Monaco's 10 Best Luxury Hotels
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Monaco is an epicenter of luxury living. Bordered by France on three sides and the Mediterranean on another, it’s a premier tourist center and place for vacationing. The rich and famous have enjoyed Monaco for those reasons since the late 19th century, when the principality developed its economy by opening casinos and introducing a train to Paris.
If you are going to Monaco, take a look at the elite hotels below, counted down to the most ornate. Each and every one of them is a prestigious gem that will take your breath away and make your stay all the more unforgettable. All prices associated with the hotel below are only the beginning rates. For suites and penthouses the prices are sure to skyrocket.
10. Fairmont Hotel: $285 Per Night
The Fairmont Hotel is a seaside hotel on 12 Avenue des Spélugues. Many of its 616 rooms and 31 suites have decks and terraces that look out onto the ocean, as the entire front of this zig-zag shaped complex is located on the Mediterranean.
The Fairmont has a heated outdoor pool and three restaurants where on deck dining is available. Although part of the hotel’s exterior is based on ancient Roman models, most of the hotel – inside and out – is based on a minimalist/modern style.
9. Vista Palace Hotel: $160 Per Night
Located on a high promontory on the Côte d’Azur, the Vista Palace Hotel affords guests a breathtaking view of Italy, France, and Monaco. 1551 Rue de la Turbie is the hotel’s address. There you’ll find several gourmet restaurants, conference rooms, outdoor sunning patios, full suites with modern amenities, an art gallery, spacious piano lounges, bars, and more. Most rooms have patios that overlook the ocean.
The Vista is, in addition, one of the best beach resort hotels in Monaco and it has a variety of swimming pools, spa and exercise facilities.
8. Royal Riviera Hotel: $219 Per Night
The Royal Riviera (3 Avenue Jean Monnet) overlooks the island of Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, home to museums, gardens, villas and churches dating back to the days of kings.
Guests have access to a range of suites, single and double rooms; each equipped with modern amenities. Most of the rooms have wrought iron terraces that overlook the ocean and elegant hotel grounds.
There are three gourmet restaurants and wedding/function rooms, a designer boutique, nautical sports facilities, spa, pool and a private beach for hotel guests only.
The Royal Riviera is home to a vast garden of luxurious plants and flowers, which guests can frequent at their will. The hotel offers trips to spring flower shows, including a rose festival, organized at Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild and Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat.
7. Monte Carlo Beach Hotel: $265 Per Night
The Monte Carlo Beach Hotel (Avenue Princesse Grace) boasts a Jazz Age atmosphere with the intimacy of a private residence: cabanas, solarium, tents and bungalows pay homage to its establishment eight decades ago.
The complex has 40 rooms, including five junior suites, seven suites and two double suites, all decorated in Golden Age style: deep blue (azur), white and black with balconies giving onto the Riviera.
The mirror-style pool is an ideal place to enjoy dining à la carte. Monte Carlo Beach prides itself on an organic menu and its award winning restaurant Elsa. Other gourmet dining areas and bars are located throughout the complex. Plus, the hotel has spas, a children’s club, exercise and sports facilities.
6. Monte Carlo Bay Hotel: $326 Per Night
The Monte Carlo Bay Hotel (40 Avenue Princesse Grace) exudes the spirit of the 1930's, the Riviera’s Golden Age. Roman style pagodas and gazebos, poplar tree gardens, a solarium and a lagoon make the whole complex look like a private luxury estate.
75% of the hotel’s rooms, suites and apartments have balconied patios with panoramic views of Roquebrune-Cap-Martina and the Monte Carlo Beach complex.
Guests have access to a Cinq Mondes spa, gourmet restaurants, dining à la carte, enormous lounges, and the legendary Jimmy’z Sporting Monte Carlo nightclub.
The Monte Carlo Bay Hotel has a strong focus on business tourism, as it offers many technological amenities for conferences, seminars, and other meetings.
5. Le Meridien Beach Plaza: $377 Per Night
Le Meridien Beach Plaza (22 Avenue Princesse Grace) is one of the most prestigious hotels in Monaco. It has unparalleled views of the Mediterranean Ocean, gardens and beautiful seaside terraces. Its private beach, freshwater and seawater pools complement the hotel’s extensive fitness and spa facilities.
Guests have access to the hotel’s award winning gourmet restaurants and a variety of other dining houses in a bustling shopping and recreational vicinity. In 2005 the hotel added two enormous crystal columns to its façade to allow light from the ocean to filter through 66 rooms on 12 floors.
There are two penthouse suites on the top two floors. Many of the rooms have been newly refurbished, and most have a private balcony with seaside view. Plus, Le Meridien boasts one of the largest conference centers in Monaco; the Sea Club, which fits up to 2,000 people.
