La Turbie, the Roman lookout with Monaco at its feet

Spend a couple of days in Monaco and at some point you’ll look up at the mountain and spot a tower of white columns. That’s La Turbie, and the columns belong to the Trophy of Augustus. I think it’s the most underrated trip out of the Principality, because it combines a first-rate Roman monument, a quiet village and the one view that explains Monaco better than any map.

The village with Monaco at its feet

La Turbie is France, one of four communes that border Monaco. It shares only 390 metres of frontier with the Principality, the shortest stretch of the four, but its position more than makes up for it. It sits high on the Grande Corniche and, according to INSEE figures quoted by Monaco’s statistics office, had 3,113 residents in 2023. Much of today’s Beausoleil grew out of its lower districts, and neighbouring Cap-d’Ail was called La Turbie-sur-Mer until 1908.

That high ground is the reason for everything you’ll see. The Romans picked this pass to crown the Via Julia Augusta, the coastal road, and in the Middle Ages the monument became the lookout tower of a castle first recorded in 1108. If you want the wider picture, Monaco’s history in dates covers how the Grimaldis, Savoy and France carved up these heights.

What is the Trophy of Augustus, and is it worth the climb?

The Roman Senate and people dedicated it to Augustus around 7 or 6 BC, after he subdued the last Alpine tribes blocking the route between Italy and Spain. It was a square base 38 metres wide and 16 high, with a round storey of 24 columns and a statue of the emperor on top, 50 metres in all. What stands now is partly a reconstruction. The architects Jean-Camille and Jules Formigé stabilised it from 1908, put the original blocks back in place and rebuilt part of it with money from the American patron Edward Tuck, who also paid for the museum. The work was inaugurated in 1934.

The €7 ticket covers the monument, the museum and a 3-hectare park hanging over the Principality. Under-18s go free, and on the first Sunday of five months a year so does everyone. The free rate for 18 to 25-year-olds is for EU citizens and French residents only, which post-Brexit leaves most British students paying. Every day at 11:00 and 15:00 the staff lead a visit at no extra cost, and I’d join the morning one. It’s closed on Mondays, which is worth remembering, and there’s no left-luggage, so don’t bring your suitcase on the day you leave.

Tête de Chien and the other views

Just outside the village, still in La Turbie, is the Tête de Chien, a headland at 550 metres with free parking. From there you take in Fontvieille and its stadium, the Rock, the harbour and the coast towards Italy in a single sweep. The path is loose stone and slippery, so proper shoes. I compare it with the other high points in Monaco’s best viewpoints, and to me it beats everything inside the Principality.

The town hall also suggests eight walks, and it shares the Grande Corniche park with Èze, La Trinité and Villefranche, 660 hectares of hillside looking from Italy to the Esterel. With an afternoon to spare, heading on to Èze, the village on the rock is the natural next step.

The medieval village and Saint-Michel church

Below the Trophy you’ll find the cobbled lanes of the old village and, just outside its walls, the church of Saint-Michel, 18th-century Baroque and a listed monument since 1938. Inside are paintings the town dates back to the 15th century, a high altar inlaid with marble and a communion table in agate and onyx, which is the oddest thing on the whole visit. The patron saint’s feast falls every 29 September, with Mass, a procession and flag-throwers.

Further up, towards Mont Agel, is the oldest golf course in the area, opened in 1911. I cover it separately in the Monte-Carlo Golf Club, since it’s a different plan and only for golfers.

Getting up from Monaco

The Trophy’s website lists two buses, line 102 from Monaco and 106 from Nice, though other sources number the Grande Corniche lines differently, so I’d check the day’s timetable on the ZOU! website before setting off. By car, it’s exit 57 off the A8. A Monaco taxi charges a fixed €55 to get here, no haggling, but you’ll need another way back because Monaco cabs aren’t booked from France. Every way in is set out in getting to Monaco.

And a bit of time travel I love. Between 1894 and 1932 a rack railway climbed from Monaco to La Turbie, and on a terrace below the Trophy stood a Moorish-style hotel for the tourists it brought up. The line closed after an accident in 1932. For me La Turbie is a morning, Tuesday to Saturday, and paired with Èze and the other day trips from Monaco it makes one of the fullest days on the coast.