Best Things To Do In Monaco Travel Guide 2026 4K.

In this best things to do Monaco travel guide, we're going to show you all around one of the smallest yet wealthiest countries in all of the world. Located along the region known as the French Riviera, Monaco has spectacular yacht harbors, Formula One racetrack, and much more. So let's show you around Monaco. Here we go. All right guys, one of my favorite things to do is go across the Hercules Harbor, but this is basically a water taxi. Man, what would you do if you had one of those yachts? Probably want to work on it every day. This is the only deep water port in Monaco. It is a natural harbor that's been in use since ancient Greek and Roman times. There's over 760 berths here, which can accommodate small pleasure boats to some of the world's largest super yachts. You can take this water taxi across for about two euros and the crossing time takes about five minutes, but it's a really good perspective of Monaco. Once you get off the water taxi, you can walk under the tunnel known as Louis II, and once you come out of the tunnel, you walk a little bit and you'll come across a relaxing Japanese garden. Depending on the weather or the moment, you may want to hang out, walk around, and just chill. And when I was in town, they had the Prince's Car Museum here at the Monaco Exhibition Center. You can learn all about the history of F1 racing in Monaco. This is actually what Monaco is known for, the Formula One. You can see the car's evolution over time. Also learn about some of the best drivers to ever do the race. But on this day, because I was here in July, it was also a nice break from the heat. Here we are now at Larvoda Beach. This is basically the best beach here in Monaco. I would say about nine or ten months out of the year, Monaco has absolutely beautiful weather. Maybe a little bit chilly in December, January, February, but in July and August, you definitely want to be here at the beach or in some sort of air-conditioned environment during the daytime. But this beach is really nice. It is a man-made beach. A lot of people think it's naturally occurring, but nope. It's a man-made beach, and it's basically like a big swimming pool with ocean salt water from the Mediterranean. The area I'm at now is called the Africa Gardens, or the Gardens of Africa. From the beach, I walked up towards the area known as Monte Carlo. Along the way, you're going to have a shopping road, but you also have several gardens. Monaco has many gardens actually. It's really hard to rank them because they're all very nice and exotic plants grow there. It just depends on the views and the location convenience, but Africa Gardens are right there next to Monte Carlo Casino. It's called the Africa Gardens because it's a collection of African plants that actually grow very well here in the Mediterranean climate of Monaco. And then once you walk out of the Africa Gardens, there you see the Monte Carlo Casino. Now there is like a square here. This area is famous because it's considered a luxury car hot spot where you might see Lamborghinis, Ferraris, Rolls Royce, Bugattis, basically getting dropped off valets so people can go to the casino. Well, we're inside the Casino Monte Carlo. The casino itself opened in 1863, known as Casino de Monte Carlo, and it was built to save Monaco's economy when Prince Charles III legalized gambling to attract wealthy visitors and generate money for the tiny nation. You can actually go inside the casino itself for free, but if you go inside the gaming rooms, it's 20 euros per adult, and that ticket includes a $10 voucher which you can use for slot machines, the casino bar, or the restaurant. But in order to get in, you need to bring a valid passport or EU national ID card. Driver licenses are not accepted. Also, you should wear what is considered smart attire. Avoid shorts, flip-flops, or beach wear. The area I'm walking right now is actually the Grand Prix route. This route from the Monte Carlo Casino down to the Hercules Harbor is one of my favorite walks in all of the French Riviera. It's very scenic. There's a few different viewpoints, but it is about 3.33 kilometers. That's 2.07 miles with 19 turns. The drivers will complete 78 laps covering 260 kilometers. That's 161 miles. In case you're wondering when the actual event will be, June 6, 2027 is the next one, but they do have practice and qualifying that takes place from June 3rd to the 5th. If you do plan to visit this particular Grand Prix, you need to book everything ahead of time. What I would actually suggest you do is maybe stay in France in Nice or something and then ride the train in because pretty much the whole city is going to be sold out. That's the way you would do it, but once you get to the bottom, you're down here at the Hercules Harbor area. They have cafes, restaurants, also the rain near the third pool. So if you're with your family, maybe you could take the kids to the pool and really cool off on a hot day. Now we're walking around Monaco. Courtier du Porte. This is actually the waterfront promenade line with cafes, restaurants, lots of luxury yacht views. I noticed they were opening some rooftop bars or cafes around the area. Also within short walking distance is the Plaza de Armas market. I would say the port area is a good place to get breakfast, lunch, or dinner and catch a bus if needed, but I actually walked up the Ramp Major. Now it's a bit of a hike to get up there, but this is where you'll find the old town and great views looking down towards Hercules Harbor. Along with being a scenic walk, it's also an old medieval route specifically designed on an incline to protect the fort. So I am now visiting the Palace