Monaco travel guide, in your ear
The world's second-smallest country, a gilded principality of Formula 1 glamour, the Casino de Monte-Carlo, Prince's Palace, and Mediterranean luxury compressed into two square kilometres.
- 15 narrated stops
- ~45 minutes of stories
- 6 languages
- Offline ready
What is the Gingerguide Monaco tour?
It is a self-guided audio walking tour of Monaco, Monaco, inside the Gingerguide travel guide app. The tour maps 15 sights and tells the story of each one in a two to three minute narration with a lifelike AI voice. When the story is not enough, ask the built-in AI guide about the place and keep the conversation going. Everything is available in six languages and works fully offline after a one-time download.
About Monaco
Monaco is barely a country at all, and yet it is one of the most famous places on earth. A glittering sliver of a state on the French Riviera, wedged between steep mountains and the blue Mediterranean, it covers only about two square kilometres, which makes it the second-smallest nation in the world, after the Vatican. Into that tiny space it packs princes, palaces, casinos, superyachts and more wealth per square metre than almost anywhere alive.
Improbably, this pocket kingdom has kept its independence for centuries, ruled since the year 1297 by a single family, the Grimaldis, one of the oldest reigning dynasties in the world. Their pink palace still stands on a rocky headland, the old town of Monaco perched above the sea. For a long time they were poor princes on a splendid rock; their fortunes were saved, rather scandalously, by a casino.
That casino, in the district of Monte-Carlo, drew the rich and the reckless of Europe, and its winnings paid to abolish income tax, which has made Monaco a magnet for the wealthy ever since. Curiously, Monaco's own citizens are forbidden to gamble there. And once a year the whole principality holds its breath as Formula 1 cars scream through its ordinary streets, past the harbour and the hotels, in the most glamorous motor race in the world.
A few things capture it. Down on the water, Port Hercule glitters with the masts and white hulls of some of the largest yachts afloat. On the cliff of the old town clings a grand museum of the sea, built by a prince who loved the ocean. And everywhere, on posters and in memory, lingers the face of Grace Kelly, the Hollywood star who became a real-life princess here.
End the day high on the rock as the sun drops behind the mountains and the lights come on across the tiers of pale apartments below. Yachts glow in the harbour, a helicopter drifts in from the coast, and the whole improbable little country sparkles like a jewel box. Monaco is small, rich, and completely aware of the effect it has. It has spent seven hundred years learning how to shine.
One day in Monaco
A simple way to walk the highlights, following the route order in the app. Swap anything; Monaco rewards detours.
What to see in Monaco: all 15 stops
Every place below has its own narrated story in the app, and its own answers when you want more. Walk them in any order; the map shows what is around you.
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Monte Carlo Casino
The Monte Carlo Casino, whose present building was designed by Charles Garnier (architect of the Paris Opéra) in 1878, is the world's most famous gambling establishment, a Beaux-Arts masterpiece of gilded excess, and by law, forbidden to citizens of Monaco.
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Prince's Palace (Palais Princier)
The Prince's Palace, the official residence of the Grimaldi family since the 13th century, is a former Genoese fortress dramatically perched on the Rock of Monaco above the sea, where the daily Changing of the Guard ceremony takes place at 11:55 every morning.
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Oceanographic Museum
The Oceanographic Museum of Monaco, founded by Prince Albert I in 1910 and directed by Jacques Cousteau from 1957 to 1988, is one of the world's great marine science institutions, built dramatically into the cliff face of the Rock with its foundations in the sea.
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Monaco Cathedral (Cathédrale Saint-Nicolas)
The Monaco Cathedral, built between 1875 and 1903 in Romanesque-Byzantine style, is the burial place of the Grimaldi princes and their consorts, including Princess Grace Kelly (who died in 1982) and Prince Rainier III.
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Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix
The Monaco Grand Prix, held on the streets of Monte Carlo since 1929, is the most prestigious race in Formula 1, where the tight, unforgiving street circuit and the grandeur of the setting combine to make it the defining event in world motorsport.
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Casino Square (Place du Casino)
Place du Casino is Monaco's most famous public space, a grand square flanked by the Casino, the Hôtel de Paris (1864), and the Café de Paris terraces, where supercars permanently line the kerb and the spectacle of extreme wealth is Monaco's most accessible performance.
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Jardin Exotique
The Jardin Exotique is Monaco's spectacular cliff-side succulent garden, perched on a steep rock face overlooking the entire principality, with one of the world's finest collections of cacti and succulents, and a prehistoric cave with stalagmites and stalactites accessible from below.
