Monaco Made Easy · Guides for visitors
Menton and the villages above
Menton is in France, the last town on the coast before Italy, with no border checks from Monaco. It has a colourful old town climbing up from the harbour, long beaches, famous gardens, and medieval villages on the mountains behind it.
Getting there from Monaco
Trains from Monaco Monte-Carlo station reach Menton in about 10 minutes. The next stop, Menton-Garavan, is closer to the old town’s east side, the harbour and the Italian border. The coastal bus 600 also runs from Monaco to Menton, more slowly.
Menton taxis are French taxis. They can take you to Monaco, but Monaco taxis can’t collect you in Menton, and Menton taxis can’t collect you in Monaco. The main ranks are outside Menton station, by the Casino, and at the town hall.
The old town and the basilica
Colourful lanes and stairways climb from the harbour to the Baroque Basilique Saint-Michel-Archange, with views over the sea. It is lovely, but steep and stepped, so it isn’t suitable for wheelchairs or pushchairs.
Museums and gardens
- Musée Jean Cocteau, Séverin Wunderman collection: Cocteau’s drawings, ceramics and films in a striking modern building near the seafront.
- Musée Jean Cocteau, Le Bastion: Cocteau’s own small museum in a 17th-century fort on the harbour.
- Palais Carnolès: the former summer palace of the princes of Monaco, now an art museum with a garden of citrus trees.
- Jardins Biovès in the centre, and the Jardin botanique du Val Rahmeh in Garavan, full of tropical plants.
The Lemon Festival
Every February, the Fête du Citron fills the Jardins Biovès with giant sculptures made from lemons and oranges. In 2027 it runs from 13 to 28 February, with parades of floats on the Promenade du Soleil on Sunday afternoons (14, 21 and 28 February). Trains to Menton are very busy on parade days.
Mirazur
Mauro Colagreco’s restaurant by the Italian border has three Michelin stars. Book well ahead.
The villages above Menton
Menton’s Zest buses leave from the bus station next to Menton train station: line 10 to Sainte-Agnès, one of the highest coastal villages in Europe at about 780 m (around 35 minutes), line 5 to Gorbio and line 6 to Castellar (around 30 to 35 minutes each). They run only a few times a day, so check the times before you go.
In the app you’ll find Menton’s map, walking routes, hotels, restaurants, toilets, pharmacies and cash machines, and the villages with how to get up to each one.