3 Best Sights in Monaco

Perched dramatically on a cliff, this museum is a splendid Edwardian structure, built under Prince Albert I to house specimens collected on amateur explorations, including Jacques Cousteau–led missions from 1957 to 1988. The main floor exhibits the skeletons and taxidermy of enormous sea creatures, early submarines and diving gear dating to the Middle Ages, and a few interactive science displays. The main draw is the famous aquarium, a vast complex of backlighted tanks containing more than 6,000 species of fish, crab, and eel in pools running 100–450,000 liters.

In this impressive assemblage of Prince Rainier's vintage cars, you'll find everything from a De Dion Bouton to a Lamborghini Countach. Also on the Terrasses de Fontvieille is the Jardin Animalier (Animal Garden), a mini-zoo housing the Grimaldi family's animal collection—an astonishing array of wild beasts that includes monkeys and exotic birds.

Take the elevator down from Place des Moulins to the NMNM, which houses two museums, each of which hosts two exhibitions a year. One of the surviving buildings from the Belle Époque, Villa Sauber, with its rose garden, is in the Larvotto Beach complex, which has been artfully created with imported sand. The Villa Paloma (next door to the Jardin Exotique) was recently restored with fabulous stained-glass windows.