4. Chateau Eza: $460 Per Night
Dating back to 1306, Chateau Eza is a rustic, Italian style castle complex at the top of a mountainous promontory overlooking the Mediterranean. Nearly every room in the hotel has a breathtaking view of the Cote d’Azur. It’s decorated in Old World style, with wrought iron gates, window grills, and balconies; armoires, vintage lamps, canopy beds, etc. All of these furnishings look even more luxurious near the hotel’s interior stone and stucco walls. Even some of the freestanding bathtubs are made of stone.
Most of the windows in the hotel afford gorgeous views of different segments of the castle and its lush gardens. Suites and many other rooms have private balconies and/or patios.
The hotel has several dining facilities, including a Michelin starred gourmet restaurant. Guests enjoy extensive spa rooms and the castle’s many outdoor terraces, indoor and outdoor jacuzzis and pools. It’s no surprise, then, that Chateau Eza has received royal visitors, including the Prince of Sweden.
3. Hotel Métropole: $437 Per Night
The Hotel Métropole is located at 4 Avenue de la Madone. It’s easy to see why it’s a popular luxury retreat among Monaco’s elite and why Leading Hotels of the World voted it “Best Hotel in the World 2010.” The gorgeous façade is a mixture of Italian and French styles, with Mansart roofs, iron and stone balconies, lanterns, oculus windows, columned porticoes and statues. A pretty array of plants tops the entrance. The fountain pool near the front entrance completes the look of an Italian garden.
Hotel Métropole’s interior is ornate, with enormous rose bouquets, leather sofas, marble floors, gold fixtures and nearly every other type of fine furnishing you can imagine. 69 rooms and 64 apartment-sized suites are furnished in both modern and Old World styles.
Guests also have access to three gourmet restaurants and a spa complex that includes two therapy rooms with private baths and the only saltwater pool in Monte Carlo. Customized therapies, including hot-stone massages, facials, salt and oil body scrubs are Métropole patrons’ top favorites.
Ever since it expanded onto Monte Carlo’s legendary casino square in 2004 Hotel Métropole’s Lobby Bar has bustled with elite dining and drinking clients like never before.
2. Hotel Hermitage: $485 Per Night
The Hermitage (Square Beaumarchais) is a leading world hotel and one of Monaco’s elite. Inside and out its decadence is palatial. The enormous entrance hall itself, with its crystalline dome and sweeping red carpeted staircases, is one of the most breathtaking in Monaco. The hotel is outfitted in fine furnishings: marble, crystal chandeliers, velvet chairs and wrought iron gates, to name just a few.
There are 278 rooms, including 25 suites, 52 junior suites and nine ultra luxurious Diamond Suites. Many of the rooms have wrought iron balconies with views of the Mediterranean and surrounding coast.
Guests love to dine at Le Vistamar, whose outdoor terrace offers a panoramic view of the Mediterranean. Cabanas and other restaurants on site likewise serve gourmet cuisine. Plus, patrons can sip vintage wines and liquors in the hotel’s cocktail rooms, the lobby bar, and the famous Crystal Bar. Hotel Hermitage has an enormous function room known as the Salle Belle Epoque, a winter garden with an Eiffel dome, as well as grand ballrooms for weddings.
Hermitage is linked to one of the best spa facilities in Europe; the Thermes Marins Monte Carlo, where expert technology (hydromassage, pressotherapy, shiatsu, etc.) is the ultimate pampering. The Termes has 37 massage and hydrotherapy rooms, a swimming pool, beauty salon, aqua fitness center, and a solarium with a Mediterranean view.
Jet setters can also enjoy water skiing and parachute rides, among other luxury sports that “so Monaco”!
1. Hotel de Paris: $517 Per Night
It’s hard to believe that Hotel Hermitage has an even more ornate sister. Truthfully, Hotel de Paris, on the prestigious Place du Casino, is Monaco’s top luxury hotel. Its majestic exterior is a symphony of Italo-French designs in black and ivory.
Just as imposing is the hotel’s palatial interior. Rooms look like royal dwellings. There are 99 rooms, 83 suites, most of which have heavy wrought iron balconies with some of the best views on the Riviera. The marble bathrooms are enormous, and there are hotel boutiques to shop for high end toiletries.
Hotel de Paris boasts its own casino, jewelers, and a string of on-and-off-site luxury restaurants, most renowned of which is Le Louis XV. Alain Ducasse’s Michelin-starred restaurant is one of the most breathtaking rooms in all of Europe. Guests take in stunning coastal panoramas at one end of the room.
Hotel de Paris Monte Carlo lies at the heart of Monaco and is connected to the Termes Marins, where guests can go to relax. Plus, the hotel has the best position on the F1 Grand Prix racetrack, and a variety of sports facilities.
It’s no wonder, then, that Hotel de Paris has long been a favorite among celebrities, including Cary Grant and Michael Jackson. Princess Grace and Prince Rainier celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary in the hotel’s private wine cellar, one of the oldest and largest in the world.
