Musée Masséna

Old Nice and the Riviera inside a Belle Epoque villa

Address: A villa at 65 Rue de France, one block behind the Promenade des Anglais

This Italianate villa from around 1900 is the museum itself. The ground-floor salons keep their gilded ceilings and Empire furniture, so it feels more like being invited to dinner than visiting a gallery. Upstairs, the collections follow Nice's history, its Carnival and the age of Riviera holidays. The garden behind is free to enter and a good place to sit under the palms.