Russian Orthodox Cathedral in Nice: opening hours, the €10 entry and the Sunday-morning closure

💡 The Short Version: The cathedral is open every day, but closed to visitors on Sundays from 9:00 to 12:00, during weekday liturgies and during weddings and baptisms. From October: Monday to Friday 10:00 to 13:30 and 14:00 to 17:30, Saturday 10:00 to 18:00, Sunday 9:00 to 18:00. Adults pay €10 according to the tourist office, and the French Riviera Pass includes entry. Appropriate dress is required and men may not enter shirtless. A museum in the crypt is open during the same hours, from 14:00 on Sundays. A weekday visit between 13:30 and 14:00 or after 17:30 finds it shut. Prices are in euros. Or book a tour: the Old Town and Castle Hill walking tourad is from €26 and the hop-on hop-off busad from €24 (GetYourGuide).

Tickets and prices

The hours are the cathedral’s own, from its visitors page. The prices are the Nice Côte d’Azur tourist office’s, and entry is paid at the door.

• Guided tour: the tourist office lists a tour of the cathedral and the Tsarevich Chapel in French, English and Japanese, available daily and lasting about 35 minutes. To reserve one, write to visites.cathedrale.nice@gmail.com.
• Dress: appropriate attire is required, and men may not visit the cathedral shirtless. Admission can be refused if the rules are not observed.
• A place of worship first: the cathedral says it is primarily the parish church, so visiting stops during services.

Hours

The cathedral publishes its hours “as from October”.

The crypt museum is open every day during the usual hours, and on Sundays from 14:00.

What to see

The cathedral stands where Tsarevich Nicholas Alexandrovich, Alexander II’s eldest son, died in 1865 in the Villa Bermond. The memorial chapel built there was consecrated in 1868, and the foundation stone of the cathedral was laid on 25 April 1903. The cathedral was consecrated in December 1912.

1. The exterior. It is modelled on traditional Moscow churches, and it sits among the Baroque and Belle Époque buildings of the city.
2. The interior. Icons, frescoes, carved woodwork and an iconostasis of repoussé and chiselled metal. A service takes priority over visitors.
3. The Tsarevich Chapel. The memorial chapel in the Byzantine style, with a marble iconostasis carrying 22 icons by the court painter Timothy von Neff and a black and white mark on the Carrara marble floor where the Tsarevich lay. The guided tour includes it.
4. The crypt museum. A church-historical museum, open every day in the usual hours.

The Russian Orthodox Cathedral of St Nicholas. Photo: Zairon, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

The order that works: go on a weekday between 10:00 and 13:30, or on Saturday, which has the longest uninterrupted hours. Allow 35 minutes. What to skip: a Sunday morning, when the cathedral is closed to visitors until noon.

The iconostasis and apse fresco inside the cathedral. Photo: patrick janicek, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.

Practical information

• Address: avenue Nicolas II, at boulevard du Tzaréwitch, 06000 Nice.
• Parking: the Parc Impérial car park at 1 avenue Anatole France is closed from 20:00 to 8:00. The Interparking Gare-Nice-Thiers at 12 avenue Thiers, beside Nice-Ville station, is open day and night.
• The one thing that ruins a visit: arriving on a Sunday morning, or on a weekday between 13:30 and 14:00 or after 17:30.

What to book in Nice has the hours of every sight, and things to do in Nice lists the rest. Best museums in Nice covers the museums, and Cimiez the hill with the Matisse museum. Is the French Riviera Pass worth it? counts the cathedral at €10 in the sums. Free things to do in Nice lists what costs nothing. For a bed, see where to stay in Nice, and 3 days in Nice fits the cathedral round its closed hours.