Can you actually do Monaco with two small children in tow? The marble, the supercars, the Hôtel de Paris doormen in their immaculate uniforms – it all looks like a place designed for grown-ups with very good tailoring and no one tugging at their sleeve.
Turns out, yes. Very much yes. One July Sunday, one long lunch, one prince’s car collection, and two children who still talk about “the giant flowers” months later.
This is our third time in Monaco. The first two were with a baby, then without the kids at all (you can read about those in Fairy tale beautiful Monaco). This time it was the four of us, and honestly? It was the best version yet.
Lunch at Café de Paris: Grown-Up Glamour, Zero Stress
If there’s one booking to make for a day in Monte-Carlo, make it this one.
Café de Paris sits right on Casino Square, across from the Casino and the Hôtel de Paris, and it reopened in late 2023 after a renovation reported at well over €50 million. You can tell. Inside it’s all gilded light, brass and marble, with an enormous glowing seashell installation that had our children transfixed before we’d even sat down. It’s a brasserie, not a temple of fine dining, which is exactly why it works with kids – it’s buzzy, it’s lively, and nobody is going to glare at you if someone drops a fork.
We sat down a little after midday, and here’s what to order.
The salmon tartare was the surprise of the meal. It arrived in a deep, glazed bowl the colour of the sea at dusk, a generous disc of hand-cut salmon ringed with a vivid magenta sauce, scattered with fresh raspberries, tiny pearl onions, ribbons of chive and shards of something dark and crisp. Sweet, sharp, salty, crunchy. It sounds like a lot of ideas on one plate. It’s actually beautifully balanced, and it’s the most photogenic thing I ate all summer.
The steak was the other order at our table, and it was a classic done right: a thick, beautifully charred fillet with clean grill marks, a single roasted garlic clove, a little pot of crispy golden potatoes and a bowl of herby béarnaise on the side. No fuss, no foams. Just a very good steak on very good porcelain.
The menu mixes Monegasque traditions with brasserie favourites, so there’s plenty for small appetites too – think pasta, simple fish and those famous Crêpes Suzette for dessert.
The Giant Flowers of Casino Square
Walk out of Café de Paris and the square itself becomes the playground.
Last summer, Monte-Carlo’s Glow Up campaign planted enormous flower sculptures around the Casino – pastel petals in pink and pale green, each one taller than me, fanning out above the paving like something from a storybook. Our two ran from flower to flower, posing, twirling, and generally behaving as though the whole installation had been put there just for them.
The installations change every season (this year it’s giant origami birds and butterflies), so check what’s on before you go – but whatever it is, it turns the square into an open-air gallery that children genuinely love. Free, too. A rare word in Monaco.
Don’t Skip the Prince’s Car Collection
This was the moment the day went from lovely to legendary.
The Prince of Monaco’s car collection, started by Prince Rainier III, moved to a gorgeous new space right on Port Hercule in 2022, and it is – I promise you – not just for car people. Around a hundred cars, from a 1903 De Dion-Bouton to Formula 1 cars that actually raced through the streets outside, plus rally cars, royal wedding cars and enough vintage Ferraris to make my husband go very quiet.
The children’s favourite? Standing behind a gleaming red vintage convertible in front of a huge panorama of Monaco, which makes for one of the best family photos of our entire trip. Then the Formula 1 cars, which are much, much smaller and lower than you’d expect up close, and absolutely fascinating to anyone under ten.
It’s air-conditioned (a gift in July), it’s easy to do in an hour, and kids under six go free. Trust me, put it on your list.
Views Over Port Hercule
Finish the day the way Monaco wants you to: looking down at the yachts.
Port Hercule from above is one of those views that genuinely stops you mid-sentence – the superyachts lined up below, the city stacked up the hillside, the water a colour that doesn’t look real. We wandered, the kids held hands along the pavement (rare, precious, photographed immediately), and nobody wanted to leave.
Lena’s Tips
- Book Café de Paris for lunch, not dinner. Midday on Casino Square means you get the full people-watching show, and kids are at their best before the afternoon slump.
- Order the salmon tartare. Even if tartare isn’t usually your thing. Especially then.
- Ask for a table with a view of the square if you’re sitting outside, or near the shell if you’re inside. The kids will thank you.
- Do the car collection in the heat of the afternoon. It’s air-conditioned, it’s at Port Hercule, and adult tickets are €15 (€10 for ages 6 to 17, free under six). Opening hours in July and August are 10am to 7pm.
- Check what’s on in Casino Square before you go. The summer installations change each year and are completely free.
- Wear proper shoes. Monaco is all hills and stairs. Gorgeous ones, but still stairs.
- Avoid Grand Prix week unless you’re there for the race – the car collection closes and the whole principality transforms.
The Verdict
Monaco with kids isn’t just doable. It’s brilliant.
It’s compact enough that little legs can manage it, glamorous enough that you still feel like you’re on a proper luxury holiday, and full of moments – a glowing seashell, giant flowers, a prince’s Ferraris – that land just as hard with children as they do with grown-ups. Lunch at Café de Paris is worth planning your day around, and the car collection is the sleeper hit nobody tells you about.
The only downside? Leaving.
