Beaches. Casinos. Harbors. Extravagant Yachts. Crepes. Champagne. Crystal clear water. Giant rocky cliffs surrounding and encompassing the city. A Bentley, Ferrari, Rolls Royce, Maserati, or Lamborghini in every parking lot. That pretty much sums up the beautiful coastal town of Monte Carlo. On Thursday, my friends and I (7 in total) traveled by train to the tiny country of Monaco (might as well just be France) to experience the beauty and splendor of this famous coastal city.

Taking the train from the Centrale station in Milan, it took approximately 4 hours to reach our destination. Using cheap airlines EasyJet and RyanAir on my previous trips, this was my first time utilizing the European railways. I was very pleased with how punctual and easy the train system was throughout our trip. Arriving late Thursday evening in Monte Carlo, we took a taxi from the train station to our hotel / apartment (However, there is no reason to ever take a taxi in this city due to its small size). After settling into our rooms, we walked down to the casino and the harbor for dinner. Seeing this city for the first time, I was completely overwhelmed by its beauty. Reminiscent of an ancient Greek city in design, due to the fact that it is built into the side of a rock face and features rows upon rows of stone and adobe houses, I could truly see why this city has become a playground for the world’s rich and famous. From the recommendation of a friend, we went to a place called “Stars and Bars,” an American-themed sports bar, for dinner. But, even though the food was decent, I would not recommend this place to anyone traveling to Monte Carlo due its overpriced menu and extremely small portions.

During the day on Friday, we decided to walk around the city and saw all of the sights. After leaving our hotel, we walked down to the harbor and ate lunch under the sun, surrounded by multimillion dollar yachts (complete with one or multiple hot tubs on each one!) Then, we continued our walk around the harbor and headed to the Oceanographic Museum and Aquarium. While it was basically just a typical aquarium, with the main difference being its emphasis on Mediterranean fish and marine history, it was worth the 7 euro entrance fee (remember your student ID to get the discounted price!). After the aquarium, we walked up a giant series of steps (I really don’t understand the French love of stairs) to reach the Prince’s Palace. Fun Fact: Still arranged as a constitutional monarchy, Monaco has a sitting prince located in Monte Carlo. Although we were a bit unfortunate that there was currently construction on the palace, its architecture and the view of the city it offered was still impressive. After walking around the city for a few more more hours, we decided to make dinner and head to the famous Monte Carlo Casino.

The Monte Carlo Casino is one of the most impressive pieces of architecture that I have seen so far in Europe. Located in front of this grand structure are several marble fountains and bridges, as well as hundreds of imported flowers, palm trees, and cacti.  

From first setting foot in this casino, it is quite obvious that you are not entering some cheesy Las Vegas establishment complete with flashing lights and loud bells and whistles. Instead, the inside resembles a elegant, royal banquet hall, the waiters all wear tuxedos, soft classical music is played in the background, and jackets are required for men. Requiring a ten euro entrance fee, and with the cheapest blackjack table featuring a 25 euro minimum bet, it is quite evident that the regulars here are loaded. With patrons such as Jay-Z and Beyonce, according to a waiter we spoke to, some serious money is dropped here nightly and it is no surprise that this location wass chosen for the filming of Casino Royale (there are even the 500,000 euro chips featured in the movie!). While playing roulette, since the minimum bet was only 5 euro a game, a man walked up next to me and dropped $4,000 on a single spin and walked away since he was playing 3 tables simultaneously at that amount! Before we could lose too much money, we left after spending about an hour walking around and gambling.

On Saturday, since we had yet to actually see the beach, we walked down from our hotel to the water. Although the water was freezing, the view was incredible and the weather was gorgeous.

After eating our obligatory crepes and French pastries, we got on the train and headed back to Milan. Overall, I had a great time in Monte Carlo and would recommend this trip to anyone studying within a reasonable distance of this city. Featuring breath-taking views and beautiful weather, it is a great weekend trip option. However, I would not plan on spending more than 2 days at this location because you will run out of sights to see or things to do.

Travel Tips:

For anyone looking for a painless way to reach relatively close destinations, I recommend taking a train. Costing only 60 euro round-trip, the train was surprisingly comfortable and easy to understand the necessary transfers. However, for further trips, not only does the train take away valuable time that could be spent at your intended destination (especially week end trips), but is very pricey. Also, unless the train leaves very infrequently for your destination, simply purchase the a one-way ticket before your departure and a one-way ticket before coming back. Not only is there no monetary advantage to buying in advance, but the ticket is not refundable if for some reason you can’t make it at that time.

Also, when traveling in groups, it is not always necessary to stay in hostels in order to save money. For this trip, we managed to book an apartment for the weekend at the cost of only 250 euro in total for all seven people (approximately 35 euro per person). Our apartment had two bedrooms with two beds each, two couches, two pull-out beds, a very spacious living room, and a complimentary cleaning service. It also contained a kitchen complete with an oven, stove, refrigerator, freezer, and a complete array of cooking utensils. So not only were we able to stay in relative luxury for both nights, but cooked our own dinner on Friday night to avoid paying the outrageous prices in this incredibly expensive city.

Location: Monte Carlo, Monaco