Nikki Beach Monte Carlo, the pool club on top of the Fairmont

Plenty of people type «Nikki Beach Monaco» expecting a beach, so let’s clear that up first. It’s a pool club with daybeds, a lounge and a restaurant on the roof of the Fairmont hotel, a short walk below Casino Square. To me it’s a very particular kind of summer afternoon, pricey and run with firm rules, and it’s worth it if that’s what you’re after and a letdown if you were picturing something else.

A rooftop pool, not a stretch of sand

Nikki Beach Monte Carlo takes up the roof of the Fairmont at 12 avenue des Spélugues. Up there you’ll find a pool ringed with daybeds, a lounge corner for Champagne and a restaurant that becomes the sunset-cocktail spot as the light drops. The club makes a lot of its views over the city and the Mediterranean, and the building sits right above the famous hairpin on the circuit.

The hotel itself, with its rooms over the corner and the story of its old casino, has its own page on the Fairmont Monte Carlo. Here I’m sticking to the rooftop, which is booked separately and open to anyone, hotel guest or not.

If what you want is sand, a towel and a free swim in the sea, that’s somewhere else. The Principality’s public beach is Larvotto, a stroll east along the coast.

When is it open, and when is it worth going?

Nikki Beach is seasonal. It opens every day through the summer, pool from 11:00 to 20:00 and restaurant from 12:00 to 19:00. By late September 2026 the website was already saying it had closed until next summer, with no firm reopening date, and pointing 2027 private-event enquiries to a form.

Three fixtures anchor the week. Friday’s Weekend warm up runs from 17:00 to 20:00; Saturday brings Saturdance from 11:00 to 20:00; and Sunday is Amazing Sundays, same hours, which the club bills as the one everyone talks about. If you’re only doing it once, I’d pick the Sunday and turn up early. Midweek is calmer and feels more like a long poolside lunch.

What’s on the menu up there

The menu is signed by Alessandro Pizza, the group’s corporate executive chef, and leans towards coastal cooking with nods to the brand’s other locations. There’s a Sexy Salad of prawn, crab, avocado and mango, sea bass ceviche, truffled tuna tartare, Guijuelo acorn-fed Iberian ham with pan con tomate, burratina or truffle pizzas and a chirashi bowl. Among the mains are the chicken satay the club calls famous, a Crying Tiger beef fillet and mini Angus burgers. Caviar is there if you want it.

What you won’t find is a single price. The online menu lists dishes without figures and there’s nothing on daybed rates either, so I’m not going to quote numbers I can’t stand behind. Ask when you book, by phone or email, before you head up.

The door policy is not a formality

This is where people come unstuck. Entry is at management’s discretion, with or without a reservation, and the club says so plainly. It recommends booking but warns that a booking doesn’t guarantee you’ll get in.

The dress code is «beach chic resort wear». In the restaurant and bar you need shoes, a cover-up and, for men, a shirt with sleeves, because nobody dines in swimwear. Sportswear, hoods, sweatpants, cargo shorts, vests, offensive prints and glitter or body paint are all out, and topless sunbathing isn’t allowed. Carry official photo ID, since staff can ask for it at any point, and your face has to be visible. No pets, except certified service animals.

Can you take children?

Yes, with a timetable. Families are welcome in the restaurant all day, with under-18s accompanied at all times. In the pool area the club says it welcomes children until 12:00, because the afternoon gets livelier and is aimed at adults. Daybeds are strictly over-18s with ID, and during special events the whole venue can switch to adults only.

Hotel guests have an easy fallback in the Fairmont’s second pool, which is open to all ages. If you’re travelling with youngsters and want plans built around them, I’ve gathered them in Monaco with kids.

My verdict

It’s a good summer splurge if you treat it as what it is, a weekend afternoon of music, a daybed in the sun and views from a Monte-Carlo rooftop. I wouldn’t go for a cheap lunch or a sea swim, and I wouldn’t pick it with small children in the afternoon.

If this sort of thing appeals but you’d rather do it after dark, the rest of my ideas in the same spirit are in luxury experiences in Monaco. And to round the day off with dinner, my picks by area and budget sit in where to eat in Monaco. Race fans can check the June dates in the Monaco Grand Prix.