By e-bike around Monaco, the cheapest way to beat the hills

Monaco is small, but it isn’t flat. Between the harbour and the Exotic Garden, or between the station and the Rock, there are climbs that feel endless in August. That’s why the public e-bike scheme, MonaBike, strikes me as one of the Principality’s best ideas for visitors. It’s cheap, it’s in every district and it takes the sweat out of the hills. Here’s how it works and where I’d ride.

What MonaBike is

It’s Monaco’s bike-hire scheme, and every bike is electric. There are 350 of them across 49 stations, according to the tourist board, and every district has at least one station nearby, from Fontvieille and the Exotic Garden to the Rock, the harbour, the railway station, Larvotto, Monte-Carlo and Saint-Roman. The assist goes up to 25 km/h, and a full battery gives more than 60 km of range. They recharge themselves in the docks.

For visitors, the key point is you don’t need to be a resident. You sign up in the Monapass app, the same one used for buses and parking, or directly at monabike.mc.

What it costs

This is the good bit. A single 30-minute ride costs €1. The 24-hour pass, with unlimited half-hour rides, is €3, and the seven-day pass €8. There’s also a monthly pass at €18 and an annual one at €72. For a one-day visit, I can’t think of anything in the Principality that gives you more for €3 than the 24-hour pass.

The trick is the half hour. With a pass, the first 30 minutes of each ride are included. From minute 31 you pay €1, and after an hour it’s €2 for every extra half hour. Monaco being so small, hardly any ride between districts goes over half an hour, and if you’re stopping for a while the sensible thing is to dock the bike and take another later. I’ve listed it alongside the other bargains in Monaco on a shoestring.

Picking up and dropping off

If you don’t have a Monaco bus pass card, which also unlocks the bikes, you scan the bike’s QR code with your phone. When the station light turns green, you lift it out of the dock and the ride begins. To finish, you leave it at any station with a free slot, and the app shows in real time where there are bikes and spaces.

One tip I find useful. Before heading up to a high point like the Exotic Garden, check in the app that there are free docks at the top. That’s where the difference between arriving by bike and on foot is biggest, and also where it’s most annoying to have nowhere to leave it.

Where to ride

Monaco has been adding dedicated lanes. There’s a cycle track on Avenue Princesse Grace beside Larvotto beach, one in the Rock tunnel linking Fontvieille with Port Hercule without going over the top, and a cycle lane between Larvotto and La Condamine. Bus lanes are shared with bikes as well, and altogether they came to 6 km in 2025. Remember traffic keeps to the right, as in France.

If I had to choose one route, I’d start in Fontvieille, go through the Rock tunnel to the harbour and follow the coast to Larvotto, with the sea on your right. Where that ride ends, the sand and the promenade, I describe in Larvotto beach. For everything else, from buses to the boat that crosses the harbour, see getting around Monaco.

If cycling isn’t your thing

MonaBike isn’t the only light option. For those who’d rather have four wheels, Monaco has Mobee shared electric cars, a Twizy, a Smart or a Tesla booked through its app, which the tourist board says spares you parking charges at many partner car parks. And the Citymapper app pulls together Monaco’s buses, trains, MonaBike, Mobee and even the helicopter, so it works out the best combination for each journey. For a British driver unused to driving on the right in steep, narrow streets, that’s a genuinely useful safety net.

And the hills of the Rock?

The e-bike helps a lot, but the old town is a maze of narrow lanes made for walking. I’d leave the bike at the nearest station and climb the last ramps on foot, or use the public lifts, which are free and save the effort. I’ve mapped every one of them in the public lifts of Monaco.