Nothing in Monaco is a multi-day excursion in the usual sense. At roughly 2 square kilometres, the whole principality is covered by two days of sightseeing, so a longer stay means a base in or near Monaco plus day trips along the coast. This page shows how to fit two or three days together, using opening days and seasons as the guide. What shapes the plan A few fixed rules decide which day gets which stop.

Much of what makes Monaco worth seeing costs nothing, and the paid sights are few and close together. This page sorts them by cost, then adds the places that call for a quiet visit and the closures to check before you go. Free sights The guard change. Palace guards change daily at 11:55 on Place du Palais, all year, though state events can cancel it. The square also gives views over Port Hercule and Fontvieille.

Family visits to Monaco work best when you plan around ages, because the child tickets and the hands-on sessions all have age cut-offs. This page goes through them from toddlers to teenagers, then gives a sample day and the practical points for pushchairs and hills. Under 4 Children under 4 enter the Oceanographic Museum and the Jardin Exotique free, and under 6 enter the Cars Collection free. That makes the paid sights cheap for toddlers, and the free parks do the rest.

The best walks in Monaco are separated less by distance than by terrain. The shoreline is flat, the Rock and the streets above the harbour are steep, and two longer routes lie just outside the border. This page groups the walks that way, so you can match them to your legs and the weather. Getting levels right The principality drops more than 160 m between the harbour and its upper streets.

A romantic stay in Monaco can cost almost nothing or a great deal, and the best moments are often the free ones. This page runs from no-cost walks to a three-star dinner, so you can mix them to suit a weekend. Free: gardens, harbour and the Rock’s cliff edge The Princess Grace Rose Garden in Fontvieille park is open day and night at no charge. It holds hundreds of rose varieties and a bronze statue of the princess made by Kees Verkade in 1984.

The right day trip from Monaco depends on how many hours you have, what day of the week it is and how steep a climb you want. All of the trips below start at Monaco-Monte-Carlo station, which is underground and has four exits, so pick the one nearest your hotel before you set off. Two or three hours: Menton and Cap d’Ail Menton is the shortest ride, about 10 to 12 minutes by train.

Most paid attractions in Monaco sell a plain entry ticket, and only a few add a timed guided slot. The table shows the adult price for 2026 and how each visit works, and the sections after it cover the ones that need planning. Attraction Adult price How it works Casino morning visit EUR 20 Self-paced, 10:00 to 13:00, guide on your phone Prince’s Palace State Apartments EUR 13 Audioguide, open by season only Oceanographic Museum EUR 22.

Two square kilometers doesn’t sound like much of a trip, and honestly, it isn’t, past two days. Day 1 covers Le Rocher’s palace and aquarium, Day 2 covers the Casino quarter and the coast. That’s the whole country, seen properly rather than rushed. Want more days out of a Monaco trip? Our 3-day version adds a full Riviera day trip on top of this exact plan. Book these before you go

Monaco itself is a two-day country. Day 3 of this plan is where it gets genuinely interesting: a full day in Eze, the clifftop village that’s the classic single Riviera add-on. Prefer just the essentials? Our 2-day itinerary covers Days 1-2 alone. Want two Riviera day trips instead of one? Jump to the 4-day version . Book these before you go Check Monaco or Nice hotel rates early, prices triple during the 5-7 June 2026 Grand Prix Reserve Oceanographic Museum tickets ahead during any event week Book an Eze and Monaco day tour to skip solving Eze’s infrequent connecting bus yourself Day 1: Le Rocher and the old town Arrive on the 22-minute train from Nice, roughly EUR 5-7 in advance, into Monaco-Monte-Carlo station, fully underground since 1999 inside a 466-meter tunnel.

Days 1-3 of this plan are the same ground as our 3-day itinerary : Monaco itself, then Eze. Day 4 adds Menton, the gentler, flatter Riviera town on the Italian side of Monaco, easily done as a single extra day. Want even more coast? The 5-day version pushes on into Italy. Book these before you go Check Monaco or Nice hotel rates early, prices triple during the 5-7 June 2026 Grand Prix Reserve Oceanographic Museum tickets ahead during any event week Book an Eze and Monaco day tour to skip solving Eze’s infrequent connecting bus yourself Day 1: Le Rocher and the old town Arrive on the 22-minute train from Nice, roughly EUR 5-7, into Monaco-Monte-Carlo station, fully underground since 1999.

Days 1-4 of this plan match our 4-day itinerary : Monaco, then Eze, then Menton. Day 5 crosses an actual border into Italy for the Ventimiglia market, which changes one thing about how you should plan this trip: read the Friday note below before you assign your days. Need a longer trip still? The 6-day version adds Cannes and Antibes. Book these before you go Check Monaco or Nice hotel rates early, prices triple during the 5-7 June 2026 Grand Prix Reserve Oceanographic Museum tickets ahead during any event week Book an Eze and Monaco day tour to skip solving Eze’s infrequent connecting bus yourself Day 1: Le Rocher and the old town Arrive on the 22-minute train from Nice, roughly EUR 5-7, into Monaco-Monte-Carlo station, underground since 1999.

Days 1-5 of this plan match our 5-day itinerary : Monaco, Eze, Menton, then Ventimiglia’s Friday market. Day 6 goes further west to Cannes and Antibes, the biggest single-day commitment of any Riviera add-on here. Doing the full week? The 7-day version closes with an actual day in Nice. Book these before you go Check Monaco or Nice hotel rates early, prices triple during the 5-7 June 2026 Grand Prix Reserve Oceanographic Museum tickets ahead during any event week Book an Eze and Monaco day tour to skip solving Eze’s infrequent connecting bus yourself Book a Cannes and Antibes day tour if six days of DIY train transfers is starting to wear thin Day 1: Le Rocher and the old town Arrive on the 22-minute train from Nice, roughly EUR 5-7.

Days 1-6 of this plan match our 6-day itinerary : Monaco, Eze, Menton, Ventimiglia, then Cannes and Antibes. Day 7 closes the loop with the one place most Monaco trips only ever see from a train window: Nice itself, properly, for a full day. This is the longest version of this itinerary; the 2-day plan covers just Monaco if a week is more than you need. Book these before you go

Monaco crams a sovereign palace, a working Grand Prix circuit and a cliff-face aquarium into two square kilometers you can cross end to end on foot in under an hour. It isn’t part of France, isn’t in the EU, and isn’t duty-free, though it spends euros and reads like a richer extension of the Riviera next door. One to two days covers Monaco itself properly. Stay longer and you’re using the principality as a base for genuine day trips up the coast, because there isn’t a third day of Monaco-only sights waiting to be found.

Six sights carry Monaco, and none of them need more than half a day each. The Oceanographic Museum earns top billing, the Palace and the Casino split the postcard duty between them, and the free stuff, the Changing of the Guard, the Casino Atrium, Larvotto Beach, is genuinely as good as some of the paid tickets. Here’s the full lineup ranked, with what each one actually costs in 2026 and how long to budget.