La Rousse-Saint-Roman, where Monaco ends and the Masters begins

Most people reach Saint-Roman without realising it, because it’s the name of the last stop on the bus. It’s Monaco’s eastern tip, the slope where the country squeezes up against Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, and for visitors it matters mostly for what lies just across the border. Here’s what it is, how to get there and when I would make the trip on purpose.

La Rousse, Saint-Roman or both

The name trips people up, so let’s start there. The official statistics and the tourist board call the district La Rousse, full stop. The double-barrelled La Rousse-Saint-Roman is the older name, and you’ll keep seeing it on addresses, estate agents’ windows and in conversation. Saint-Roman is also the bus terminus, which is why most people link the district with it.

IMSEE puts it at 17.7 hectares, a little over half the size of Larvotto, which sits directly below and has the seafront. It’s a district of slopes and tall blocks, with plenty of homes and little to visit. It’s also where you’ll find the Tour Odéon, which the statistics office lists as the highest built point in the country, 232.4 metres above sea level. That’s the height of its top above the sea, not the height of the tower itself, which is a different number.

Getting to Saint-Roman

By bus it’s simple, because two lines end here. Line 1 comes from the Rock and line 4 from Fontvieille. The ZOU! 600, the coastal bus from Nice, has a stop called Saint-Roman MC on its way to Menton. For the steepest streets around Annonciade there’s an on-demand service, ClicBus, booked by phone or app.

There’s a real drop between this district and Larvotto. The official “Monaco Malin” leaflet shows two lifts in La Rousse, one from Boulevard du Larvotto to the Descente du Larvotto and another from Avenue Princesse Grace up to Boulevard du Larvotto and Boulevard d’Italie. Every other lift in the country is listed on my page of public lifts in Monaco, and bus fares are in getting around Monaco.

Is there anything to see in La Rousse?

Not much, and I’d rather tell you before you climb up. There are no museums, no named gardens and no signposted viewpoints, and the Tour Odéon is a private building you admire from the pavement. If you’ve got a day or two in Monaco, I wouldn’t come to this district for its own sake.

The interesting part is at the edge, where the border is a line on the ground. Just inside France, at 155 Avenue Princesse Grace in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, is the Monte-Carlo Country Club, where the tennis tournament is held every April. Dates and tickets are covered in my Monte-Carlo Masters guide. Close by, on the same avenue and also in France, is the Monte-Carlo Beach, the beach club the SBM has run since 1929 and which so many people assume is Monegasque. I cover it in Monaco’s beaches.

Saint Roman, the patron hardly anyone has heard of

This is what I like most about the district, and it never shows up in photos. The town hall reminds us that Saint Roman, “San Ruman” in Monegasque, is the most venerated saint in the Principality after Sainte Dévote. According to the tradition it records, he was a Roman legionary who declared himself a Christian and whom the emperor had beheaded on 9 August in the year 258.

His festival committee runs celebrations with the town hall from late July into early August, and the main day is 9 August, at the saint’s altar in the cathedral. If you’re travelling in early August, I think it’s a good excuse to see a Monaco that never makes the postcards, locals marking their saint’s day. For everything else happening through the year, see events in Monaco.

Over the border, a short walk away

From Saint-Roman you’re a stone’s throw from France, which opens up options. Keep heading east and you’re in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, with its medieval village up high and Cap Martin below, which for me is one of the best half days near Monaco. It’s all in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, the neighbouring village.

And if you’re after a view over the whole Principality, above this district, already in Roquebrune, stands the Maybourne Riviera hotel, which the tourist board lists among the best spots for photographing Monaco. That one and the rest are ranked in my Monaco viewpoints.

When to go and when not to

I’d come to La Rousse-Saint-Roman for three things. The Masters in April, a day at the Monte-Carlo Beach club or the Saint Roman festivities in early August. Beyond that, I’d use it purely as the end of the bus line and walk down to Larvotto, which is where this side of the country comes alive. Going down is the easy direction, and the two lifts in the district take care of the steepest part.