Fontvieille, the part of Monaco that used to be water

Fontvieille is the district in the classic photo of Monaco from above, bottom left, with the stadium and ochre buildings round a small harbour. It has neither Monte-Carlo’s glamour nor the Rock’s history, yet I think it says a great deal about the country. It’s proof of what a state does when it runs out of room, which is to make more.

A district that used to be sea

The tourist office calls it, plainly, a district reclaimed from the sea, at Monaco’s western tip and at the foot of the Rock. Monaco’s government dates the infill to between 1966 and 1973 and puts it at 220,000 m², with fill laid 30 to 40 metres deep and a 55,000 m² marina. The odd thing is that the original plan was almost twice that, 400,000 m². Today the district covers 33 hectares according to official statistics, making it the second largest in the country after Monte-Carlo.

What’s certain is the result. Fontvieille now has its marina, the Centre Commercial de Fontvieille with shops, services and familiar chains, the Princess Grace Rose Garden, the UNESCO Garden on top of the shopping centre itself, a landscaped park, the Stamps and Coins Museum and the big top of the International Circus Festival. By the marina are Monaco’s heliport and several supermarkets. If you’d like to understand why such a small country goes to these lengths for land, I explain it in Monaco facts. And just over the line, on the French marina at Cap-d’Ail, stands the Riviera Marriott La Porte de Monaco, a hotel that is in France despite its name.

Grace’s rose garden, open day and night

For me it’s the best thing in the district, and it has its own guide, the Princess Grace Rose Garden. Rainier III opened it in 1984, two years after Grace Kelly’s death, and it gathers more than 450 varieties of rose across about 5,000 m², with Ecocert organic certification and a 50-metre water wall. Every other year it hosts Monaco’s international competition for new roses.

What sets it apart is the opening hours. It never closes, day or night, whatever the day of the week, and it’s wheelchair accessible. It does have its rules, though, so no picking flowers, eating, picnicking, bringing animals even on a lead, or riding bikes, skates or scooters. Tripods and easels need permission. If you’re following in the princess’s footsteps, the rose garden belongs on the Grace Kelly trail in Monaco. Be warned that the district’s official photo shows the bushes without flowers, and in winter that’s how you’ll find them.

The small marina with the Rock overhead

Fontvieille harbour is the quiet version of Port Hercule. Fewer boats, fewer people and, above all, a different angle, because from here the Rock looks like a cliff with the Palace on top rather than a backdrop behind the yachts. I prefer that view to the classic one, and it’s free.

It’s also the most practical district for everyday needs. The shopping centre has a Carrefour hypermarket, trading from 08:00 to 21:30 Monday to Saturday and until 19:00 on Sunday, and I’d pick up water and something for the day there before climbing the Rock, because up top everything is geared to visitors and down here to the people who live in Monaco. And if you’re arriving by helicopter from Nice airport, this is your first contact with the country, because the heliport is in Fontvieille, a few dozen metres from the rose garden and the stadium. From here the Palace is directly above you, and I describe the climb in the Monaco-Ville district. And for a sit-down meal by the water, the harbour has Beefbar Monaco.

Is the Stade Louis II worth a visit?

If you like football, yes, and it costs very little. AS Monaco’s stadium opened in January 1985 and takes up around 14% of the district’s area. The guided tour costs €5.80 and runs Monday to Friday between 1 April and 30 September, with no tours on public holidays or event days. Very few dates remain in 2026, so if you’re reading this in autumn, think spring 2027. Every detail, with departure times and languages, is in the Stade Louis II stadium tour. The same stadium staged Herculis, the Monaco Diamond League meeting, on 10 July 2026.

Stamps, coins and a circus in January

At number 11 on the Fontvieille terraces is the Stamps and Coins Museum. It opens daily from 09:30 and closes at 17:00, an hour later in July and August. General entry is €3 and the reduced rate, for ages 12 to 18, students and pensioners, is €1.50. Stamps to send home are also sold at Monaco’s post offices. At that price it’s the district’s best rainy-day plan, and it suits anyone collecting Monaco’s euros, which have their own page in Monaco euro coins. I compare the country’s other museums in Monaco’s museums.

In January the district changes, because the Espace Fontvieille big top hosts the Monte-Carlo International Circus Festival. In 2027 it’s the 49th edition, from 22 to 31 January.

What you won’t find in Fontvieille any more

Two warnings that save a wasted walk. The Animal Garden, the Palace’s zoo, is closed according to the Palace’s own website, and local press mentions works on the cliff throughout 2026 with no official reopening date. Its story is in Monaco’s Jardin Animalier. And the Prince’s Car Collection, which many guides still place on the Fontvieille terraces, moved to Port Hercule in July 2022.

To get there, bus lines 3, 4 and 6 stop in the district, and the railway station has an exit called Fontvieille and Le Rocher, with a lift. The Monaco Le Grand Tour sightseeing bus, €25 for the day, stops at the rose garden and the stadium. To combine buses and public lifts, see getting around Monaco.