of Monaco, also known as the Prince's Palace. It's about 15 euros per adult and children 6 to 17 are 10 euros. Children under 6 are free. They also offer audio guides, but the palace has been the official residence of the Grimaldi family since 1297, making it one of the oldest royal residences still occupied by the same family. Currently Prince Albert II lives here with his family and every day at 11 55 am visitors gather to watch the changing of the guard performed by the prince's cabineers. Inside you can tour the state apartments decorated with renaissance frescoes, grand chandeliers, ornate throne rooms, so it's just a really cool place to walk around and see how the royal family over the years has lived. And if you don't want to walk all around Monaco, you can consider doing the hop-on hop-off bus. One of the stops is up here at the Prince's Palace in the old town area and again if you don't want to walk up the mountain or around the hills, this hop-on hop-off bus can be really useful for that. Now up here you're also going to have viewpoints. It's on a mountain so depending on what side of the mountain you're looking at, you'll see different viewpoints, but this one here is a nice one looking at Hercules Harbor. There's also another harbor which has great viewpoints as well. Now we're walking around Monaco Old Town. Built inside the fortress area, Monaco's Old Town sits atop Les Roqueurs, which is the rock. It's a 200 foot limestone cliff overlooking the Mediterranean. It's got medieval origins. The fortress was originally built in 1191 under the Republic of Genoa, built as a stronghold to protect its strategic location. It's walking friendly, it's colorful, and it's also the oldest part of Monaco. Just some quick facts about Monaco. It is the second smallest country in the world, only bigger than the Vatican City in Rome. It is a constitutional monarchy which has been ruled by the same family since 1297. The population itself is about 40,000 people living here, but Monaco does have some of the highest population densities of any country. Behind me we have the Palace of Justice, and then if we go right here we have the Cathedral. Officially named the Cathedral of Saint Nicholas, it was completed in 1903. Construction began in 1875. It's built from white stone, so it gives it that nice white limestone color. It's also the burial site of many members from the Grimaldi family, including Prince Rainier III and Princess Grace. The inside of the Cathedral itself did not disappoint. It's definitely worth going inside there to see how beautiful it is, but as I walked around I was not disappointed. So if you're considering coming out to the Old Town, it would be worth it to check out the Cathedral as well. Occasionally they'll do a royal wedding or have a national celebration during Christmas, so definitely something to consider. It's also free to enter. Now in this same area you can also walk over towards the Oceanic Museum and get some interesting views of the Mediterranean. Now I'm here at the Oceanic Museum. Built on a 280-foot cliff overlooking the water, the museum was founded by Prince Albert I in 1910. He was a pioneer of oceanography, so that's why he wanted to dedicate a museum to marine exploration here. But you have the world-famous aquarium with 6,000 marine animals in it. You also have the expedition history because Prince Albert I completed 28 scientific expeditions, helping establish Monaco as a global center for marine science. The price is about 22 euros for adults and students, and children do receive a discount admission, so you may be able to save some money on that end. But at the very top you have the rooftop terrace with restaurants. You can view Port Hercules and the French Riviera from the rooftop observation deck. And just down the way you have the St. Martin Garden. This is a really beautiful garden. I would say this was my favorite garden of all the gardens I walked around just because the views are so amazing. So take that into consideration. I don't think it's ranked as the best garden in Monaco. That's just my opinion. And in case you're curious, I did all of this in a day. So everything you see right here was done in a day. I'm not telling you you have to do that because I think it's moving kind of quickly, but I'm just letting you know. Also that harbor that you're seeing on the other side of the rock is called Porte de Frontville. And yeah, you can see the end of Monaco into France. Right when you get to the other side of that stadium, you're basically in France. You can see the stadium off in the distance from here. After the rock, I ended up walking towards the exotic garden on the way. I saw the National Museum if you wanted to learn about the history. And then they also had the Museum of Anthropology. So you have a few museums to choose from. And this here is the Jardin Exotico or exotic garden. Now this was by far and away the hardest one to get to on the list just because I had to walk so far. And getting a taxi or rideshare in Monaco is not easy. I don't even think they have rideshare. And finding taxis is nowhere near as easy as you would think. But this here was considered one of the best gardens in Monaco. It's about 12 euros per adult and 6 euros for children. They've got the Observatory Cave, which lies on a limestone cave filled with stalagmites. People go inside there. You also have cliffside views with incredible panoramic views of Monte Carlo, the Port of Hercules, and the Mediterranean. Also over 1,000 plant species. So this really is a special garden. It's just so hard to get to. If you plan to visit the French Riviera, also watch our best things to do in Nice video right here. Click that link.