In this Just The Tip episode, we’re taking you on a dreamy, slow-travel day trip from Nice to Monaco, where elegance meets coastal beauty and every step feels cinematic. This guide is packed with tips on timing, transportation, and where to go for the best views, snacks, and surprises—even if you’re skipping the casino tables.

Kim shares exactly how to spend a day soaking up Monaco’s highlights, including:

• How to get there: Uber vs. train
• Watching the Changing of the Guard at the Prince’s Palace
• Strolling colorful alleys and grabbing arancini at Sorrento Ristorante
• Snapping stunning photos at Point de vue Port de Fontvieille
• Walking the F1 Grand Prix track
• Cooling off inside the Monte Carlo Casino
• Wandering lush gardens and gazing at mega yachts in Hercules Harbor

Monaco hotels we recommend:

• Fairmont Monte Carlo – Perfect location with gorgeous water views
• Monte-Carlo Bay Hotel & Resort – Elegant hotel with 5-star service and gorgeous views
• Hotel de Londres – Affordable price very close, one town over in Menton

Check out our curated list South of France Experiences for all the tours and activities we recommend in Monaco and beyond in the French Riviera.

Find a great flight deal to Monaco by signing up for Thrifty Traveler Premium and watching the daily flight deals (points & cash) that are emailed directly to you! Use our promo code TS10 to get $10 off your first year subscription.

Day Trip to Monaco – Episode Transcript

Today we’re taking you on a quick day trip to Monaco from Nice, France.

0:56

Monaco is a country in the southern Mediterranean region, nestled between France and Italy.

It is an absolutely amazing place.

Monaco is the second smallest country in the world, just after the Vatican.

1:14

It’s just a little bit less than one square mile smaller than the Vatican.

It doesn’t have a capital city.

Monaco is the capital, so Monaco is the city, but it technically is a country.

Monte Carlo is the famous district in Monaco that has the casino, of course, luxury hotels, designer shopping, the Formula One Grand Prix.

1:36

It’s a very opulent place.

Yachts on yachts on yachts on yachts.

Gorgeous buildings, beautiful gardens.

It’s gorgeous.

Only about 40,000 people live here and over 30% of them are millionaires.

1:52

So the density per capita of millionaires in Monaco is outrageous.

It’s a really cool place to see.

And it is just about a 20 minute train ride from Nice, France, where I was for a few days in the South of France.

2:08

So of course you’ve got to get another country off of your list.

And Monaco is just this otherworldly place.

I really wanted to see it and so I did just that.

Some quick tips for Monaco.

I went in the end of May and it was pretty warm but it wasn’t too hot.

2:24

I would recommend you bring sunscreen.

You’re going to be walking around a lot.

Wear comfortable walking shoes and dress classy right?

30% of the people that live here are millionaires, so look the part a little bit.

It is a great place for slow travel, as I came to find out on this short day trip.

2:44

It has so many beautiful parks and waterfront areas and restaurants.

Just sit and enjoy.

It’s a great place for slow travel.

Yes, it’s small and some people have told me that there’s not a lot to do there, but I don’t think so.

I think you really could spend a few days here actually just maybe do a day of shopping, a day of just walking around and enjoying the place.

3:06

Maybe some nightlife.

I know they have some nightlife, especially if you’re going to come during the Formula One time frame.

The train is very easy to ride.

It’s right in the central area of Monaco near the water, near where all the F1 action is happening near the mall there.

3:23

So the train is very easy to get on.

There is no Uber in Monaco.

You can get to Monaco through Uber, but you cannot call an Uber in Monaco.

They do have some taxis you can call, but I would recommend the train or the metro.

Now for Monaco, I was doing the three days in the South of France.

3:41

The first day I wanted to go to Monaco, and this just so happened to be the last day of the F1 races.

We didn’t end up going that day.

We went a few days later.

Actually.

I went by myself.

Dana wasn’t feeling well, so she didn’t go with me.

I did a solo adventure in Monaco.

After I had gone there, though, I kind of realized that going during F1 is not a good idea if you’re not planning to actually go to the race, if you don’t have actual tickets because they build up structures along all the sidewalks to keep you from entering the road and they close down a lot of streets, sidewalks.

4:13

It’s a total mess to navigate in the before math and the aftermath of F1.

And I imagine during the actual race, there’s several days leading up to these races.

It’s probably very hectic to get around.

So if you’re just a tourist and you want to see Monaco, I would probably not go during F1.

4:29

But if you’re coming for F1, of course, that’s going to be a big draw of the destination.

Now myself, I said the trains work really well and I did take take the train back, but I actually ubered from Nice to a viewing spot in Monaco, the cathedral de Monaco.

4:45

It was about a 45 minute drive and it cost me about 30 bucks.

I did this because where the train puts you in Monaco, it would still be quite a long walk to get here, maybe 30 minutes or longer uphill, and I was on a little bit of a time crunch.

5:01

So I just wanted to get there, see what I wanted to see, and then get on to the next thing down the road that I wanted to do.

