The principality of Monaco is a tiny country on the Mediterranean Sea and surrounded by France, although the Italian Riviera lies a few kilometres farther east. This is the second smallest independent state in the world (after the Vatican) and is almost entirely urban. Monte Carlo is not the capital of Monaco but a government district.
Has anyone on the forum been to the Monaco GP? If so, any advice or recommendations? We've been to Monaco before and stayed in a hotel that we really like, so we think we have that part of the trip taken care of. Other than that though, we're not sure what to plan on (e.g., where to watch the race, what to do during the long weekend, what to avoid, etc.). Any input would be appreciated. Thanks!
Such a dull race though, if you want to go to watch racing I suggest either Spa, Monza or Catalunya
Nightlife was pretty good but damn expensive! I only went out there one night and had a night out in Nice as well, that was pretty good too.
I've been for the last two years.
We've had tickets at the front of Tribune (Stand) B bought through a member of the Automobile Club de Monaco (ACM). €500 each for the race.
Tribune B is on the Casino Square and at the front you get very close and the sound is astonishing if you've never been close to a GP car before. B has a big screen opposite it and has a basic but audible commentary in English, French and German.
You can get face value tickets when the ACM release them early in the New Year from their website. People like Thomas Cook Sport sell packages which can be good value nearer the date of the race but are very pricey if you book early.
Flights and accommodation are obviously expensive that weekend. It is the biggest commercial event in the area all year but if you're already staying at a favourite hotel in Monaco, you know that.
We have dinner one night at the Colombe d'Or in St Paul de Vence, which has good food, served in a restaurant festooned with some of the greatest original art of the 20th century. I'm pretty sure that Friday night (no practice that day - just Thurs, Sat & Sun) is supposed to be big night in Monaco, but I've not been.
Lots of the boats in the harbour seem to be packed with noisy nobodies, all trying to be noticed.
Good luck
Simon.
The Tribune B at Casino square is my favourite stand.
You are very close to the cars, there is a big screen just in front to keep up with the action and there is a big private garden just behind to relax in when the race isn't on. If you get down near the harbour/swimming pool you are pretty much stuck there once you take your seat.
Just google auto club de Monaco which is the official site and click through to the ticket sales-from memory they normally go on sale Jan/Feb.
Most people will stay in France as there are lots of hotels at all price points and the train is very efficient at getting you in and out on the days of the event.
If you are coming from the US then try and stay in Cannes as it normally clashes with the Film Festival which will add even more glamour to your trip.
Are there better places to watch a GP for the hardcore fans-definitely.
Is there anything else on earth quite the same as Monaco on GP weekend?-I don't think so
Regardless, we want to attend the race as much to experience the event as actually see the race. I have watched F1 a bit this year, but I am by no means a diehard fan. The race will be the finale of a week-long tour starting in Positano, Italy. The current plan is to fly to Naples, and then rent a car and stay in/near Positano. After a couple of days on the Amalfi Coast we'll visit Rome, Florence, Maranello (I'm a huge Ferrari fan), and then stay in a hotel in France just outside of Monaco. We'll have a few days in France/Monaco, so we'll probably visit Cannes, Nice, and Eze prior to race Sunday. The trip's a long way off, but I'm really excited about it.
If you've not booked accommodation, I'd do it asap.
The SNCF coastal rail route runs from Antibes? to Ventimiglia in Italy and they lay on extra services over the weekend. It's cheap and traffic into Monaco is awful unless you're in there by 7am and stay late to get out.
I'd hang around after the race and have a beer or whatever as access to the station (if you use it) is heavily marshalled by the police and the queues take a couple of hours to disperse.
You can walk quite a lot of the track soon after the race is over and watch the teams loading the kit onto their trucks on the main straight which also passes the time.
S
Enjoy your trip.
