The Monte Carlo Rally in 2027, what you see in Monaco and what's raced in the mountains

The Monte Carlo Rally has the most misleading name in Monaco. Plenty of people picture cars sliding between the casino and the harbour, when what happens inside the Principality is the send-off and the closing ceremony. Everything in between takes place on mountain roads, hours away. That doesn’t spoil it for me, quite the opposite, but it’s worth knowing before you book anything.

When is the Monte Carlo Rally 2027?

The 95th edition runs between Thursday 21 and Sunday 24 January 2027, and the Automobile Club de Monaco treats those dates as set, pending approval of the calendar by the FIA World Council. It also brings a technical change, because it’s the debut of the WRC27 cars.

On Wednesday 20 there’s a shakedown at Gap, a 4.25 km test stage. Thursday 21 brings the ceremonial start from Port Hercule, at 13:45, and the first three stages that same afternoon. Friday and Saturday are full days in the mountains, six stages each. Sunday has three left, and the party returns to the harbour at 17:00 for the trophies. The full breakdown is in the table.

What you can see from Monaco

Without a car, the rally comes down to two appointments on the same quay. Thursday’s start is the one I’d put first, because the crews are fresh, the cars are clean and there’s a sense of occasion. Sunday’s prize-giving has a different mood, with the winner decided and four days of fatigue on everyone’s shoulders.

The Automobile Club hasn’t yet published its spectator information for 2027, so I can’t tell you whether there will be paid areas on the harbour or where the service park will be. Visit Monaco says the official programme, maps and entry list will appear on the ACM website, with the entry list due on 4 January 2027. I’d wait for that before deciding what time to head down to the quay.

Outside those moments the harbour is the usual stroll, and I explain how to make the most of it in Port Hercule and its yachts. If you’d like to see Monte cars standing still and up close, the Prince’s car collection keeps several rally cars alongside its Formula 1 machines.

The mountains, where it’s decided

The 2027 route adds up to 18 timed stages, which by my own count from the official itinerary come to 353.57 km against the clock. On Thursday they run from the Col de Bleine to Seyne-les-Alpes. On Friday the crews head into the Dévoluy and the Hautes-Alpes, running three stages twice, morning and afternoon. Saturday is the heaviest day, around Laborel, Saint-Nazaire-le-Désert and La Bâtie-des-Fonts. And on Sunday Clumanc and the Col de Bleine come round again before the Power Stage.

That final stage is where the legend lives. It leaves at 13:15 between La Bollène-Vésubie and Moulinet, measures 23.45 km and crosses the Col de Turini. If I could only see one, it would be this, knowing it means your own car, mountain roads in January and getting there hours ahead. Monaco’s tourist office warns that a single stage can mix dry, wet, snowy and icy tarmac, and the 2026 edition proved it with rain, fog, snow, ice and mud.

One note for anyone driving on a UK licence. The UK government’s advice for Monaco says you also need an International Driving Permit, the 1968 version, to drive there. The stages themselves are in France, which has its own rules, so I’d read the French page of that same advice as well and sort any paperwork at home before flying out.

A century of the Monte in a few names

The rally was first run in 1911, partly to sell Monaco as a winter resort. That year 23 entrants set off from different European cities with the Principality as the finish, and Henri Rougier won at the wheel of a Turcat-Méry 25 HP. I like that origin story, because it explains why the event still falls in the depths of winter, the season it was invented for.

Sébastien Ogier tops the honours board with ten wins, nine in the World Championship and one in the IRC. Behind him is Sébastien Loeb, with eight, seven of them won alongside Daniel Elena, a Monegasque co-driver. The 2026 win went to Oliver Solberg and Elliott Edmondson, who led from the second stage and became the first Swedes to win here since Ove Andersson in 1971.

How I’d plan the week

I’d arrive on Wednesday or Thursday morning and watch the start from the quay. Without a car, I’d give Friday and Saturday to Monaco, which is quiet in January, and go back down to the harbour on Sunday for the prizes. With a car, I’d swap one of those days for a stage, and the one I’d pick is the Turini.

There’s something else that makes this week special. The Circus Festival starts on Friday 22, and Sainte-Dévote fills the harbour on the 26th and 27th, with her boat set alight on the night of the 26th. If you can stretch the trip, the patron saint’s festival is explained in the Sainte-Dévote church, and the rest of the calendar in Monaco’s events month by month. Classic car fans also have the Rallye Monte-Carlo Historique, a separate event, from 27 January to 3 February 2027.

To get here, the train from Nice drops you a short walk from the harbour. Timetables and the bus alternative are on my page about Nice to Monaco by train. As for the weather, the SBM reckons winter on the Monaco coast rarely drops below 8 °C, but the mountains are another story, and every month is compared in the best time to visit Monaco.