Les Moulins, the Monte-Carlo where people do their shopping

Monte-Carlo has two faces, and nearly everyone sticks to the lower one. Casino Square, the white-fronted hotels and the cars lined up outside. A little higher, in the area still known as Les Moulins, you’ll find the other face, the daily shop, Sunday Mass and the neighbourhood café. Here’s what’s there, and why I think it’s the best way to grasp that ordinary people live in Monaco too.

A name you won’t find on the official map

Worth clearing up before you go looking. Les Moulins isn’t one of Monaco’s official districts. Since a 2013 ordinance the country has been split into seven districts plus two reserved sectors, and the tourist board counts eight, and neither list includes it. What remains is the name, which lives on in Boulevard des Moulins and Place des Moulins, inside what is now Monte-Carlo, the casino district.

In practice the name points to that upper strip of Monte-Carlo, above Avenue Princesse Grace and Larvotto. It’s an area of apartment blocks, long-standing shops and offices, and that’s where the atmosphere VisitMonaco describes as the more local and peaceful side of Monte-Carlo comes from.

What’s worth seeing on Boulevard des Moulins?

The boulevard starts at the Park Palace and ends at Place des Moulins, and the best thing to do there is wander without a plan. It has independent boutiques, art galleries, jewellers, perfumeries and local shops. If you’re after the big fashion houses, they’re down around the casino, and I compare them in shopping in Monaco. You come up here for window-shopping at town prices rather than palace prices.

Halfway along, on Avenue Saint-Charles, stands the Church of Saint-Charles. It was consecrated in 1883, seventeen years after Charles III lent his name to the new town growing on the Spélugues plateau, according to the Government of Monaco. It was built when Monte-Carlo was still finding its feet, in Renaissance style to a design by the architect Charles Lenormand. It was restored in 2013, and inside there’s a painted vault, a Romantic-symphonic organ installed in 2016 and around twenty stained-glass windows. I couldn’t find its visiting hours anywhere official, so I’d simply look in if the door’s open as you pass.

The Monte-Carlo market, my reason to climb up

If I had to give one reason to come to Les Moulins, this is it. The Monte-Carlo market has been on Avenue Saint-Charles since 2003, it’s run by the town hall and it opens every day. Growers, florists and producers trade from 07:00 to 13:00; the stalls carry on until 19:00, and two of them, Sfizio Street and Bottega Renzini, until 20:30.

For me it’s the best place on this side of Monaco to eat something without paying square-side terrace prices. It’s not a postcard market like La Condamine’s, which in 2026 is scattered across temporary kiosks while its hall is rebuilt, and that’s exactly why it feels more local. More ideas for eating well for less are in where to eat in Monaco.

Two addresses worth noting

The main tourist office is at 2a Boulevard des Moulins, open every day from 09:30 to 18:00, and it’s where I’d start if I arrived without a plan. Emergency numbers, including police and hospital, and what to do about a lost passport are all in scams and safety in Monaco.

At number 27 there’s a Monaco Telecom shop, open on weekdays, 10:00 to 13:00 and 14:00 to 19:00. I mention it for a specific reason. Monaco sits outside the EU’s regulated roaming area, and since Brexit UK networks apply their own charges in the EU and in Monaco according to your plan. Before you travel I’d check your tariff with my guide to phones and roaming in Monaco.

Getting to Les Moulins

Coming from Nice by bus, the ZOU! 600 stops at Place des Moulins, its last stop in Monaco before carrying on to Menton. Its timetable shows 44 to 60 minutes from Nice depending on the time of day. At night, the CAM’s N1 line also ends at Place des Moulins.

From the seafront, the climb is handled by lift. The official “Monaco Malin” leaflet marks a lift between Place des Moulins and Avenue Princesse Grace, another from Avenue Saint-Charles to Boulevard de France and an escalator between Boulevard des Moulins and Avenue Saint-Michel. The rest are in Monaco’s public lifts.

How I’d fit it in

Les Moulins isn’t a first-day visit. I’d save it for the morning of day two or three, starting at the market around 08:00, then the church and a wander along the boulevard. From Place des Moulins I’d take the lift down to Larvotto, so you get the locals’ Monaco and the beach in the same morning, spending no more than breakfast and a coffee. If you’re on a short break, though, I’d put the Rock and the casino first and treat this as a bonus.