five drug-dealing points in Les Moulins, two of them very active, down from twelve in 2023.

The mayor, Eric Ciotti, has asked the state for more police, and the prefect requested reinforcements for the affected areas. None of this involved the centre, the beaches or the old town, but it is why we score violent crime a little below Paris.

Terrorism

The FCDOFCDO travel adviceThe UK government's travel advice for each country, which can advise against all travel or all but essential travel to specific areas.More in the glossary says terrorists are very likely to try to carry out attacks in France, including at crowded places and events. Nice knows this better than most cities: on 14 July 2016 a man drove a truck into the Bastille Day crowd on the Promenade des Anglais, killing 86 people, and in October 2020 three people were killed in a knife attack in the Notre-Dame basilica. Security is heavy at big events such as the February carnival and the summer festivals. The risk to any one visitor is small, but it is real.

Nice at night

Nice is not in the European Commission's 2023 survey of city residents, so we use Marseille, the nearest French city in it. There, only 43% of residents said they feel safe walking alone at night in the city, one of the lowest shares of the 83 cities surveyed, though 71% felt safe in their own neighbourhood. Nice's numbers suggest it is calmer: violent thefts per resident run at less than half Marseille's rate, so we score it a little higher.

In practice the old town, the port and the Promenade stay lively until late in summer and are fine for walking. The quieter streets around Nice-Ville station feel emptier after midnight. The FCDOFCDO travel adviceThe UK government's travel advice for each country, which can advise against all travel or all but essential travel to specific areas.More in the glossary warns about drink spiking in France, so keep your drink in sight in bars. Taxis and ride apps are easy to find.

Roads, air and heat

Roads are Nice's weakest point in our scoring. The national accident database records 21 deaths in the city in both 2023 and 2024 and 13 in 2025, about 5 per 100,000 residents a year, more than three times the rate in Paris. About half of those killed in 2023 and 2024 were on motorbikes or scooters, and six or seven pedestrians die every year. Drivers and riders are fast on the Promenade and the coast roads; cross at lights, and think twice before renting a scooter.

Fine-particle pollution is moderate. AtmoSud stations have measured fine particlesPM2.5Tiny airborne particles 2.5 micrometres across or smaller. They reach deep into the lungs and are the air pollutant most linked to early death.More in the glossary at 7 to 10 µg/m³ a year since 2023, below the EU's 2030 limit though above the WHO guideline. Summer brings ozone and long heatwaves. Tap water is safe and the university hospital is good.

Nice is in seismic zone 4 of 5 (moderate), the highest level in mainland France, though damaging quakes are rare. Autumn storms can bring flash floods along the coast, and wildfires break out in the dry hills behind the city in summer; check the fire risk before hiking.

How we scored it

Health (86) and violent crime (84) are Nice's best factors; we put violent crime below the city's homicide rateHomicide rateThe number of people killed on purpose each year for every 100,000 residents. It is the most comparable crime figure between countries.More in the glossary alone would suggest because of the 2026 shootings and the terrorism threat. Theft (70) is better than in Paris or Barcelona. Walking at night (63) is based on Marseille's survey result plus 4 points for Nice's lower street crime, and traffic (74) is the weakest factor because of the city's motorbike and pedestrian deaths. Our France page covers the rest of the country.