Summary
Monaco is small enough to walk end to end in an hour. The Prince's Palace sits on the Rock with the Old Town built around it; the Monte Carlo Casino sits at the architectural heart of the principality; the Oceanographic Museum and Larvotto Beach close out the headland walk. Eze and Nice are obvious day trips a short drive away.
Monaco is the second-smallest country in the world: 2.1 square kilometres, around 39,000 residents, hanging off the Mediterranean coast about twenty kilometres east of Nice by road. Most British corporate guests arrive on the Thursday or Friday of Monaco Grand Prix week and leave on the Sunday night, which gives them roughly three days to see a principality that has been condensing wealth, culture and architectural ambition into a single small headland since the 1850s.
This is a guide for the Grand Prix guest who has finished with the cars and wants to see what else Monaco does on its other 360 days. The principality is small enough to walk end to end in an hour; everything below sits within twenty minutes of everything else.
The Prince's Palace
The Prince's Palace of Monaco sits at the top of the Rock of Monaco (Le Rocher), the limestone outcrop that the Old Town of Monaco-Ville is built on. The palace has been the home of the ruling Grimaldi family for more than seven hundred years. The current building is a mix of medieval, Renaissance and 19th-century rebuild.
The State Apartments are open to the public on most days from spring to autumn. The Changing of the Guard happens daily at 11:55am in front of the palace's main entrance; the ceremony lasts a few minutes and is one of the more photographed moments of the Monaco visitor day. Access to the palace is via the steep climb from Place d'Armes at the foot of the Rock or by bus.
Monte Carlo Casino
The Casino de Monte-Carlo first opened in 1863. The current building, designed by Charles Garnier (the architect of the Paris Opera), was completed in the 1878-79 expansion that defines the casino visible today. It is the most famous casino in the world and a working gambling house: roulette, blackjack, baccarat and trente et quarante operate in the main gaming rooms, with house-banked poker variants in the dedicated card rooms.
Two visitor rules to know. First, citizens of Monaco are not allowed to enter the gaming rooms of the casino; this rule has been in place since the casino opened in the 1860s and is enforced by ID check. Second, the dress code gets stricter after 7pm: jacket and trousers for men, smart dress or trouser suit for women. The atrium and the public rooms are free to walk through during the day; the gaming rooms require a small entry fee for tourists.
Next to the main casino is the Café de Paris Monte-Carlo, which has its own smaller casino floor with lower minimum bets and a more casual entry. The Place du Casino in front of both is the architectural showpiece of Monte Carlo: the casino on one side, the Hôtel de Paris on the other, manicured gardens and high-end cars circulating around.
The Oceanographic Museum
The Musée Océanographique de Monaco was inaugurated in 1910 by Prince Albert I, a Monaco prince of unusual scientific seriousness who funded multiple research expeditions in the late 19th century. The building took eleven years to construct out of 100,000 tons of stone from nearby La Turbie. It towers 85 metres above the sea on the south face of the Rock of Monaco.
Marine collections and research
Inside is one of the great European aquariums: the basement holds the marine collection with around 6,000 specimens representing roughly 350 species. The first-floor exhibits document Prince Albert I's research and contain his original laboratory equipment. The roof terrace gives a panoramic view of the harbour and the open Mediterranean.
Jacques Cousteau was director of the museum from 1957 to 1988, which is the connection most British visitors arrive knowing. The museum still funds and runs marine conservation research. Allow two to three hours for a visit.
Old Town: Monaco-Ville
Monaco-Ville is the medieval-and-Renaissance old quarter that sits on top of the Rock of Monaco. The streets are narrow, the buildings are pastel, and most of them are restaurants, gift shops and small museums. The atmosphere is closer to a Provençal hill village than to the high-rise modern Monaco that surrounds it.
The Cathedral of Our Lady Immaculate, completed in 1903, sits at the centre of Monaco-Ville. It is the Roman Catholic cathedral of Monaco and contains the tombs of the Grimaldi princes and princesses, including Princess Grace (Grace Kelly, who died in 1982) and Prince Rainier III. Entry is free; the cathedral is open daily. The walking route around Monaco-Ville covers the cathedral, the Palace, the Chapel of the Visitation and a series of viewpoints over the harbour. Allow two hours.
Port Hercule and the harbour
The working Mediterranean port
Port Hercule is Monaco's main harbour, sitting at the foot of the Rock of Monaco between the Old Town and Monte Carlo. During Grand Prix week the harbour is filled with superyachts moored stern-first along the quay; outside Grand Prix week it operates as a working Mediterranean port with a mix of pleasure boats, daysailers and the occasional cruise tender.
