Monaco is two square kilometres, so it is not a cruising ground — it is a departure point with an unusually strict rulebook. Our four boats here are all crewed and all small: an average of 9.8 metres, the smallest average length in our catalogue. They lie at Port de Fontvieille, beneath the Rock, which takes vessels up to 38 metres with draughts to 3 metres. None of them is priced by the week, because none of them is a week-long boat. You book a few hours.
What you are buying is the coast either side. From Fontvieille the French Riviera opens west — Cap d'Ail, Beaulieu-sur-Mer, the deep sheltered bay at Villefranche, Cap Ferrat — and the Italian border is twenty minutes east. The appeal is the shoreline and, honestly, the harbour itself: Port Hercule, the Grand Prix circuit traced along the waterfront, the Rock and the Oceanographic Museum built into its cliff.
The rules in Monegasque waters are specific enough to be worth reading before you go, and your skipper will enforce them. The Larvotto reserve is closed completely — no navigation and no anchoring at all, not merely no anchoring. Speed is limited to 3 knots inside ports and channels and 5 knots within 300 metres of shore. Wearing the kill cord is mandatory. Further prohibited areas for anchoring or navigation are marked on the charts.
Because every boat here is crewed, you need no licence and no sailing resume. If you want to drive yourself, the French marinas a few minutes west are the practical answer — and our French Riviera listings are where to look.
