Travel Guide & Tour Reviews

For anyone planning a trip, Monte Carlo is one of these places that’s good to go for the sake of the people-watching, the glitz, glamour, boats and sports cars, but I wouldn’t necessarily say that it’s very pretty or beautiful. I’ve never seen so many well-dressed, gorgeous folks cruising around in their Ferraris, Porsches, Lamborghini’s, Bentley, SLs, Z4s etc.
Don’t bother with the Grand Casino. We were very unimpressed with it all. The lobby was free to get in and we wandered around that a little and saw the Dali exhibit there. Kind of interesting.If you are looking for reasonable accommodations stay in Nice. It’s just about 13 minutes away by trains. The trains run regularly, about every half hour. If you stay in Nice close to the train you will be further from the beach but located great for train trips.
The Comte de Nice hotel is close to the train and good if you are on a budget. They have ordinary rooms and apartments with kitchens. The train station is about 10-15 minutes walk. The area isn’t the greatest especially as right now they are putting in a trolley/metro so there is a lot of construction on the streets around the hotel.
The Ibis hotel is right next to the train station. I think this is the closest hotel to the train station. There is also a Best Western Hotel Riviera just down the road. Both hotels are on Avenue Thiers.
When you get to Monaco the train station is very central. You can walk from St. Devote to the harbor. You can go to the palace and tour it. The Monaco tourist train is worth it. You can shop and gamble in Monte Carlo.
The cathedral, with Princess Grace’s tomb is worth a visit. The Prince’s car collection is fun if you like old cars.
The Oceanographic museum and Aquarium is interesting. There is a Princess Grace Irish library near the cathedral you can ring the bell and if you are friendly they might let you in for a private tour. You can also visit the wax museum.
The national museum of dolls and automatons of yesteryear is fun to see. There is a lot to do and see. Museum of Prehistoric Anthropology is swank a priceless series of sculptures coming from the ethnic neighborhood of the Monaco.
There are more than 250 naval objects together with models of famous ships and ships from private collection of HSH Prince Rainier III of Monaco in the Naval Museum.
The Museum of Stamps and Coins brings to life the history of numismatic quality of the Monaco since 1640 and philatelic pieces from 1885 the year of first printed stamp.
I can advise you to visit the Napoleonic History Museum. It’s the museum of history from the First Empire
Also you can visit Monte-Carlo-Story presents “Monaco le Film” is about history, present and future life of Monaco on the traces of the Princes and Princesses of Monaco.
The Louis-II stadium is one of the best sports facilities in the world. In Monte-Carlo you can watch the historic GP races
A great place to have dinner is at Santa Lucia in Monte Carlo. They call themselves the best Italian restaurant in Monaco. The food is great.
It’s a bit busier on a Saturday there’s not a huge difference. Restaurants get full between about 12pm-1pm as all the workers come out for their lunch, but because Monaco is so small you don’t notice a huge difference. The main thing to be aware of is everything shuts on a Sunday in France, no shops; only half the restaurants will be open.
Make sure you walk around the older part of town near Rue Grimaldi, all the tourists hang out around the casino, and the beach area can be full too, but the bit to the left of Monaco is lovely, and you can walk up the hill to the Royal residence, and there are some lovely tiny French back streets.
Also it will be quite hot in summer so take sun block, a hat, and comfortable shoes.