Cannes or Nice?
Two destinations compared on nine measures of openly sourced data. Weight what matters to you and the verdict follows.
Your match
Wins on sights concentration with your weighting.
Wins on nature & day trips and places to eat with your weighting.
What matters to you?
Pick a travel style or drag the sliders. The match scores above update as you do.
The verdict
Choose Cannes if you want a compact stay, with more notable places and more tourist attractions within walking distance of the centre, and the sea 1km away.
Choose Nice if you want choice after dark and more to do beyond the town itself: far more restaurants near the centre, more bars and clubs, and 24% of the surrounding land protected.
Scoreboard
Each measure scored 0 to 100. Open a row for the figures behind the score.
Beaches & swimming. Cannes and Nice are level on 73.
| Cannes | Nice | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 73 | 73 |
| Swim season months | 4 | 4 |
| Beaches 10 km | 68 | 70 |
| Coast distance | 1 km | 1 km |
| Water distance | 1 km | 1 km |
Places to eat. Nice leads by 19 points.19
| Cannes | Nice | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 50 | 69 |
| Restaurants within 2 km of centre | 473 | 1,231 |
| Effective number of cuisines within 2 km | 19 | 28 |
Museums & heritage. Nice leads by 10 points.10
| Cannes | Nice | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 36 | 46 |
| Museums within 10 km | 31 | 27 |
| Museums within 2 km of centre | 5 | 14 |
| Share of museums within 2 km % | 16 | 52 |
| Unesco sites within 50 km | 2 | 2 |
Nightlife. Nice leads by 16 points.16
| Cannes | Nice | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 28 | 44 |
| Drinking venues within 4 km | 188 | 428 |
| Drinking venues within 2 km of centre | 164 | 388 |
| Share of drinking venues within 2 km % | 87 | 91 |
| Nightclubs within 4 km | 19 | 26 |
Nature & day trips. Nice leads by 24 points.24
| Cannes | Nice | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 33 | 57 |
| Protected land share 50 km % | 17 | 24 |
| Landscape blanket share 50 km % | 16 | 20 |
| Land share of disc % | 53 | 62 |
| Park area within 2 km | 13 hectares | 56 hectares |
Good for families. Nice leads by 5 points.5
| Cannes | Nice | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 25 | 30 |
| Tourist attractions within 2 km | 7 | 4 |
| Park area within 2 km | 13 hectares | 56 hectares |
| Theme parks within 30 km | 3 | 3 |
Sights concentration. Cannes leads by 9 points.9
| Cannes | Nice | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 56 | 47 |
| Notable places within 2 km | 95 | 60 |
| Min wikipedia languages | 5 | 5 |
Value for money. Cannes and Nice are level on 62.
| Cannes | Nice | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 62 | 62 |
| Price level global | 73.7 | 73.7 |
| Daily budget | €160 | €160 |
Year-round weather. Cannes and Nice are level on 74.
| Cannes | Nice | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 74 | 74 |
| Monthly daytime high | 13.3 °C to 27.9 °C | 13.3 °C to 27.9 °C |
| Monthly rainfall | 13 mm to 138 mm | 13 mm to 138 mm |
| Dry months | 3 | 3 |
Where they differ
Cannes packs more into a walk: about twice as many notable places within walking distance of the centre as Nice, and about twice as many tourist attractions near the centre, which keeps a short stay on foot.
Nice is the larger town. Around three times as many restaurants near the centre and a somewhat wider range of kitchens, roughly twice as many places to drink plus more nightclubs, and far more green space in town. Beyond it, 24% of the surrounding land is protected against 17% around Cannes.
Where they are alike
Swimming is the shared strength. The sea is 1km from both centres, each has a similar number of beaches within reach, and both give four months with the water at 21°C or more.
The weather is effectively one climate: identical daytime highs of 13-28°C through the year, the same summer dry spell and the same wet autumn. Families face a similar picture too, with three theme parks within reach of each, though what sits near the centre differs.
Which traveller are you?
Beach-first travellers can take either. The sea is 1km from both centres, both give four months of water at 21°C or more, and Cannes stays marginally warmer into September.
Anyone travelling for meals and evenings should take Nice: far more restaurants near the centre, a wider spread of kitchens, more places to drink and more nightclubs, most of them central.
Walkers on a short break are better served by Cannes, which has more notable places and more attractions close to the centre. If day trips matter more, Nice has 24% of nearby land protected and much more park space, with three theme parks within reach of both.
What the numbers don't tell you
Value here carries no information: it is a national price level, identical for both by construction, and the €160 daily budget beside it is one national estimate rather than a measurement of either city. Neither can be called the cheaper trip.
