Sporting Monte-Carlo, Monaco's summer stage with an open roof

Plenty of people search for the Sporting in Monte-Carlo expecting a sports club, and it isn’t one. The Sporting Monte-Carlo is the Société des Bains de Mer’s entertainment venue on the Larvotto peninsula, where Monaco holds its galas and where every summer it stages a season of dinner concerts. Here’s what’s inside, how a concert night works and when it’s worth coming.

What’s inside the Sporting

The complex stands at 26 avenue Princesse Grace, on the Larvotto peninsula, which Visit Monaco lists among Monaco’s first land reclamation projects in the 1960s. It has two main halls. The Salle des Étoiles, the famous one, and the Salle des Palmiers, a large reception room facing the Mediterranean. Jimmy’z, Monte-Carlo’s nightclub, is on the same site, so the night can carry on without leaving the grounds.

Outside concert dates, the Sporting works mainly as a venue for galas, weddings and private events. The SBM hires out the whole Salle des Étoiles, with 973 m² of floor space, and every year it hosts the Rose Ball and the Monaco Red Cross Gala there. For a passing visitor there’s no tour and nothing to see inside, which is why I wouldn’t come just to look at the building.

Why is the Salle des Étoiles so famous?

Because of the roof and the list of names. The hall covers around 1,000 m², has large picture windows and a roof that slides open so artists can perform under the stars, hence the name. Josephine Baker opened it in 1974, and since then the SBM lists Charles Aznavour, Frank Sinatra, Joe Cocker, Whitney Houston, Stevie Wonder, Shirley Bassey, Tina Turner and Elton John. Visit Monaco adds Céline Dion, Rihanna, Jamie Cullum and Cirque du Soleil.

What I find special is the format. It isn’t an auditorium with rows of seats but a dinner with the stage in front of you, and that changes how close you are to the performer. The SBM sells it as rare proximity to the stars, and in a room that size I believe it.

How the Summer Festival works

The Monte-Carlo Summer Festival, which the SBM also calls the Monte-Carlo Sporting Summer Festival, is the venue’s summer concert season. In 2026 it ran from 3 July to 15 August, with almost every date in the Salle des Étoiles and two at the Opéra Garnier, Sébastien Tellier and Vanessa Paradis. Jon Batiste, Jason Derulo, Aya Nakamura, Juanes, John Legend, Lisa Stansfield and Laura Pausini all performed, Pausini closing on 15 August, and the Sporting premiered SOUL!, its own production, over ten performances.

Every Salle des Étoiles concert follows the same script. Dinner is served at 20:30 and the show starts at 22:30. In 2026 tickets started at €120 with dinner included, and the Prestige category adds priority arrival by car, the best seats, a special menu and a bottle of champagne for two. The listing asks for proper attire, with no further detail, and sets a minimum age of 7. You book on the SBM website or through its shows line on +377 98 06 36 36.

The 2027 dates haven’t been published. If your trip falls in July or August, I’d check the line-up as soon as it’s out, because I’d expect the big-name nights to go first.

New Year’s Eve under the open roof

The other big date is 31 December. In 2026 the hall hosts a dinner show from 20:30 with Lenny Jay’s tribute to Michael Jackson, at €665 per person with half a bottle of champagne. It’s expensive, but dinner, a show and the countdown in one room come at a fixed price, and in Monaco on New Year’s Eve that counts for something. Other ideas for the festive season are in my guide to Christmas in Monaco.

How to get there, and a bed nearby

ZOU! line 80, the Nice airport bus, and the 601 night service along the coast both stop at Sporting Bay Hôtel, right by the complex, and the hop-on hop-off bus has its stop number 3 here. Within Monaco a taxi costs a flat €18 to anywhere. For dinner before or after, COYA Monte Carlo is right next door in season, and all year round, at number 24 on the avenue, there’s Maya Bay Monaco.

As concerts finish late, I’d sleep nearby. The Monte-Carlo Bay hotel is right next to the Sporting, Le Méridien Beach Plaza shares the same peninsula, and the rest of the neighbourhood’s options are in my guide to the Larvotto.