Where to park in Monaco, and what it really costs

Parking in Monaco has a reputation for being ruinous, and I think it’s undeserved. With the 2026 tariff in hand, a whole day in a public car park is capped at €24, which is a lot more reasonable than most people expect. What is true is that the system has its own rules, and knowing them is the difference between paying nothing and paying over the odds.

Where can you park for free in Monaco?

The short answer is for an hour. Under Ministerial Order 2025-654, in force since 1 January 2026, the first 60 minutes in any public car park on the standard tariff are free. The same goes for the small car parks with fewer than 60 spaces. For a quick look at the harbour or a photo outside the Casino, if you leave before the hour is up you drive out without paying.

On the street there are around 1,000 open-air spaces managed by the Municipal Police. They’re free for electric cars and metered for petrol and diesel. There’s also an electric car-sharing scheme, Mobee, whose cars don’t pay to park. For a visitor in an ordinary hire car, though, the kerb isn’t the answer.

What each extra hour costs

After the free hour you’re charged by the quarter hour. The standard tariff reaches €2.90 at an hour and a quarter, €7.40 at two hours, €11.90 at three, €15.50 at four and €18.10 at five, with a ceiling of €24 for 24 hours. From 20:00 to 08:00 an overnight rate of €0.20 per quarter hour applies, with one important exception, the Casino car park. Losing your ticket costs €25, more than a full day.

The small car parks run their own scale, with €3.20 at an hour and a quarter, a €30 cap and €35 for a lost ticket. Monaco Parkings says every car park uses the same tariff except six, and the dearest are Abbaye, Place d’Armes, Oliviers and Bellevue. Unless you need to stop right there, I’d give them a miss.

Salines, my pick for leaving the car all day

Salines sits at the entrance to the Principality and is the cheapest of the lot. You get 45 free minutes rather than 60, there’s no overnight rate and the €24 daily cap still applies, but its real advantage is something else. The ticket includes 10 CAM bus journeys from the Salines stop, and Visit Monaco reckons on 15 minutes from there to Place d’Armes.

For a day trip, I think it’s the best combination going. You leave the car as you arrive, forget about the traffic and spend the rest of the day on buses and on foot. How the buses, the public lifts and the harbour boat fit together is in how to get around Monaco, and other ways to keep costs down are in Monaco on a budget.

You can’t drive up to the Rock

This catches plenty of people out. The Palace website is clear that only cars registered in Monaco or in the Alpes-Maritimes department, the 06, can go up to the Rock and Monaco-Ville. In a car with UK plates, or a hire car that isn’t registered in the 06, you simply can’t, which is worth knowing before you sort out car hire for Monaco. What the local plates look like is in Monaco number plates.

The solution is the Parking des Pêcheurs, dug out beneath the Oceanographic Museum, with more than 500 spaces. From there, lifts and escalators take you straight up to the museum’s main entrance, and you see the rest of the old town on foot. Everything up top is in my guide to Monaco-Ville. For Monte-Carlo, the nearest car park to the Casino is the Parking du Casino on allée des Boulingrins, and what it costs to get inside is in visiting the Monte-Carlo Casino.

Driving on a UK licence

If you’re hiring a car at Nice or driving your own down through France, one detail from the UK government’s travel advice for Monaco matters. Anyone driving on a UK licence should carry an International Driving Permit alongside it, specifically the 1968 type. I’d sort that out before leaving home rather than find out at a roadside check. Inside Monaco the speed limit everywhere is 50 km/h and the alcohol limit is 0.5 g/l, according to Visit Monaco.

The motorway exit you choose decides which district you arrive in, and crossing Monaco by car from one end to the other is a waste of time. According to Visit Monaco, A8 exits 56 (Monaco and Cap d’Ail) and 57 (La Turbie) link to the A500, which drops through a tunnel into the Principality, while exit 58 for Beausoleil brings you in near Larvotto. I’d pick the car park before setting off and choose the exit to match, not the other way round.

Motorhomes, with caution

Official information here is thin, so I’ll be careful. You can’t park a motorhome on the street. According to Monaco-Matin, the only car park that accepts them is the Parking des Écoles in Fontvieille, with few spaces and not during big events. I couldn’t confirm the price or exact conditions from an official source, so I’d phone first, or sleep outside the Principality and come in by train.

When not to bring the car at all

In 2026 the build-up and dismantling for the three motor races stretched from 23 February to 17 July, with Quai Albert Ier closed to traffic the whole time, the Rocher Antoine Ier tunnel shut from April to June and closures on avenue J.-F. Kennedy on race weekends. The government says traffic and parking return to normal gradually. With those dates in the diary I’d come by train, and on race days the CAM buses were free. The dates of each event are on the Monaco Grand Prix page, and the rest of the year’s calendar is in events in Monaco.

In busy periods I’d also book. The Monaco Parkings website lets you reserve a space, and in high season or with an event on I’d rather pay for the peace of mind of arriving with somewhere to leave the car.