Thursday: Track closed to traffic 07.00 reopens 20.00
Friday: Closes 06.00, opens 14.30
Saturday: Closes 06.00 opens 19.30
Sunday: Closes 07.00 opens 19.00
Outside these times you should be able to drive the track fine. Not sure about the exact line through the chicane tho.
Circuit is swept by mechanical sweepers anyway.
Thursday: Track closed to traffic 07.00 reopens 20.00
Friday: Closes 06.00, opens 14.30
Saturday: Closes 06.00 opens 19.30
Sunday: Closes 07.00 opens 19.00
Outside these times you should be able to drive the track fine. Not sure about the exact line through the chicane tho.
Easier to walk the circuit, really, as we did twice this year.
As for the OP, we watched from a yacht moored just before Tabac (great view!) and stayed in the Meridien on the outskirts of town (where most of the teams and some drivers stay). Massive advantage is they have their own boats which can shuttle you to the harbour even when the circuit's closed.
This was organised by UK Aston (and others) dealer HR Owen, by the way ( http://www.hrowen.co.uk/monaco-grand-prix/ )
Here is some info which might help. There is also a lot of info on another forum I contribute to (F1Fanatic) as a hospitality professional for the Monaco GP where lots of questions about Monaco have been covered by other race fans as well as me.
The cheapest place to buy grandstand tickets (someone else mentioned this organisation in a previous post) is the ACM (Automobile Club de Monaco) at www dot acm dot mc OR www dot formula1monaco dot com. They are the race organisers for Monaco and on the website you can choose your seat, view photographs taken from each grandstand, see the race programme/schedule, etc. etc.
There are 4 days of race action in Monaco, unlike the other races on the calendar with Friday morning offering the opportunity to see some of the support series racing (Porsche Supercup, GP2 & GP3).
You can buy a pit lane tour for when the F1 action is on (i.e. Thursday, Saturday & Sunday) but with a weekend grandstand ticket you can get into the pits free on the Friday afternoon.
The majority of our guests like grandstand K1 upper which is located at Tabac corner so you have a good view of the run into Tabac, the harbour section and the harbour itself with all of the yachts etc. K1 sells out VERY quickly though so keep an eye on the ACM website and buy quick. K stands run all the way up to K8 and again on the ACM website you can see photographs from each to get the exact view so if you don't get K1 you can make an informed decision as to your preferred view. Some also like B in Casino Square and T upper as you can see into the pits (but the extent of track visible from T is not as extensive as K). You could have each day in a different grandstand so you get a different view each day.
Unlike a lot of other tracks and because of the nature of the circuit there are lots of other viewing options like restaurants, balconies, yachts, hotel terraces, etc. but they are more expensive than grandstands and tend to include varying levels and qualities of hospitality.
For grandstands take some extras with you to make the experience comfortable, ear defenders, a seat cushion, hat / rain poncho depending on the weather, some food and drinks, and I would always recommend a FanVision unit, this is a miniature TV tuned to the race where you can follow the stats, the sections of track you can't see from your seat, leaderboard, listen to commentary, etc. You can rent them for the weekend direct from FanVision or pick them up from pone of their kiosks.
Don't buy grandstand tickets from a tour operator / agent / hospitality company (like us) unless they are adding value for you with extras, convenience, FanVision, transfers, hospitality, etc.
Trains run very regularly to Monaco but there is occasionally industrial action which stops them running (it happened again this year for a short time over the GP weekend). If you are travelling by train I would recommend you buy your ticket in advance so you don't have to queue and be wary as there are prolific pickpockets who take advantage of the crowded trains, platforms and stairs etc. The travel time from Nice to Monaco is around 20 minutes by train and the last trains from Monaco are around 23.30 - 00.00.
The 'track' in Monaco closes very early each morning and opens again to foot traffic and vehicles in the evening over the GP weekend, this year the official close/open times were 07.00/20.00 Thursday, 06.00/14.30 Friday, 06.00/19.30 Saturday & 07.00/19.00 Sunday. However the reopen times don't always go to plan, the track generally opens to foot traffic quite a bit before vehicles but this year there was still support series racing after the schedule was supposed to have finished - so the timings can change at a moments notice.
