Monaco with a wheelchair or a pushchair, visit by visit

Monaco looks like the worst place on the Riviera to arrive in a wheelchair or pushing a buggy. It’s a country hanging off a mountain, with the old town on top of a rock and a constant climb between the sea and the upper road. But the Principality has spent decades flattening those hills with public lifts, and with a bit of planning you can see nearly everything. Nearly, because there’s one significant exception.

Is Monaco wheelchair accessible?

My short answer is yes, with a map. According to the government there are 79 lifts for public use, plus 35 escalators and 8 moving walkways, and thanks to them you can cross the country on foot in under an hour. The official IMSEE statistics for 2025 add a detail that matters more to you, counting among the public equipment 7 lifts specifically for disabled people and a stairlift.

What I couldn’t confirm is the opening hours of the lifts or which ones have room for a wheelchair, because the leaflet itself doesn’t give them. So late at night I wouldn’t count on all of them working, and I’d try them in daylight. How they fit with the bus, the harbour boat and taxis is in getting around Monaco, and the most useful ones by district are in Monaco’s public lifts.

The leaflet I’d keep on my phone

The government publishes Monaco Malin, a leaflet that marks every lift, escalator and moving walkway by district, along with pedestrian crossings, public transport and health centres. You download it as a PDF from the government website or collect a paper copy from the Direction de la Prospective, de l’Urbanisme et de la Mobilité, at 5 promenade Honoré II, weekday mornings and afternoons. For someone in a wheelchair I think it’s more useful than any tourist map, and I’d look at it the night before to plan the day around the gradients.

Arriving by train, the easiest option

Even though the platforms at Monaco-Monte-Carlo are underground, it’s the gentlest way into the Principality I know of. Visit Monaco lists an accessible lift at three of its four exits, Monte-Carlo, La Condamine and Fontvieille / Le Rocher. About the fourth, Parvis Sainte-Dévote, it says nothing. Which district lies behind each door is in Monaco train station exits.

I can’t say the same for the town buses. The CAM publishes nothing about ramps, low floors or wheelchair space on its website, in its FAQ or in its fares, so I’d ring its customer service before relying on it. Taxis, on the other hand, charge a fixed €18 within Monaco and nothing extra for suitcases or pushchairs, although I couldn’t find out whether any vehicles take a wheelchair.

The sights, one by one

The Oceanographic Museum is the best-prepared visit. It goes up and down by lift, marks out adapted routes, lends you a wheelchair if you need one and has a priority till. With a disability card entry costs €10, and your companion goes free if the card says so, although I’d ask at the desk whether they accept a UK card. If you arrive by car, the Parking des Pêcheurs right underneath connects to the entrance by lifts and escalators. With a pushchair, the museum warns that only level -1 is stairs.

The Monte-Carlo Casino has a specially adapted lift at the Place du Casino entrance and reserved spaces in the underground car park under the square. At the Exotic Garden, the upper terrace is fine for a wheelchair and entry is free for visitors with reduced mobility, but only up top, because the cave drops about 300 steps. The Princess Grace Rose Garden in Fontvieille is open around the clock, free, and describes itself as accessible.

And the exception. The Prince’s Palace warns on its website that wheelchair users can’t be accommodated, as the whole tour climbs staircases. I think that’s a real shame, but I’d rather tell you before you buy a ticket. The guard ceremony at 11:55 is just as easy to follow from the square.

The beach and a swim

Larvotto beach has a service called Handiplage, set up with the Soroptimist association, so that people with reduced mobility can swim safely with specialist attendants. Visit Monaco doesn’t say which months it runs or at what times, so I’d ask before building a day around a swim. The rest of the beach is covered in Monaco’s beaches.

With a pushchair

Almost everything above applies just the same. The station exits with lifts, the public lifts and the Oceanographic Museum make a buggy manageable, and taxis don’t charge to carry it. The Palace is still the visit I’d save for another trip, once the children are walking. The full plan with little ones is in Monaco with kids.

How I’d do it

Train to Monaco-Monte-Carlo and out through an exit with a lift. The Oceanographic Museum in the morning, without rushing. Lunch down in La Condamine. The afternoon on the flat in Fontvieille, with the Rose Garden. And the Casino as the sun goes down, in through the lift on the square.