So you can take the train though, it’s about $12.00 from Nice to take the train and then you can walk there.

If you have the time, start earlier in the day, plan to spend a full day in Monaco or even, like I said, a couple days.

5:19

Then the train should work just fine for you.

But I got dropped off at the Cathedral de Monaco.

The Uber dropped me off at the bottom of the street.

It can’t actually get you all the way up there, at least me at this time, maybe because roads were blocked off.

But the where he drops you off, there’s all these stairs leading up the mountain.

5:38

So it was an easy day, got my steps and my stairs in, and the walk was actually really beautiful because as you’re ascending, you’re starting to see more and more of Monaco below you.

So that was really pretty, my first sightings of Monaco.

And when I got to the top there, I noticed all these crowds of people and I’m like, what’s going on?

5:57

And I start to look and I see guards and I’m like wait a second, is this the changing of the guards?

I look it up.

Yes it is.

It happens every single day at 11:55 AM on the palace square in front of the Princess Palace.

And I just so happened to get there at like 11:45 AM.

6:16

So I get a spot in front and I just hang back and I wait.

I’ve never seen a changing of the guards, but it was pretty cool to see very formal military experience where they bring out the guards.

They do different marches.

They have the marching band there as well.

6:33

They do different choreographed moves, and this lasts probably 15 minutes.

Then the guards are changed, everyone else goes back inside, and the crowd disperses.

So that was really cool to see, a pleasant surprise.

And if you’re planning to go here, then try to time yourself for that.

If I had taken the train, I might have missed this.

6:50

So I’m actually glad I did the Uber.

Now from this palace square, you can walk just a tiny bit, maybe 100 feet over to the ledge that allows you to look down at Monaco and Hercules Harbor.

It is such a gorgeous view right here.

7:07

You can see all the yachts in the harbor, the F1 track and road, all the beautiful opulent buildings on the scaling hill on its edge.

Gorgeous, gorgeous views.

I stayed here for quite a bit just taking it in like yes, of course I wanted to get a picture and I wanted to see this, but I actually just spent some time here just looking at it.

7:28

It was really pretty.

I could have spent a lot more time just looking.

So then from here I started walking into these alleyways that they have.

They have some kiosks like pop up vendor, some little shops.

So I was walking down the alleyways, going inside shops, and I loved this area.

7:47

They’re tall, towering buildings on both sides of these narrow alleyways that just wind through this area.

And hanging in the middle of all of the alleyways is the Monaco symbol logo, whatever you want to call it.

8:03

They’re hanging all through the alleyways and the buildings are colorful on either side of you.

People are perusing slowly.

It was so pretty.

I stumbled upon a Gelato shop that also happened to have food.

It was called Sorrento Ristorante.

8:19

They had this gorgeous looking Arancino as I came to find out, not Arancino.

They said arancino, so of course I had to get that.

I was getting a little bit hungry so I just sat in the alleyway on a little table, ate that Arancino.

People watched.

It was so good.

8:35

This was kind of a weird thing though.

I had a water bottle with me and I took a sip of it and the person that worked there had told me you can’t drink your own water here if you didn’t buy it here.

So it was like, oh OK, I guess I’ll drink it later.

But that would be a great place to stop in for Gelato, a bite to eat, do a little shopping.

8:55

They had a lot of F1 merch.

Maybe because of the time of year, I don’t know if that’s always happening, but really cute to just pop into shops and then as you explore through these alleyways, you can find yourself over to the Cathedral de Monaco officially.

9:11

I hadn’t even made it officially here yet.

It’s a beautiful cathedral, just these gorgeous buildings, but right across the street from it is a viewing point, Point de Vue, Porte de font vie, which I know I’m probably pronouncing wrong, I’m sorry.

9:26

But it’s a gorgeous, gorgeous viewpoint.

You have to go see it here.

It shows you a different side of Monaco, a different harbor with yachts in it, the ocean, more buildings, beautiful Glick colored buildings, Really, really pretty view.

I don’t even know which one I like more.

9:42

I almost want to say this one, but see them both because they’re very close together.

So after this I started walking.

I wanted to make my way down to the Monte Carlo Casino.

I knew that was going to be like a 30-40 minute walk or so and I wanted to see things along the way.

So that’s when I started noticing all these gardens along this walk.

10:00

Here they have garden after garden after garden that are free to go into.

They have beautiful sculptures and statues and flowers and manicured lawns and it’s all along the gorgeous Cliff side.

So you have these amazing ocean views the whole time.

Garden St.

10:16

Martin will be the one that you see first, but they’re all available and open.

And that’s why I think you could spend a lot more time here because you could just walk through the zigzag pathways of all of these gardens, sit, have a bite, have a drink, talk, look at the views.

10:34

Like, I could have spent a lot more time here, maybe journaling, reading.

Of course, they didn’t have that much time on my hands, but I would come back and do just that.

So I kind of walk around the curve.

I’m making my way down.