Beach counts tell you how many beaches there are, not how much room is on them, and the season concentrates: both are at their best in July and August, when the coast is busiest. Warm sea does not mean dry, either. September still gives 23°C water at Cannes alongside 84mm of rain, and October brings 124mm.
When should you go?
The figures behind each month. Each row is shaded against that destination's own year, so the deepest cell is its best month for that measure and the palest its weakest. Shades are not comparable between the two rows.
Temperature and rainfall are thirty-year climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cannes: 1991-2020 normals, Nice (18 km from centre). Nice: 1991-2020 normals, Nice (8 km from centre).
The two share one weather calendar, so the month matters more than the choice. Cannes holds the sea slightly warmer into the shoulder season, 23°C in September against Nice's 22°C, though September also brings 84mm of rain after a dry summer.
Nice peaks in the same window: July and August at 28°C with 13mm and 18mm of rain. June, at 25°C and 34mm, is the drier warm alternative. October and November, at 124mm and 138mm, are the months to avoid in both.
Getting there
| Flying from | Cannes | Nice |
|---|---|---|
| ParisCDG, ORY, BVA | 1 h 30 m €78-111 NCE · 20 km | 1 h 30 m €78-111 NCE · 6 km |
| LondonLHR, LGW, STN, LTN +2 | 1 h 55 m €76-223 NCE · 20 km | 1 h 55 m €76-223 NCE · 6 km |
| RomeFCO, CIA | 1 h 10 m €69-133 NCE · 20 km | 1 h 10 m €69-133 NCE · 6 km |
| GenevaGVA | 1 h 0 m €65-145 NCE · 20 km | 1 h 0 m €65-145 NCE · 6 km |
| AmsterdamAMS | 1 h 50 m €170-248 NCE · 20 km | 1 h 50 m €170-248 NCE · 6 km |
| BarcelonaBCN | 1 h 15 m €83-135 NCE · 20 km | 1 h 15 m €83-135 NCE · 6 km |
| LilleLIL | 1 h 40 m €162-220 NCE · 20 km | 1 h 40 m €162-220 NCE · 6 km |
| CopenhagenCPH | 2 h 20 m €174-218 1 stop NCE · 20 km | 2 h 20 m €174-218 1 stop NCE · 6 km |
| DubaiDXB, DWC | 6 h 20 m €375-433 NCE · 20 km | 6 h 20 m €375-433 NCE · 6 km |
| New YorkJFK, EWR, LGA | 8 h 10 m €666-799 1 stop NCE · 20 km | 8 h 10 m €666-799 1 stop NCE · 6 km |
The busiest departure cities for these two, with a place kept for each other part of the world. Busiest means arriving passengers where an official count exists, and where none does, the number of non-stop services flown: official route statistics are published by the European reporting countries and by nobody else, so a table ranked on them alone would offer a reader in New York or Tokyo ten European cities. Flying times are estimated from the distance between airports, and every row is a city flown non-stop to both. Where the typical offer connects anyway, the stops are shown. Under each figure is the airport the flight lands at and how far that is from the centre, because the nearest airport is not always the one a route is flown to. Where both columns name the same airport it is one flight, and the difference between the two is the distance printed beside it. Typical return fares for 2026-08 to 2026-10, cached market data up to 7 days old. The figure is the middle half of the offers found, so a single price means they agreed and a range means they did not; for a typical route that middle half spans about a quarter of the median, and for the least settled routes rather more than the median itself.
Before you go
| Measure | Cannes | Nice |
|---|---|---|
| Official language | French | French |
| Currency | Euro (EUR) | Euro (EUR) |
| Sockets | CE230 V, 50 Hz | CE230 V, 50 Hz |
| Driving side | Right | Right |
| Time zone | UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer | UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer |
| Emergency number | 112 | 112 |
| Elevation | 0 m | 0 m |
| Main airport | Nice-Côte d'Azur Airport (NCE)20 km from centre129 non-stop destinations | Nice-Côte d'Azur Airport (NCE)6 km from centre129 non-stop destinations |
| Public holidays this year | 11 days | 11 days |
By the numbers
| Measure | Cannes | Nice |
|---|---|---|
| City population | 74,350 | 357,737 |
| People per km² | 3,793 | 4,975 |
| Museums within 10 km | 16 | 16 |
| UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km | 2 | 2 |
| Distinct cuisines in the centre | 38 | 65 |
| Swim season, months above 21 °C | 4 months | 4 months |
Where else could you go?
Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Cannes or Nice somewhere new.