Fontvieille harbour, calm, sheltered and home to the best photo of the Rock

Everyone looks at Port Hercule, with its superyachts and its circuit. On the other side of the Rock there’s a second harbour hardly anyone seeks out, and I prefer it for a stroll. Fontvieille is small, residential and sheltered, ringed with relaxed terraces and, from its breakwater, it offers one of the loveliest views of the old town. Here’s what it is and how to make the most of it.

A harbour born from the sea

Fontvieille is the district Monaco won back from the sea in the 20th century, and the harbour works ran from 1966 to 1973 inside the 17 hectares of new land that VisitMonaco mentions. It sits at the foot of the Rock, and the tourist board calls it one of the best-sheltered harbours in the region, protected from easterly winds by the Rock and from southerly and westerly swell by the great breakwater guarding the whole district.

Today it has 275 berths, 16 for visiting boats subject to availability, and a maximum draught of 3 metres. It’s a harbour for pleasure boats rather than superyachts, which stay at Port Hercule. The harbour office is on Quai Jean-Charles Rey, staffed from 07:00 to 21:30 in season, and the port is guarded round the clock. How the rest of the district grew up around the water is told in the Fontvieille district guide.

The Rock from the breakwater

For me the best reason to come is the breakwater. From there you see the cathedral, its pale stone against the sky, and the Oceanographic Museum, which seems to hang off the cliff. On a clear day the view stretches to Cap Martin and the Italian coast. VisitMonaco puts it on its shortlist of places to photograph Monaco and advises going first thing, when the sun warms the stone of the Rock and the cathedral stands out against the deep blue of the sea.

It’s a shot you simply can’t get from Port Hercule, and plenty of visitors never even find it. Other vantage points around the country, in order, are in Monaco’s best viewpoints.

What’s around it

The harbour is the heart of the district. There are restaurants with terraces over the water and, a few steps away, the Fontvieille shopping centre, whose hypermarket also opens on Sundays. The heliport and the Stade Louis II are close by, so if you fly in by helicopter from Nice you’re a short walk away. Among those terraces is Beefbar Monaco, on Quai Jean-Charles Rey, the brand’s very first restaurant, opened in 2005.

On top of the shopping centre is the UNESCO garden, a small free garden overlooking the harbour and the cliffs, where a César fist and a crouching bather by Bourdelle share the lawn with an arch of bougainvillea. Nearby is the Stamp and Coin Museum, €3 for about an hour, and a little further on the Princess Grace rose garden and the landscaped park. I rank all those gardens in Monaco’s gardens and parks.

The museum deserves a line of its own. Prince Rainier III wanted it on the Fontvieille terraces, built around his personal collections. Its star piece is a coin press from 1796, the ‘balancier aux têtes de lion’, and every two years it hosts MONACOPHIL, the Principality’s big stamp exhibition. For anyone into stamps or Monaco’s euro coins, it’s an essential stop, and I cover it in Monaco euro coins.

Fontvieille versus Port Hercule

They’re two very different harbours. Port Hercule is the main one, in La Condamine, with the big yachts, the Yacht Club and the Grand Prix circuit, and it’s always busy. Fontvieille is smaller and residential, with pleasure boats and much calmer terraces. If you want superyachts, head to Hercule. If you want a quiet coffee by the water, away from the crowds, come here instead. The big harbour is covered in Port Hercule.

How I’d fit it in

I’d make it part of a Fontvieille morning. Breakwater first thing for the photo, breakfast on the quay, a walk to the rose garden and the UNESCO garden, and, if you like collecting, the Stamp and Coin Museum. In the afternoon I’d head up to the Rock, which looks so close from here you’ll want to. It’s one of the calmest plans you can make in a country that rarely is.