I’m starting to see again Hercules Harbor, the F1 Rd. and I get down to St. level and there’s a lot of crews here working to dismantle the structures that were built for F1.

10:57

And so it kind of looks like, can you go on the road?

Can you walk that way to get down to the harbor pathway?

Yes, you can.

There’s people walking everywhere.

So I was so low, I just followed people that look like they knew where they were going and no one told us we couldn’t be there.

And there were other people there, so it was fine.

11:13

No one said anything and it was really cool actually to walk on the road that they use for F1 races, the actual Rd. on it.

So that was cool.

I don’t know if it’s always open year round long, but at this time it was two days after the official F1 Grand Prix and we could do that, so that was cool.

11:33

Hercules Harbor is absolutely gorgeous and there is a beautiful promenade that you can walk along and take in these beautiful views.

So many gorgeous massive yachts, boats, beautiful things to look at.

I was having yacht fantasies for sure right here.

11:52

But there’s also a lot of gardens on the upper promenade in this area as well.

All along the Hercules Harbor is gardens, statues, beautiful benches to sit on, garden offshoots.

You could just stay here for quite a while hanging out and talking.

12:09

I was trying to find the Prince’s Car collection.

It’s somewhere in this area, but my navigation wasn’t bringing me directly there.

And I think because a lot of like sidewalks and things were closed off, I couldn’t exactly find it.

So I decided to skip it just to save time.

12:25

But of course, there are plenty of beautiful cars to look at in Monaco.

I finally made it over to the Monte Carlo Casino and it’s iconic, right?

It was built in 1865.

It is one of the most opulent, luxurious casinos I have ever been in in my life.

12:42

I would highly recommend you go in.

So when I got there, it was about 2:05, and I did see people checking bags at the door and going inside.

And so I was like, great, I got a picture from the outside, I’m going in.

When I went inside, I felt like there wasn’t that many people there.

12:59

And I was kind of confused, like maybe it’s not as popular as I thought.

But if you’re going to go inside, which I do recommend you do, I overheard some people in the lobby debating the price of getting in.

And I think you should do it.

So it’s €20 to get in, but they also give you a €10 ticket that could be used for slot machines or the bar.

13:20

So really only €10 to get in.

It’s worth it just to see it.

I used mine on slots and I got an espresso martini.

One thing to remember though, you need to bring your passport with you to get inside.

They actually asked me if I had a picture of my passport, so I think that could work, but just bring your passport just in case, otherwise you cannot go inside.

13:39

So as I was sitting there enjoying my espresso martini, I played my $10 in the slots.

Lost it all and I walked around and explored things, sat down in a beautiful lounge area in the main table area drinking my espresso martini people watching.

It started to get a lot more busy so I was like OK let me look at the hours.

13:58

It opens at 10 AM to the public to go inside and look at it.

But the actual gameplay doesn’t begin till 2:00 PM.

So I went in at like 2 O 5 right when it opened not realizing it.

That’s why there wasn’t that many people there.

By the time I left around 2:45 it was very busy.

14:14

The tables were busted, people were playing.

I think I saw the lowest minimum hand was 5 or €10 so that’s reasonable.

But I did see a roulette table with a 2000 euro buy in.

No one was playing that one at the time.

14:31

It was really cool to see though.

The entrance lobby had an F1 racing car inside.

They’re so tiny and cute and it was just opulent and beautiful and I’m really glad that I went in and glad that I got to see it.

It’s also air conditioned, so when you’re walking around Monaco and it’s hot, going into the Monte Carlo Casino is a very nice reprieve to just sit down, have a cool drink, enjoy the AC.

14:52

The last thing that I really wanted to see before I left Monaco was the famous Fairmont hairpin turn on the F1 racetrack.

It’s right outside the Fairmont Hairpin Hotel here in Monaco, and it’s just a very short few steps down from the Monte Carlo Casino.

15:11

So I went around there, walked over there, saw it.

It was beautiful.

I think if you were up above, like at Nikki Beach on the rooftop, you’d see it a lot cooler from the top.

But what’s funny is after being in the South of France for a few days, those hairpin turns are everywhere in the South of France.

15:29

So I had seen them.

It wasn’t unlike any other hairpin turn on these roads, but it’s just really cool to know this is a famous turn for the F1 races.

And then when you see sports cars driving that turn while you’re right in front of it, it was really cool to see and it’s a fast stop, so definitely go check it out.

15:47

Some other things that I didn’t do, but you definitely could.

Cafe du Paris is right outside the Monte Carlo Casino.

It has a huge patio with tons of seating.

I would recommend stopping there, getting a drink and just people watching for a while.

Jacomo is a restaurant on the beach area of Monaco.

16:05

I didn’t actually get this far over to that side of Monaco, but it looks like an amazing restaurant, beautiful beach area here.

I would definitely go there if I was spending a little bit more time.

And of course, like I said, I want to come back.

I want to spend a few days here.

I want to do more slow travel in this area and I will.