Even if you’re not a Formula One star, there are many ways to enjoy this millionaires’ playground
Ed Grenby - 23 May 2021
Poor old Lewis Hamilton: he’ll hardly catch any of the sights at that speed...
The current BBC Sports Personality of the Year might have other things on his mind as he motors round Monaco this weekend – he’s 14 points clear at the top of the Formula One driver standings this season – but he’ll be missing out on a great little mini-break. Monaco’s got much more to offer than motorsport – and it’s not just for millionaires, either. For us mortals, the tiny city-state takes juicy history, world-class culture, French-Italian fusion food, truly timeless glamour and sun-washed Côte d’Azur coastscapes and packs them into a perfect parcel of less than one square mile. That crazy compactness is what prompted former F1 champ Nelson Piquet to describe the Monaco Grand Prix as “like riding a bicycle around your living room”. But because the course is squeezed into “real” roads – in all their narrow, cramped, hairpinning glory – anyone can hire a car (or bicycle!) and follow in the skidmarks of those highspeed heroes here. What you’ll see from the trackside cameras (the race proper starts at 2pm) is just a tiny part of the principality, though. Here’s how to make a holiday out of it…
ARRIVE IN STYLE
We’re pretty sure the man who broke the bank at Monte Carlo didn’t arrive by bus, and neither should you. Fly into nearby Nice airport with EasyJet, and use the money you saved for a helicopter transfer into Monaco. It takes seven minutes, avoids an hour in traffic, costs about £110pp – and makes you feel like a million dollars. (That’s actually about the cheapest chopper trip in the world, and you’re getting a coast-hugging, flightseeing trip thrown in, too.) From Monaco’s heliport, it’s a 60-second stroll to the Columbus hotel: chic but not-too-pricey, and once owned by David Coulthard. easyjet.com; monacair.mc; columbushotels.com
DROP IN ON THE ROYALS
Not many ruling families are as glamorous as the Grimaldis, and there’s a real frisson in taking a tour of the Prince’s Palace and knowing that Albert II might be on site (that’s Grace Kelly’s son, dammit!). The 13th-century fortress is no oil painting, but it’s got plenty of them inside – Albert’s been supervising a renovation of the interior – and Prince Rainier’s private vintage car collection will keep petrolheads happy if they’re here outside GP season. Arrive a few minutes before the Changing of the Guard at 11.55am: it’s the same sort of ceremony as Buckingham Palace’s, but with crisp, white, tropical-style uniforms and a dash of south of France sunshine. palais.mc
DEEP AND MEANINGFUL
The Oceanographic Museum of Monaco has some profoundly strange and wonderful displays, but it’s also a pretty serious-minded conservation outfit, so you’re doing your bit for the world’s sea turtle population as you “awwww” over the poor injured specimens convalescing in the open-air clinic here. The building itself is a marvel – it rises sheer as a cliff from the Mediterranean, its lower floors practically in the sea – but the basement aquarium is the main attraction. The shark tank is a kiddie-pleaser, but it’s the eerily glowing fluorescent corals that you’ll remember. oceano.mc
GARDEN OF HONOUR
Green space is at a premium in this tightly packed town, but there’s a prime slice of real estate given over to plant life, too – and it’s suitably daft (as well as serenely peaceful). First seeded in the 1860s by Prince Albert I because he had somehow acquired some cacti from Mexico, the Jardin Exotique was grudgingly opened to the public some 70 years later – complete with prehistoric cave (real) and other spectacular rock features (fake). Some lucky troglodyte had the best view of the whole Palaeolithic Period, because the vistas from that 60m-deep cave are sensational: you can see all the way across to Italy on a good day. (And they’re all good days here.) jardin-exotique.mc
THE REAL CASINO ROYALE
Can you imagine Edward VII opening a roulette joint? Good job, then, that the Monegasque royal family were a bit more business-minded/ money-grabbing than our own – otherwise there would be no Casino de Monte-Carlo for us to marvel at today. It’s as gloriously, gaudily gilded as you remember from those Bond films (both Brosnan and Connery shot scenes here), and you can either tour it with the cruise-ship crowds in the morning, or dress up – and have a flutter – once it opens for gaming from 2pm. Alternatively, soak up the glamour from the (almost equally elegant) terrace of the Café de Paris next door: it’s the perfect spot from which to watch the stupidly rich sweep up in their supercars. montecarlosbm.com
TIPPLE LIKE A TAX EXILE
No one comes to Monaco for a quiet night at a down-to-earth little pub, but you’ve still got choices. For a refined evening out with the (relatively) stealth-wealth set, try the storied splendour of the American Bar at the Hôtel de Paris beside the Casino. If you want a younger crowd (and don’t mind dropping 50 quid-odd a drink), there’s Jimmy’z. The barnightclub, with its floating bar and F1 clientele, is just as “storied”, but the stories are a little, ahem, racier. montecarlosbm.com
Poor old Lewis Hamilton: he’ll hardly catch any of the sights at that speed...
The current BBC Sports Personality of the Year might have other things on his mind as he motors round Monaco this weekend – he’s 14 points clear at the top of the Formula One driver standings this season – but he’ll be missing out on a great little mini-break. Monaco’s got much more to offer than motorsport – and it’s not just for millionaires, either. For us mortals, the tiny city-state takes juicy history, world-class culture, French-Italian fusion food, truly timeless glamour and sun-washed Côte d’Azur coastscapes and packs them into a perfect parcel of less than one square mile. That crazy compactness is what prompted former F1 champ Nelson Piquet to describe the Monaco Grand Prix as “like riding a bicycle around your living room”. But because the course is squeezed into “real” roads – in all their narrow, cramped, hairpinning glory – anyone can hire a car (or bicycle!) and follow in the skidmarks of those highspeed heroes here. What you’ll see from the trackside cameras (the race proper starts at 2pm) is just a tiny part of the principality, though. Here’s how to make a holiday out of it…