You can get a passenger ride around the track in between race sessions whilst the track is closed (in a standard vehicle or in a Spyker race car with a pro driver) but you cannot drive the track yourself whilst it is closed (well you can if you have enough money but this is not for us average Joes, on of our clients from the US who races porsche there wanted to bring his own car and drive the track, we could arrange it but the price was well into six figures and that was before he paid to ship his car from the USA). Once it reopens however you can walk, run or drive it as much as you like.
There are lots of bars and restaurants, if you would like the restaurant list we send to our guests let me know and I'll email it to you, at least it is a starting point. You can also check out the Monaco Tourist Authority website or this one www dot restaurants-montecarlo dot com, they have some helpful info. La Rascasse is great on Friday with patrons spilling out onto the track itself and music blaring, although on Sunday it can get a little intimidating, I'm not sure why but for some reason I always find the atmosphere very different on the Sunday and that is the feedback from most of our guests too. There are the regular F1 parties like Amber Lounge etc where you are all but guaranteed to see some drivers on the Sunday, but they are expensive (circa 800€ pp for the Sunday including all drinks). There are also yacht parties in the harbour which are good fun and generally better value, etc.
The Casino is worth a visit and is only 10€ to get in but take your passport with you as you will need to show it for entry.
If there is anything else I can help with feel free to PM me or post here.
Have a great trip when it comes around.
Best wishes
Ed
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| Casino de Monte-Carlo | |
|---|---|
Casino de Monte-Carlo in the Principality of Monaco | |
| Location | Monte Carlo, Monaco |
| Opening date | 1863; 157 years ago |
| Signature attractions | Opéra de Monte-Carlo |
| Casino type | Land-Based |
| Coordinates | 43°44′22″N7°25′44″E / 43.73944°N 7.42889°ECoordinates: 43°44′22″N7°25′44″E / 43.73944°N 7.42889°E |
| Website | www.casinomontecarlo.com |
The Monte Carlo Casino, officially named Casino de Monte-Carlo, is a gambling and entertainment complex located in Monaco. It includes a casino, the Opéra de Monte-Carlo, and the office of Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo.[1]
The Casino de Monte-Carlo is owned and operated by the Société des bains de mer de Monaco, a public company in which the Monaco government and the ruling royal family have a majority interest. The company also owns the principal hotels, sports clubs, foodservice establishments, and nightclubs throughout the Principality.
- 2Casino facilities
History[edit]
The idea of opening a gamblingcasino in Monaco belongs to Princess Caroline,[2] a shrewd, business-minded spouse of Prince Florestan I. Revenues from the proposed venture were supposed to save the House of Grimaldi from bankruptcy. The ruling family's persistent financial problems became especially acute after the loss of tax revenue from two breakaway towns, Menton and Roquebrune, which declared independence from Monaco in 1848 and refused to pay taxes on olive oil and fruit imposed by the Grimaldis.
In 1854, Charles, Florestan's son and future Prince of Monaco, recruited a team of Frenchmen—writer Albert Aubert and businessman Napoleon Langlois—to devise a development plan and write a prospectus to attract 4 million francs needed to build a spa for the treatment of various diseases, a gambling casino modeled from the Bad Homburg casino, and English-styled villas. Granted the concession of 30 years to operate a bathing establishment and gaming tables, Aubert and Langlois opened the first casino at 14 December 1856 in Villa Bellevu. Intended to be only a temporary location, the building was a modest mansion in La Condamine.