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Monaco Ville / Le Rocher (The Rock)
Monaco Ville, the original medieval old town on the Rock of Monaco, is a dense cluster of narrow streets, the Prince's Palace, Monaco Cathedral, the Oceanographic Museum, and all of Monaco's oldest history, perched on a promontory 60 metres above the sea.
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La Condamine Market
The Marché de la Condamine is Monaco's best daily morning market, a covered market in the La Condamine district offering fresh fruit, vegetables, flowers, and local produce, where Monegasque residents do their everyday shopping and the authentic daily life of the principality is briefly visible.
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Port Hercule
Port Hercule is Monaco's historic main harbour, the only deep-water port on the Monaco coast, sheltered by a curved breakwater, and home to the principality's superyacht culture, the Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix harbour section, and the Stade Nautique de Monaco.
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Fontvieille: Monaco's Industrial District
Fontvieille is Monaco's westernmost district, land reclaimed from the sea in the 1960s and 1970s, home to the principality's light industrial zone, a marina, the Princess Stéphanie sports complex, and a more ordinary, workaday side of Monaco that most visitors never see.
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Larvotto Beach
Larvotto is Monaco's only public beach, an artificial pebble beach to the east of Monte Carlo, created with imported sand and pebbles, where Monaco's residents and visitors swim in the Mediterranean, overlooked by the towers of the principality.
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Grimaldi Dynasty: 700 Years on the Rock
The Grimaldi dynasty is the world's longest-ruling ruling dynasty still in power, François Grimaldi disguised as a Franciscan monk captured the Rock of Monaco in 1297, and his descendants have ruled the principality ever since, making Monaco one of the oldest sovereign states in Europe.
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Grace Kelly: Princess of Monaco
Grace Kelly, Philadelphia-born Hollywood actress, Academy Award winner, and Alfred Hitchcock's favourite lead, married Prince Rainier III of Monaco in 1956 in one of the most-watched events of the decade, becoming Princess Grace and transforming Monaco's international image and glamour.
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Monaco: Tax Haven and World's Second Smallest Country
Monaco is the world's second smallest country (2.02 km²), has the world's highest per-capita GDP, levies no income tax on its residents, and has more millionaires and billionaires per capita than any other country, making it the most concentrated example of tax-advantaged luxury living in the world.
Three things most visitors miss
Monte Carlo Casino
When the Monte Carlo Casino opened in 1863 and began generating revenue, Prince Charles III used the profits to abolish all direct taxation on Monegasque citizens, a policy that has remained in place ever since. Monaco has had no income tax, capital gains tax, or wealth tax for over 150 years, making it the world's most tax-efficient principality.
Prince's Palace (Palais Princier)
The Grimaldi dynasty is the world's longest-ruling dynasty still in power. François Grimaldi captured the Rock of Monaco in 1297, and the Grimaldi family (with some periods of interruption) have ruled ever since. The current ruler, Prince Albert II, is a direct descendant of François Grimaldi, a continuity of 727 years in the same family.
Oceanographic Museum
Jacques Cousteau was director of the Oceanographic Museum from 1957 to 1988, 31 years, during which period he used Monaco as the base for many of his famous Calypso expeditions. The Calypso, his research and filming vessel, was often anchored in Port Hercule while Cousteau worked in the museum above.
Monaco tour: questions and answers
Do I need a tour guide in Monaco?
Not a human one. Gingerguide covers Monaco with 15 narrated sights, so you get the stories a guide would tell, at your own pace and on your own route. And if a story leaves you with a question, you can ask the built-in AI guide and discuss the place right there, the way you would with a guide.
How many stops does the Monaco audio tour have?
The Monaco guide covers 15 sights. Each one has a researched story of roughly three minutes, about 45 minutes of listening in total. You choose the order and the pace; the tour is self-guided.
Does the Monaco tour work offline?
Yes. You can download Monaco in the app, audio, photos, and offline map tiles included. After the download, the full tour works without an internet connection.
Which languages does the Monaco guide support?
Every Monaco narration is available in English, Spanish, French, German, Turkish, and Chinese. You can switch the language in the app at any time.
Is the Monaco audio guide free?
The Gingerguide app is free to download, and Monaco includes a free preview: you can see all 15 sights on the map at no cost. A premium subscription unlocks the full stories, audio narration, and the offline download.
Hear Monaco tell its own story.
Preview all 15 Monaco stops free in the Gingerguide app.