Guided tour of the Baumettes district

This guided tour will also take place on Monday, September 21 at 10am!

The Baumettes hill is probably one of the smallest "nice hills" in the immediate vicinity of the seaside, west of downtown Nice. This peaceful haven with lush vegetation contains a rare and concentrated sample of Nice's architectural and artistic heritage.

The plain of the Baumettes was the scene of the meeting, in 1538, of the Three Greats, Francis I, Charles V and Pope Paul III Farnese who concluded here the Peace of Nice.

In the 18th century the area took advantage of the windfall of seaside and winter tourism. The villa of Lady Penelope Atkins Rivers was built at the bottom of Baumettes Hill, circa 1781. Now a "officers' villa", it is next to the "Gloria Mansions", an art deco masterpiece by architect Garabed Hovnanian, the Mediterranean University Centre in a very classical and more recently built style, the Elysée Palace Hotel, designed by architect Georges Marguarita and the Nice artist Sosno, with its superb bronze.

On the hill are three 19th century witness jewels: three Belle Epoque Follies. The sumptuous villa of the Ukrainian princess Kotschoubey, designed by the architect Constantin Scala, which would later become the Museum of Fine Arts; the castle of La Tour erected by the architect Danski for the Audiffret family, then transformed into a pseudo-medieval building by Count Caravadossi of Aspremont; and finally the Castle of the Ollières, transformed in 1880 by the Russian architect Dettloff, commissioned by the Russian prince Lobanov-Rostovski.

WARNING: Booking online in advance is now mandatory to register for our tours!