Nice, France Castle Hill view at Dusk and Dawn

/ We are taking you to the great viewpoint for sunset at the end of the beach in Nice and then up to the top of Castle Hill for a spectacular view looking down over the town and the harbor.
One of the greatest waterfront strolls is along the promenade in Nice and we are going to show you how to get the most out of it with sunset views and then up the Castle Hill, then continuing the next morning with a visit to the open market at Cour Saleya.
To get this view you walk along the east end of the waterfront promenade on the Quai des Etats- Units, and to the end you'll have this rocky outcrop with the terrace with a commanding view looking back along the pebbly beach of Nice, lined with grand hotels and expensive apartment houses. It's especially nice at sunset and you want to make sure you get here before the sun actually goes down below the horizon.
The view gets even more spectacular when you go up to the top of Castle Hill, or as they call it the Château, although there's no Château there any longer nor is there Castle. It was leveled in some earlier wars with Louis XIV.
Here's a quick view from Google Earth showing how the Hill of the castle towers over the old town of Nice and the city beyond.
While you're up on the hill enjoying the town view be sure to walk to the other side of the hill for the harbor view, and there's a beautiful green park in-between.
The easiest way to get up to the top of this hill is take the elevator. You pay a small fee -- it's about one euro and it's well worth it, otherwise you've got to walk up by a huge staircase, it's the equivalent of going up over 100 meters high, so it's really way up in the sky, you don't want to walk it if you can avoid it, so take the elevator. It's quick and simple, especially late in the day like this. There is no crowd, there's no line and you come out on top and start enjoying the view.
And right away you're looking down on the Old Town and the Cour Saleya. There are all the booths getting ready for the next morning's market. And you can walk up a little higher -- this little small child to make it -- a big climb for this little girl, so that shows you can do it, no problem. So keep walking when you get up to the top and you'll find it's a beautiful park. They even have a waterfall -- it's an artificial waterfall. It was put here in the 1830s to help attract the tourist nobility from England and the rest of France to come on down and visit Nice.
The shoreline view gets even better as the night lights come on.
Looking down from the other side of the hill you see the small boat harbor called Port Lympia, and in the distance, Cape de Nice.
It's believed this Castle Hill was the site of some of the earliest settlements in the area, they've lived up here for self-defense.
If you have the patience or the proper timing to stick around for the late sunset it reaches the visual peak. This is really grand with the lights blazing down below, the golden sunset off on the horizon. This makes for one of those travel events that you will just never forget.
And when you're done you can take that same elevator ride back down again, timing it so that you get down before the elevator shuts for the evening. Or you could walk down, it's not as hard as walking up. But so much easier to just simply ride the elevator and you're done.