We visited Monaco, the 2nd smallest country in the world – at 0.78 square miles! We walked through most of this country and was amazed by the extravagance! We visited this during our trip to France! Check out that page HERE.
This trip took place in March 2024.
Check out the full vlog showing our full time in the South of France:
We only visited Monaco for a short time – maybe 2 hours or so, but we got to see a lot. And – it was our 20th country! After taking the train from Antibes (1hr), we got off at the Monte Carlo train station. We had mapped out the 3 main things we wanted to see… 1) the casino 2) the harbor 3) the famous turn from the Monte Carlos Grand Prix!
It’s one of the richest countries in the world, mostly due to no income tax, and is also considered the global hub of money laundering. 30% of the residents are millionaires.
While not quite as charming as its neighboring French villages, it still made for a really interesting afternoon. We first visited the extravagant Monte Carlo Casino, which was opened in 1865. We weren’t dressed well enough to be allowed in to gamble, so instead we admired the main entry, and the parade of incredible cars along the exterior. Honestly though – we aren’t really gamblers so… no big deal.
We next walked by the Monaco Harbor – Port Hercules which can house up to 700 vessels. We were amazed at the amount of incredible yachts. After some research, we found a few that cost over 180MM and had operating costs of 18MM a year! It’s kind of insane.
Finally, we walked around part of the path for the Monaco Grand Prix, a yearly car race since 1929. The course was so narrow, it was amazing to see. Also – while we were there, construction was already beginning on the stands to watch the race, about 2 months ahead of time.
My overall thoughts on Monaco… it was just OK. It wasn’t very charming and basically seemed like a place where exorbitantly wealthy people like to go to show off their wealth. Wouldn’t necessarily recommend it, but since it was literally on our way in between stops – how do you not at least visit 🙂