In the late 1850s, Monaco was an unlikely place for a resort to succeed. The lack of roads needed to connect Monaco to Nice and the rest of Europe, and the absence of comfortable accommodations for visitors, as well as the concessionaires' failure to publicize the new resort, resulted in far fewer customers than was originally anticipated. Unable to raise the capital needed to operate the money-losing enterprise, Aubert and Langlois ceded their rights to Frossard de Lilbonne, who in turn passed it to Pierre Auguste Daval in 1857.[3]
During this initial period, the casino had been moved several times, until it finally ended up in the area called Les Spelugues (English: The Caves). Construction at this site began on 13 May 1858 to designs of the Parisian architect Gobineau de la Bretonnerie[4] and was completed in 1863. Gobineau de la Bretonnerie also designed the neighboring Hôtel de Paris Monte-Carlo (constructed in 1862).[5]
Although the casino began to make a profit in 1859, Daval was not up to the task. Just like his predecessors, he was incompetent and lacked the ability to bring the gambling enterprise to the scale envisioned by Princess Caroline.[6] Frustrated, she dispatched her private secretary M. Eyneaud to Germany, hoping to recruit François Blanc, a French entrepreneur and operator of the Bad Homburg casino. Blanc declined the offer. It took a lot of time and persuasion on the part of Princess Caroline to convince the Blancs to move to Monaco. Princess Caroline even appealed to Madame Blanc, whom she befriended during her first visit to Bad Homburg, with a suggestion that Monaco's mild climate would be good for Madame Blanc's ill health.
Finally, in 1863 François Blanc agreed to take over Monaco's casino business. To manage the new venture, a company—the Societe des Bains de Mer et du Cercle des Etrangers—was formed with capital of 15 million francs. Among the prominent investors were Charles-Bonaventure-François Theuret, Bishop of Monaco, and Cardinal Pecci, the future Pope Leo XIII. Blanc became the single majority stockholder in the company and received a 50-year concession, which would last until 1913. Blanc used his connections to quickly raise the required capital, and began the massive construction. On Blanc's insistence, the Spelugues area where the gambling complex was located was renamed to make it sound more attractive to casino visitors. A few suggestions were considered, and the name Monte Carlo was chosen in Prince Charles' honor.
In 1878–79, the casino building was transformed and expanded to designs of Jules Dutrou (1819–1885) and Charles Garnier, the architect who had designed the Paris opera house now known as the Palais Garnier. François Blanc knew Garnier because Blanc had provided a loan of at least 4.9 million gold francs to the cash-strapped government of the French Third Republic, so that the opera house, which had been started in 1861, could be completed. It had finally opened in 1875. The alterations to the Casino de Monte Carlo included the addition of a concert hall (designed by Garnier and later named the Salle Garnier), located on the side of the casino facing the sea, and the redesign and expansion of the gaming rooms and public spaces, mostly carried out by Dutrou on the side of the casino facing the Place du Casino, where the Hôtel de Paris Monte-Carlo and the were also located.[7]
In 1880–81, the casino was expanded again, to the east of Dutrou's Moorish Room, by the addition of the Trente-et-Quarante Gaming Room, also designed by Garnier. Subsequent additions and expansions, and the remodeling of the Trente-et-Quarante Gaming Room into the Salle des Américains, have mostly obliterated Garnier's contributions to this part of the casino, except for some ceiling decorations.[8] In 1898–99, the Salle Garnier was remodeled by architect Henri Schmit, primarily in the stage area, so that it would be more suitable for opera and ballet performances. However, much of Garnier's original facade and the interior design of the auditorium itself remain intact.[7] Despite all of the later additions and modifications, the casino still has a distinctly Beaux Arts style.
In 1921, the first Women’s Olympiad was held at the casino gardens.
Until recently, the Casino de Monte-Carlo has been the primary source of income for the House of Grimaldi and the Monaco economy.
