Monaco's currency, and how to pay without losing money

A lot of people arrive in Monaco thinking it’s a world apart for money too, with its own currency, no taxes and prices from another planet. The first is wrong, the second is wrong, and the third depends on where you sit down. For a British visitor, paying here is much like paying anywhere in the eurozone, with a couple of details worth getting straight and one that actually works in your favour.

What is Monaco’s currency?

The euro. Monaco adopted it through a monetary agreement with the European Union, whose first article authorises the Principality to use the euro as its official currency and make euro notes and coins legal tender. The curious part is that Monaco isn’t in the EU and still mints its own euro coins, produced by the Monnaie de Paris and valid throughout the eurozone since 1 January 2002.

So a one-euro coin struck for Monaco buys you a coffee in Nice just as well. Some print runs are worth more in a collection than in your pocket, though, and that world has its own page, Monaco’s euro coins. If you’re wondering how a country outside the EU ends up with its currency, I explain it in whether Monaco is a country.

Paying in euros on a UK card

This is the one habit I’d insist on. When a card machine or a cash machine offers sterling rather than euros, the exchange rate is set by whoever is charging you, not by your bank. My rule is the same in any country, choose the local currency, which here is the euro, and leave the conversion to my own bank. It takes a second at the till and it’s the easiest money you’ll save on the trip.

What your bank charges for spending or withdrawing abroad is a separate question, and it’s one I can’t answer for you. Monaco is inside the SEPA payments area, but I’d still ring or check the app before travelling rather than guess.

Card or cash, what I know for certain

I’d rather be straight with you. I haven’t found any official source on how widely cards are accepted in Monaco’s shops and restaurants, and I won’t hand you a percentage lifted from a forum. What I can tell you, with data, is where a card works out better than cash.

On the CAM town buses, paying by card saves you 50 cents a ride, €1.50 against €2 in coins. The Bateau Bus across the harbour works exactly the same way. The ZOU! buses that come in from Nice and the airport take a bank card at the validator on board, and the Petit train takes cash or Visa. The CAM says it doesn’t accept American Express or Nickel. How all of that fits together is in getting around Monaco.

Is Monaco tax free? Not at the till, but for you, afterwards

This is where a UK visitor is better off than a French or Spanish one. What residents do and don’t pay is a separate story, told in tax in Monaco. The Monaco government says VAT is charged on the same basis and at the same rate as in France, and France and Monaco have formed a customs union since the agreement of 18 May 1963, so the French Customs Code applies in the Principality.

The refund follows French rules, and since Brexit a UK resident falls on the right side of them. According to French customs, travellers aged 16 or over whose usual home is outside the EU, staying less than six months in France, can reclaim VAT on purchases of more than €100 in one shop or group of shops, made within three days at most. You validate the form by scanning its barcode at a PABLO terminal as you leave the EU, and no later than the close of the third month following the month you bought it. With no customs post on the French border, that means the airport for most people. The Métropole shopping centre advertises a «Change & Tax Free» service, and where the high-end boutiques are is in shopping in Monaco.

Tipping, changing money and what I don’t believe

On tipping I haven’t found any official rule. A supposed Monaco law setting 15% goes round online, but I couldn’t verify it anywhere reliable, so I won’t repeat it as fact. I’d look at the bill and decide based on the service, as I would anywhere.

If you need to change cash, a local directory lists bureaux de change at the Parking des Pêcheurs, in the Metropole shopping centre in Monte-Carlo and on rue Comte Félix Gastaldi on the Rock. That last one, Riviera Change Monaco, opens Monday to Friday from 09:30 to 19:00 and on Saturdays from 10:00 to 17:00, and advertises no commission. Those details come from the businesses and a directory, not from an official source.

Where the money really goes

A Monaco budget doesn’t go off the rails because of the exchange rate, it goes where you choose to spend. A card-paid bus, the Bateau Bus and the cathedral cost little or nothing, while the Palace, the Oceanographic Museum and the Casino’s morning visit already add up to €53.50 per adult. What I’d happily pay for is in luxury experiences in Monaco, the opposite end in free and cheap things to do in Monaco, and the traps that genuinely cost money, around tickets and taxis, in Monaco scams and safety.