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Routes

Monaco by night

Harbour lights, golden facades and an evening stroll.

Distance
3.5 km
Walking
49 min on foot
With visits
about 3 h 45
Stops
9
Rampe Major and lookout1La Rascasse corner2Port Hercule3Tunnel exit and chicane4Monte-Carlo Opera (Salle Garnier)5Hôtel de Paris6Monte-Carlo Casino7Casino Gardens8Larvotto Beach9
Map : © OpenStreetMap contributors, tuiles OpenFreeMap

Stops

  1. Rampe Major and lookout

    This long cobbled climb, lined with battlemented walls, is called the Rampe Major. For centuries it was the main way into the fortress for anyone coming up from La Condamine. You pass through several gates, some dating from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries: each one was an extra lock against attackers.

    380 m to the next stop

  2. La Rascasse corner

    This is La Rascasse, the penultimate corner of the circuit, named after the bar and restaurant tucked into the bend of the quay. The rascasse is also the red rockfish essential to bouillabaisse. The corner is slow and tight, a right hander taken almost brushing the restaurant wall.

    420 m to the next stop

  3. Port Hercule

    This is Port Hercule, a natural jewel box between the Rock and Monte Carlo. Its name comes from an ancient legend: the hero Hercules is said to have passed this way, and the Greeks and then the Romans called the anchorage Portus Herculis Monoeci. For centuries it was just an open bay exposed to storms.

    760 m to the next stop

  4. Tunnel exit and chicane

    You are at the exit of the only tunnel in the Formula One world championship. It curves beneath the Fairmont hotel and is the fastest part of the circuit: cars exceed two hundred and fifty kilometres per hour here. For drivers the challenge is twofold.

    520 m to the next stop

  5. Monte-Carlo Opera (Salle Garnier)

    On the sea side, the Casino hides a jewel: the Salle Garnier, home of the Monte Carlo Opera. Charles Garnier, who had just completed the Paris Opera, designed it in record time, and it opened in January 1879 with the great actress Sarah Bernhardt on stage. The hall is small, just over five hundred seats, but dazzlingly rich: gold, frescoes, reliefs and red velvet.

    130 m to the next stop

  6. Hôtel de Paris

    Facing the Casino, the Hôtel de Paris opened in 1864, barely a year after the Société des Bains de Mer was founded. François Blanc wanted to give wealthy gamblers a palace worthy of their dreams, and he succeeded. Crowned heads, writers, film stars: they have all passed beneath these chandeliers.

    50 m to the next stop

  7. Monte-Carlo Casino

    Here is Monte Carlo’s most famous landmark. In the mid nineteenth century Monaco was poor: Menton and Roquebrune, its main sources of income, had broken away. Prince Charles III then bet on gambling and sea bathing.

    120 m to the next stop

  8. Casino Gardens

    In front of the Casino stretch gardens as neat as a painting: gently sloping lawns, palm trees, flower beds and pools reflecting the facade. Locals sometimes call them the Boulingrins, a word borrowed from the English bowling green, the kind of lawn fashionable in the nineteenth century. The gardens were laid out when Monte Carlo was born, to give visitors an elegant stroll before entering the Casino.

    1.0 km to the next stop

  9. Larvotto Beach

    This is Larvotto, Monaco’s big public beach, a short walk from the centre. Unlike many beaches on the Riviera, access is free, and this is where Monegasque families come for a swim. The beach was completely redesigned and reopened in 2021 with a new promenade, green spaces and restaurants.