Casino facilities[edit]
The casino has facilities to play a variety of games which include:
- Different kinds of roulette
Breaking the bank[edit]
- In 1873, Joseph Jagger gained the casino great publicity by 'breaking the bank at Monte Carlo' by discovering and capitalizing on a bias in one of the casino's roulette wheels. Technically, the bank in this sense was the money kept on the table by the croupier. According to an article in The Times in the late 19th century, it was thus possible to 'break the bank' several times. The 1892 song 'The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo', made famous by Charles Coborn, was probably inspired by the exploits of Charles Wells, who 'broke the bank' on many occasions on the first two of his three trips.
- According to the book Busting Vegas by Ben Mezrich, a team of blackjack players recruited from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology by team-leader Victor Cassius and Semyon Dukach attempted to break the bank at Monte Carlo with the assistance of a team-play-based system. The book describes how the management of Monte Carlo responded to the success of the team. According to Semyon the account in Busting Vegas is accurate aside from the fact that the team was made up of himself, Andy Bloch and another player he refers to as 'Katie'.[9]
In popular culture[edit]
- James Bond, a fictional British spy, is often associated with the Casino de Monte-Carlo.
- The architecture of glamorous Belle Époque building of the Casino de Monte-Carlo was used by Ian Fleming to describe a casino in 'Royale-Les-Eaux', a fictional resort featured in Fleming's first Bond novel, Casino Royale (1953).
- Monaco and its casino were the locations for a number of James Bond movies, including Never Say Never Again and GoldenEye, as well as for the 'Casino Royale' episode of the CBS's Climax!television show.
- The casino served as a filming location for the 2004 film Ocean's Twelve.[10]
- The casino makes an appearance in Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted.
Other mentions[edit]
- The Monte Carlo method, a computational approach which relies on repeated random sampling to solve difficult numerical problems, was named after the Casino de Monte-Carlo by physicist Nicholas Metropolis.[11]
Gallery[edit]
The Casino de Monte-Carlo main entrance
View of the casino illuminated at dusk
The main salon
The gardens behind the casino with the Salle Garnier in the background
South balcony
See also[edit]
References[edit]
Notes
- ^'Le Casino de Monte-Carlo joue la carte de l'ouverture'. nicematin.com. Archived from the original on 2012-08-05.
- ^Edwards, Anne (1992). The Grimaldis of Monaco: The Centuries of Scandal - The Years of Grace. William Morrow. ISBN978-0-688-08837-8..
- ^'Chronology of Gambling (1852-1900)'. gamblinghistory.info.
- ^Folli & Merello 2004, pp. 112, 114.
- ^Denby p. 92.
- ^Sharma, K.K. (1999). Tourism and Culture. New Delhi: Sarup & Sons. ISBN81-7625-056-2.
- ^ abFolli & Merello 2004, pp. 116–117, 136; Bouvier 2004, pp. 190–192.
- ^Folli & Merello 2004, pp. 132–133.
- ^'ThePOGG Interviews - Semyon Dukach - MIT Card Counting Team Captain'. Retrieved 10 November 2012.
- ^'OCEANS 12 - Production notes - About the production'. CinemaReview.com. Retrieved December 1, 2013.
- ^Metropolis 1987.
Monaco Casino Night Kim Kardashian
Sources
- Bonillo, Jean-Lucien, et al. (2004). Charles Garnier and Gustave Eiffel on the French and Italian Rivieras: The Dream of Reason (in English and French). Marseilles: Editions Imbernon. ISBN9782951639614.
- Bouvier, Béatrice (2004). 'Inventaires' in Bonillo et al. 2004, pp. 186–205.
- Folli, Andrea; Merello, Gisella (2004). 'The Splendour of the Garnier Rooms at the Monte Carlo Casino' in Bonillo et al. 2004, pp. 112–137.
- Denby, Elaine (2004). Grand Hotels: Reality and Illusion. London: Reaktion Books. ISBN9781861891211.
- Metropolis, N. (1987). 'The beginning of the Monte Carlo method'(PDF). Los Alamos Science (1987 Special Issue dedicated to Stanislaw Ulam): 125–130.
External links[edit]
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