Hôtel Métropole Monte-Carlo, the five-star outside the SBM

The Métropole is the five-star in central Monte-Carlo that doesn’t appear on the Société des Bains de Mer’s list of hotels, and you can feel it in its character. While the SBM palaces share a spa, a beach and even a shuttle, the Métropole plays its own cards, with a pool signed by Karl Lagerfeld, a Guerlain spa and a kitchen holding two stars. It stands at 4 avenue de la Madone, in the Carré d’Or, a few steps from Casino Square. Don’t confuse it with the Metropole shopping centre, the shopping arcade next door.

From the 1886 hotel to Jacques Garcia’s

The Métropole opened in 1886 and soon made a name for itself on the Riviera. It was entirely rebuilt in the 1980s, and in 2004 the job of reshaping it went to Jacques Garcia, an interior designer who had already worked at Versailles and the Louvre and who gave it the look it has today. Since then the hotel has kept adding big names. Didier Gomez designed the Japanese restaurant Yoshi in 2008, Karl Lagerfeld the pool in 2012, and Guerlain opened its spa in 2025, the same year Garcia redid 45 rooms and suites.

Behind the Belle Époque façade, the lobby changes each season with a floral installation beneath the art deco glass roof. I think that’s a nice touch for a hotel that trades on art more than on views.

The Lagerfeld pool

It’s the reason many people look the hotel up. According to the Métropole, the Odyssey is the only pool in the world that Karl Lagerfeld designed. It’s filled with seawater heated all year and framed by a fresco of 18 engraved glass panels, lit from behind, telling the story of Ulysses’ journey across the Mediterranean. It’s tucked away among palms and cypresses in a raised garden with loungers and a terrace.

Access is reserved for guests and members of the Club Metropole, from 7:00 to 20:00. In other words, there’s no way to see it without staying here or paying for the club. That strikes me as consistent with the kind of hotel it wants to be.

A Guerlain spa and two stars on the plate

The Spa Métropole by Guerlain opens from 7:00 to 21:00, with treatments by appointment from 10:00 to 19:00. It has ten treatment rooms, a hammam, a sauna, a sensory shower, an ice fountain, a cold plunge, a gym and a Pilates and yoga studio. Bastien Gonzalez’s manicure and pedicure studio also works from inside.

In the kitchen, Christophe Cussac has been executive chef since 2004 and runs Les Ambassadeurs, which has held two Michelin stars since the 2024 guide. Yoshi stays in the Michelin selection without a star, and by the pool Zia at Odyssey runs from 20 April to 30 September and the Odyssey restaurant the rest of the year. Every starred table in Monaco, with opening times, is in where to eat in Monaco.

Rooms, from 22 m² up to a 190 m² suite

The rooms are Garcia’s work, with Colefax & Fowler fabrics and ash wood. The Deluxe rooms range from 23 to 33 m² and the Deluxe Premium from 22 to 27 m², so it pays to check the exact size when booking. The Prestige rooms go up to 32-44 m². Among the suites, the Azur looks over the Casino gardens and the Grand Prix circuit, and the Carré d’Or measures 190 m² with a 110 m² terrace. The hotel doesn’t publish a total number of rooms or a from-price.

Getting to the Carré d’Or

The hotel gives its own distances, and I find them useful. Nice airport is 30 km away, about 45 minutes by limousine, or 7 minutes by helicopter plus 15 by car from Monaco’s heliport. Monaco-Monte-Carlo station is a 15-minute walk, and from Port Hercule or Fontvieille harbour it’s 5 minutes by taxi. If you’re driving, the A8 has exit 56 heading towards Italy and exit 58 heading towards France. I’d come by train from Nice and do the last stretch on foot. Frequencies and tickets are in my guide covering the Nice to Monaco trip by rail, road and bus.

Is the Hotel Metropole worth it?

I’d recommend it to anyone coming to Monaco for a weekend of dinners, spa time and strolling around Casino Square and Monte-Carlo. Everything is within walking distance and the hotel has enough going on inside to fill a rainy afternoon.

I wouldn’t choose it for a beach holiday, because its website doesn’t advertise a beach or a beach club, and for that I’d go to the Monte-Carlo Bay. Nor if what excites you is leaning out over Casino Square, which is Hôtel de Paris territory.

During the Grand Prix it has an argument all of its own. It keeps a private lounge in the Salon Méditerranée for guests, and Les Ambassadeurs serves lunches looking down on the descent of the circuit. The 2027 dates and the official grandstands are in the Monaco Grand Prix guide.