Nice, Alpes-Maritimes · Neighbourhood
Buying in Cimiez, Nice
Cimiez is the hill of Nice’s winter resort: former Belle Époque palace hotels turned into apartments, villas in century-old parks, the Roman arena and the Matisse museum at the top, the centre a few minutes away. Home Select searches there for the buyer alone, off-market included, checks every property before the offer and negotiates through to the keys.
A first confidential conversation, with no commitment
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01Neighbourhood
Living in Cimiez
Daily life in Cimiez runs between the boulevard that climbs the hill and the gardens at the top. Up there, the Parc des Arènes and its olive grove surround the remains of Cemenelum, the Roman city, the Matisse museum housed in a seventeenth-century Genoese villa and the Franciscan monastery, whose cemetery holds the graves of Matisse and Dufy. Local shops are few on the hill: most errands are run further down, towards Carabacel or at the Libération market.
Cimiez stays close to the centre: the boulevard runs down to Carabacel and place Masséna, and the buses that climb it link the top of the hill to the heart of the city. The tram passes at the foot of the hill, on the Libération side, and the Parc Valrose, the university campus, borders it to the west. Nice has been on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 2021 as the winter resort town of the Riviera, and Cimiez remains one of its clearest witnesses. From the upper floors, the view runs over the city’s rooftops to the sea.
02Neighbourhood
The buildings and what sells in Cimiez
The Belle Époque palace is the building type specific to Cimiez. At the end of the nineteenth century the hill welcomed the grand hotels of the winter season, among them the Excelsior Régina, built for Queen Victoria’s stays; over the twentieth century these palace hotels became apartment buildings, and Matisse moved into the Régina in 1938. Their apartments offer high ceilings, parquet floors, mouldings and balconies over the gardens. These co-ownerships, with grounds, a caretaker and lifts, carry service charges in proportion to their common areas, and their large dual-aspect apartments rarely come up for sale.
Around the palaces, Cimiez lines up bourgeois villas in walled gardens, and residences built from the 1960s onwards in the parks of former estates. With pools, parking and green space, they offer more practical apartments and terraces. Villas that have stayed whole, with their grounds, are the rarest properties on the hill: they are often passed down within families and sold privately. Between two neighbouring addresses, the condition of the co-ownership, the floor and the orientation account for most of the difference in value.
Streets and micro-sectors
- 01
Boulevard de Cimiez
Boulevard de Cimiez climbs the hill from Carabacel to the arena, lined with the best-known former palace hotels, the Régina at the top among them. In return, its grand floors get the buses and the traffic of the hill: the position of the living rooms and bedrooms is checked before the offer.
- 02
The arena and the monastery
At the top, around the Parc des Arènes, the Matisse museum and the monastery, the addresses are the quietest in Cimiez: villas, small residences and palace buildings amid greenery. Life follows the rhythm of the garden and the olive grove, away from the traffic of the centre; shops and schools are reached by bus or by car.
- 03
Carabacel and the foot of the hill
At the foot of Cimiez, towards Carabacel and the Chagall museum, the buildings become more urban: bourgeois blocks from the late nineteenth century, two- to four-bedroom apartments, the centre and the tram on foot. It is the most practical way into the district for those who want the address without depending on a car, with the hum of the city as the trade-off.
- 04
Rimiez and upper Cimiez
Above the arena, towards Rimiez, the hill opens onto more recent residences and villas with gardens, often with a pool and an open view over the hills or the sea. The residences offer a terrace and parking, which the palaces rarely do; a car, on the other hand, becomes essential, and the slope shows in every access.
03Neighbourhood
How Home Select hunts in Cimiez?
Home Select follows Cimiez address by address, with a written brief that sets the type of building accepted, the floor, the orientation, the view required and the place of the car. Home Select receives more than 100 off-market properties every day from its network of 15,000 professional partners, which gives it access to the large palace apartments and the villas that change hands without a listing. The search is run remotely: every property is qualified from the documents, then the property finder has a video pre-viewing carried out before presenting it.
Before the offer, the property finder audits from the documents what makes the value or the risk of a property on the hill: minutes of the co-owners’ meetings, façade and lift works approved or pending, the real cost of the grounds and the caretaker, the co-ownership rules, easements inherited from divided estates. Roofs, façades and the retaining walls of the gardens call for a building surveyor: have them examined before the offer. The buyer then views only the shortlisted properties, first seen on video, with the decisive viewings grouped into a single trip, and Home Select negotiates for the buyer alone, on the strength of that file.
