When I stayed in Nice during my Europe trip I asked myself this exact question. So I headed over to see if it is and the answer is, but read for yourself why.
Once I got to Nice I headed straight to the hostel to drop off my stuff and make myself a quick lunch. I still wasn’t sure if I should go to Monaco on this or the next day. After a little thought during my lunch I decided its best to do Monaco today and Nice the next day, when I have to be on my way to the next stop at a certain time.
So back I went to the train station where I got myself a roundtrip ticket to Monaco at one of the vending machines. The train going to Monaco was packed and it was crazy busy at the train station in Nice. The train ride to Monte Carlo was one of the most scenic ones I ever took as it is right along the coast.
Once I arrived in Monte Carlo, Monaco I didn’t have a cellphone to rely on anymore, as this is not part of the EU and therefor there is no “Roam like at home”. I had downloaded the map of Monte Carlo on Google Maps before hand, so I could use it for navigation. I didn’t expect Monte Carlo/Monaco to be on a hill/mountain and so it took me by surprise how much hiking there was going to be.
From the train station I went straight to the highest point of the city that I had on my list (get the worst thing done first). The walk wasn’t easy, the high temperatures and the humidity didn’t help either but I eventually made it to Jardin Exotique de Monaco. I decided against going into this botanical garden, but it looked amazing from the outside. Instead I went to the terrace that was part of their ticket office to soak in the view of the city and just enjoy myself for a little bit.
I soon decided to head back down into the main part of the city. But the walk down was even easier than I expected as the government apparently thought of their people and built an underground tunnel and elevator system (wish I would’ve known about that on my way up). My next stop was the Princess Grace Rose Garden where I took sometime to sit down enjoy the beautiful roses and take a break before heading up another hill…
My next stop was the Le Palais Princier, the palace of the royals in Monaco. It was pretty impressive building and pretty cool to see, I didn’t go inside as tickets were sold out for the day, but the guards surrounding the building are super strict about people getting to close to the building. From here I took a walk along the side roads to visit the Cathedral Notre Dame Immaculee, a really cute little church. Most of the family members of the Grimaldis were buried in this cathedral.
I made my way to the famous casino, while I was walking along the Port Hercule and part of the Formula 1 race track. The port with all the yachts and big boats was really impressive and just shows how rich people in Monaco really are… and so did the casino with all the super expensive and exclusive cars parked in front of it.
After all the walking I was super tired so I made my last hike back up to the train station and headed back to Nice for the night.
Kathi's Travel Adventure 