4 Days Exploring the French Riviera from Nice: Your Ultimate Guide

Day 3: Monaco

A great advantage of staying in Nice is that you can visit another country as a day trip. Monaco makes a great day trip when you’re spending 4 days exploring the French Riviera from Nice. It’s really easy to get to Monaco from Nice. The train from Nice-Ville station, in the centre of Nice, takes 20 minutes to get to Monaco. And there’s 2 an hour. So it’s really easy to get to Monaco by public transport.

Monaco marina

I started my day in Monaco at the marina. I enjoy fancy boats and yachts, so I enjoyed walking around here! The marina looked lovely in the sunlight. There were lovely views up the hills on either side of the marina as well.

Le Palais de Princes

Walking up to Les Palais de Princes, the palace in Monaco, was fairly steep. But the views at the top were definitely worth it. There’s a terrace viewpoint at the top, which is a great place for some photos.

You can watch the Changing of the Guard at the palace, which is a nice little event to watch even if it doesn’t take long, as it just involves three guards.

You can do inside the palace, and the ticket costs 10 euros. There are about 15 state rooms that you can look around. The royal family of Monaco still use this palace, so it’s not open all the time, but you can check on the website here if it’s open when you visit. The rooms are decorated lavishly, especially the throne room and bedroom. The palace courtyard is also really pretty.

Just outside the palace there’s a cafe that sells some great food options for lunch. I opted for a takeaway panini, but there was also the option to sit down at the cafe for a longer lunch if you’d prefer.

Musee d’oceanographique de Monaco

Next to the palace is the aquarium, which is also worth a visit. There are some impressive displays of colourful fish, coral reefs, jellyfish, sharks, turtles and more. It’s a great place for kids, but there’s plenty here for adults to enjoy as well.

Jardins Saint Martin

Next to the aquarium, the beautiful Jardins Saint Martin are a lovely, peaceful place to relax. These gardens have pretty flowers and also some impressively tall cacti as well. There are many benches to sit on, so you can take a break here to relax in the peace and quiet of the gardens.

Views to Port de Fontvieille

The Jardins Saint Martin are also a great place for views down to the second marina in Monaco, the Port de Fontvielle. I think I preferred this marina to the main one in Monaco. I just loved the colours of the houses on the hills around and the perfect blue sea.

Monaco Grand Prix

One of the things Monaco is most famous for is the Monaco Grand Prix, a car racing event that takes place at the end of May each year. I visited Monaco in early May and could see them already setting things up for the Grand Prix. I could see the stands of seating the lined where the race track would be, and it was cool to be able to walk down the road where the cars would be racing in just a few weeks’ time.

Casino de Monte Carlo

My final stop in Monaco was another of Monaco’s famous highlights: the Casino de Monte Carlo. This famous casino is where the ultra rich come to gamble and win even more money. You could go into the atrium free of charge, so you can get a taste of what it’s like inside. If you want to go into any of the gambling games rooms, you need to pay for a ticket to enter. You also need to be dressed smartly, as there’s a dress code inside.

Outside the casino, there were some very fancy sports cars, such as ferraris. It was another reminder that Monaco is a playground for the rich – definitely a different world from what I live in! I enjoyed visiting Monaco, and it worked well as a day trip from Nice by train.