Three finder’s reflexes in Cimiez
- 01 Read the service charges before the mouldings
A palace apartment in Cimiez is paid for twice: at the purchase price, then in the service charges. Grounds, caretaker, lifts and ornate façades weigh every year. The property finder obtains the last three general-meeting minutes and the approved budget, then sets the announced works against the asking price before advising an offer.
- 02 Check what the lot includes
In a divided palace, the lot is more than the apartment: cellar, service room, a parking space in the grounds or a garage are checked in the co-ownership rules and the division schedule. The property finder compares the Carrez floor area and the annexes with the asking price: a missing parking space on the hill is paid for every day.
- 03 Test the hill at real hours
Boulevard de Cimiez does not feel the same at eight in the morning and on a Sunday afternoon: buses, school runs, parking. Have the video pre-viewing carried out at the hours you will live in the apartment, then time the journey to school or the office yourself during the trip for the decisive viewings.
A property finder answers within one working day. A first confidential conversation, with no commitment.
On the ground
Why a property finder in Cimiez?
The best addresses never list
On this market, a share of the sought-after properties sells before publication, between families and through notaires and local networks. Home Select receives more than 100 off-market properties every day from its network of 15,000 partners.
You only view the essential
Every lead is verified and priced for you before you travel, on file then on a video viewing: you view only the shortlisted properties, your decisive viewings grouped into a single trip. Home Select then defends your offer, with a complete file and the actual sales of the area in hand.
The building audited before you commit
Surveys, co-ownership rules, easements, local building specifics: every document is checked before you commit.
Fees
Two offers, paid on success
- 2.5% of the net purchase price
- Exclusive offer The full service, at every budget. Minimum €10,000 incl. VAT.
- 1.5% of the net purchase price
- Confidential offer The same service, dedicated to off-market properties. Reserved for projects of €2m and above.
Home Select is paid 100% on success: nothing is due until you have bought.
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Frequently asked questions
Buying in Cimiez: your questions
How much does a property cost in Cimiez?
Cimiez generally sells above the Nice median, which stands at €4,900 per m² for apartments and €6,000 per m² for houses over the 12 months to end of June 2026 according to DVF data, up 3% over one year for apartments. Home Select does not publish prices by district: the DVF record covers the commune as a whole. Most apartment sales in Nice fall between €3,000 and €7,800 per m²: a large restored dual-aspect apartment in a palace sits in the upper part of that range, a residence apartment in need of refreshing sits lower.
What types of property are found in Cimiez?
Cimiez offers four types: apartments in former Belle Époque palace hotels, often dual-aspect and large, bourgeois villas in their gardens, residences built in former parks, with a pool and parking, and more urban buildings at the foot of the hill. Palace apartments and whole villas are the rarest and often change hands off-market.
Is Cimiez suitable for a family?
Yes, Cimiez is one of the family districts of Nice: large floor areas, gardens, residences with green space and quiet evenings. State schools follow catchment sectors that change from one street to the next: the property finder checks the catchment of the exact address before the offer. Journeys are made mostly by bus or by car, the hill being more residential than commercial.
Can I carry out works in a Cimiez palace?
Interior works in an apartment fall under the co-ownership rules and, for load-bearing walls or common areas, require a vote at the general meeting. Façades, windows and roofs follow the requirements of the metropolitan PLU and, within the surroundings of a historic monument, need the approval of the Architecte des Bâtiments de France. Have any restoration costed by a professional before the offer: the amount then weighs in the negotiation.
How long does it take to buy in Cimiez, and are there off-market properties?
The timing depends first on how rare the property sought is: a large dual-aspect palace apartment or a whole villa does not come up every month. Home Select sets the timetable from the first brief, then keeps to it, and the buyer views only the shortlisted properties, first seen on video. Off-market properties exist in Cimiez, above all villas passed down within families and large apartments sold between neighbours. For projects of €2 million and above, the Confidential Offer presents off-market properties only.
What are your fees in Nice?
Home Select, a property finder in Nice, charges 2.5% of the net purchase price (minimum €10,000 incl. VAT) on the Exclusive offer, or 1.5% on the Confidential offer for projects of €2m and above. Home Select is paid on success only: nothing is due until you have bought.
What happens next
- A property finder reads your request and answers within one working day.
- A first confidential conversation: how you will use the property, the real budget, the non-negotiable criteria, the timing.
- A written brief, and a search started within the week. Nothing is due until you have bought.
Your project in Nice
A first confidential conversation, with no commitment. A property finder answers within one working day.
- 4.8/5
- On Google (139 reviews)
- 1,200+
- Buyers guided
- 100%
- On success, nothing upfront
It takes 1 minute.
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