Monaco

Recommendations.

Places and ideas from Guideless editors. Check current details before you go.

• culturelocal

  Changing of the guard at the Prince's Palace

  Every day at 11:55, in front of the palace on the rock, and it takes about ten minutes. Get there by 11:40 for a spot at the front. Free, and the walk up through Monaco-Ville is the better half of it.

  Monaco-Ville

• culturerainy day

  The Oceanographic Museum

  Jacques Cousteau ran this place for thirty years. It is built into the cliff face, the aquarium is genuinely good, and the roof terrace has the best free-ish view in Monaco. Two hours, and the one indoor thing worth doing if the weather turns.

  Monaco-Ville

• culturelocal

  Casino Square, from the outside

  You do not have to go in, and on race weekend you largely cannot. Stand at the top of the square in the evening and watch the cars arrive; it is the single most Monaco thing available and it costs nothing. Inside there is a dress code and a passport check.

  Monte Carlo

• localhidden gem

  The Fairmont Hairpin

  The slowest corner in Formula One and the one every photograph is taken at. On a Thursday you can stand on it. From Friday it is inside the circuit, so go early in the week if you want the picture.

  Monte Carlo

• naturehidden gem

  Jardin Exotique and the view back down

  Cactus gardens cut into the cliff, five hundred feet above the harbour, and almost nobody from the race goes up there. The bus from the port takes fifteen minutes. Best hour of a Thursday if you want Monaco without the noise.

  Jardin Exotique

• naturelocal

  Larvotto beach

  Monaco's public beach, rebuilt a few years ago, free, and about ten minutes from Casino Square. The water is clean and the view back at the principality is better than the one from inside it.

  Larvotto

• foodlocalhidden gem

  Marché de la Condamine

  The food hall behind the port, and the answer to "where do people who live here eat lunch". Counters rather than restaurants: socca, pasta, barbajuan. Ten to fifteen euros and it is open at midday, which on race weekend matters more than it sounds.

  La Condamine

• foodcoffee

  Café de Paris Monte-Carlo

  The brasserie on Casino Square. Not a secret and not cheap, but the terrace is the best people-watching in the principality and you can sit there for an hour over one coffee. Book for dinner in race week or do not bother turning up.

  Monte Carlo

• food

  Beefbar, Fontvieille

  Down in Fontvieille, away from the circuit, which is the point: on Saturday night it is the one good room in Monaco you can still get a table in. Steak, and very good.

  Fontvieille

• foodromantic

  Le Louis XV — Alain Ducasse

  Three Michelin stars in the Hôtel de Paris, and one of the great dining rooms in Europe. Several hundred euros a head and booked months out, race weekend especially. Here because you asked what the top of Monaco looks like, not because we think you should.

  Monte Carlo

• foodhidden gem

  La Montgolfière

  A tiny room up in Monaco-Ville doing French cooking with a Southeast Asian hand. About twenty covers, so book. The best value proper dinner in the principality, which is a low bar cleared by a distance.

  Monaco-Ville

• barsromantic

  Bar of the Hôtel Hermitage

  A quiet, high-ceilinged room to end a night in when the harbour is unbearable. No queue, no list, no music you have to shout over. Order one thing and stay an hour.

  Monte Carlo