Two days in Monaco, and how many you really need

How many days you need for Monaco has a short answer and a better one. The short answer is one, because the country is tiny and the essentials can be walked in a day. The better answer is two, because the second day lets you do something Monaco cannot offer inside its own borders, which is to look at it from outside. This is how I would split the time.

How many days do you need in Monaco?

In one day you see the Palace, the changing of the guard, the cathedral, the Oceanographic and Monte-Carlo, and the hour-by-hour plan is in my one-day Monaco itinerary. What gets left out are the things that need a full morning or a journey. The Exotic Garden with its cave, the Car Collection, the circuit walked slowly and, above all, the villages along the coast.

With two, the split is obvious. One day inside the country and one with a foot over the border. With three you are no longer seeing Monaco, you are seeing the Riviera from a base in Monaco, which is lovely but a different trip. For a first visit I would settle on two, and the table above shows what fits in each case.

Day one, the Monaco nobody wants to miss

It follows the one-day plan, minus the pressure of the clock. The Prince’s Palace as soon as it opens at 10:00, the guard at 11:55 in the square, lunch on the Rock and Monaco Cathedral before the Oceanographic. Since nothing tomorrow requires an early start, you can give the museum the whole afternoon and stay on the roof terrace until they usher you out.

The difference comes at night. With a single day, the Casino competes with the last train. With two, I would only look at it from outside on the first evening, have dinner in Monte-Carlo and save the gaming rooms for night two, when there is nowhere left to get back to.

Èze in the morning, climbing up from the sea

On the second morning I would catch an early train to Èze-Bord-de-Mer, the Èze station down by the water on the Basse Corniche. In season up to 80 trains a day call there, according to the local tourist office, so there is little need to study the timetable. The village is up above, 9 km from Monaco by road, and I like to arrive on foot by the Nietzsche path. It is 2.1 km that starts on concrete and ends in steps and cobbles, and the Nice tourist board says the philosopher composed the third part of Thus Spoke Zarathustra here. I would climb it before 10:00, because after that the sun beats down.

At the top is Èze-Village, with the Church of the Assumption, rebuilt between 1764 and 1778, and at the highest point the village’s exotic garden, planted on the ruins of a castle from the second half of the 12th century. My full guide to Èze has the rest. Before heading down I would stop at one of the two perfume makers that show you their factory for free, Fragonard, at the foot of the hill since 1968, or Galimard, in the village, with a tour of about 45 minutes. The other villages that are just as easy are in my day trips from Monaco.

The second afternoon, engines and gardens

Back in Monaco, I would have lunch at the Condamine market kiosks on the Place d’Armes, which is where I would taste the local cooking without paying for a tablecloth. After that, the Prince’s Car Collection, at the harbour since 2022 rather than Fontvieille, with close to a hundred cars for €15.

When you come out, the Monaco circuit on foot starts more or less at the door. From Sainte Dévote you climb towards Casino Square, drop down through the Fairmont hairpin and into the tunnel, all on open streets. I would finish at the free Japanese Garden and along the Mareterra promenade, and in the evening go in to play at the Casino with my passport in my pocket and long trousers on, since from 19:00 T-shirts are turned away.

If cars leave you cold, swap that slot for the Exotic Garden, which reopened on 30 March 2026 and runs guided visits to its cave every hour from 10:00. It costs €15 with the cave and closes at 18:00 in October.

Coming out of season

Between mid-October and late March the Palace rooms are closed, so on day one I would replace the Palace with the Casino visit from 10:00 to 13:00 and head up to the Rock for the 11:55 guard, which still happens daily. Day two barely changes, apart from one detail in Èze. From November to March its garden closes at 16:30, so I would not put off the climb.

Other mornings over the border

Èze is my first choice but not the only one. La Turbie has the Trophy of Augustus, €7 and free for under-18s, closed on Mondays. At Roquebrune the castle dates from around 970 and costs €5. Villefranche keeps St Peter’s Chapel, decorated by Jean Cocteau, for €4, and Menton has an old town with the Grimaldi arms set into its pebble paving and a covered market open every morning until 13:00. Opening hours for each are in the second table.

For these two nights I would stay inside the country, with the train to Èze a short walk away and the Casino round the corner on the second evening. Which area suits which budget, and the alternatives just over the border, are in where to stay in Monaco. And the scores and prices for each place are on my ranked list of things to do in Monaco.