The walking promenade around the harbour is free, well-paved and runs from the Place d'Armes at the foot of the Rock past the Yacht Club de Monaco to the Larvotto end of the harbour. The Yacht Club building, designed by Norman Foster and completed in 2014, is a piece of architecture in its own right.
The harbour-side restaurants are crowded during Grand Prix week and bookable months in advance. Outside the GP weekend they are easier; many of them put their best tables on terraces facing the harbour, which is the right place to drink Provence rosé while the yachts come and go.
Larvotto Beach
Larvotto is Monaco's main beach, on the east side of the principality below the high-rise residential district. It is an artificial beach (rebuilt and re-sanded multiple times) with a long strip of pebble-sand and a row of beach clubs running along the back.
The public beach is free. The private beach clubs (La Note Bleue, Neptune, Miami Plage on the Larvotto strand, with the more exclusive Monte-Carlo Beach club on the adjacent headland) sell day passes that include a lounger, an umbrella, towel service and access to the restaurant. Prices in season run from around 50 to 250 euros per person depending on the club. Daytime atmosphere is calm; evening service runs until late at most clubs.
Larvotto sits about a twenty-minute walk from Monte Carlo Casino or a six-minute drive. Monaco's electric and hybrid CAM city buses (lines 5 and 6 in particular) serve Larvotto from across the principality.
Jardin Exotique
The Jardin Exotique de Monaco is a hillside botanical garden specialising in succulents and cacti. It sits on the western edge of the principality, on a steep slope above the sea, with around 1,000 species of plants from arid climates worldwide.
Underneath the garden is the Grotte de l'Observatoire, a series of limestone caves discovered in 1916 that have been open to the public since 1950 and contain prehistoric remains. The garden and cave are typically visited together. The views from the garden terraces over the principality and the Mediterranean are the widest open vistas in the principality.
The garden has been undergoing major renovation works in recent years; check Monaco tourism for opening status before visiting.
Le Petit Train and the gardens
Le Petit Train de Monaco is a tourist road-train that runs a thirty-minute circuit of the principality, passing the harbour, the casino, the cathedral, the palace and the gardens. Departure is from Place du Casino. The train is the easiest way to see Monaco's geography in a single sitting, especially for a guest who isn't keen on the steep walks the city's geography forces.
The Saint-Martin gardens, immediately around the Oceanographic Museum, are the smartest public gardens in Monaco. They sit on the south side of the Rock with sea views, statues, palm trees and benches. The Princess Grace Rose Garden in Fontvieille has around 5,000 roses across 300 varieties, dedicated to the late Princess Grace.
Day trips outside Monaco
Monaco is small enough that twenty-four hours can exhaust the main attractions. The Côte d'Azur immediately outside the principality has obvious day-trip destinations.
Eze, the medieval hilltop village twenty minutes inland, is the textbook Provençal day trip: a winding stone village clinging to the cliff, the Jardin Exotique d'Eze with cactus garden and panoramic views, and Château Eza for a long lunch with the same view.
Nice (twenty-five minutes west along the coast) and Cannes (forty-five minutes further west) are the obvious bigger neighbours. Saint-Paul-de-Vence (an hour) is the inland art village; Antibes (forty-five minutes) has the Picasso Museum and the Cap d'Antibes coastline.
The Italian Riviera is closer than most British visitors realise. The first Italian town across the border, Menton, is fifteen minutes east along the Bas Corniche. Ventimiglia (twenty-five minutes) has a working Friday market that draws Monaco residents looking for affordable produce. Sanremo (an hour) is the Italian Riviera's bigger sister-city and has its own casino and an old town to wander.
Practical notes
Monaco's official language is French. Most service staff are at least bilingual French/English and many speak Italian. Currency is the euro. Time zone is Central European.
The principality is walkable: end to end is around 3 kilometres but the steep climbs and stairs make some of the routes longer than the map suggests. Monaco operates a system of public lifts and escalators that connect the lower waterfront to the higher districts; using them shortcuts the climbs.
Driving in Monaco outside Grand Prix week is straightforward; during the week of the Grand Prix the public roads close progressively from the Wednesday through the Sunday and only residents and accredited vehicles move on the principality. If you're visiting outside the Grand Prix, parking in the public car parks is well-signed and pricey.
Monaco's evening dress code in the high-end restaurants and casinos is jacket-required for men. Most Monte Carlo restaurants will turn away a guest in trainers or jeans for dinner. Bring at least one set of smart clothes if you intend to dine off the harbour or in Monte Carlo proper.
Chloe Burchell
Event Manager
Event Manager at Imperial Corporate Events, specialising in Formula 1 and overseas motor sport hospitality.
