Most questions people type about the Casino de Monte-Carlo are the same handful: can you just walk in, how much does it cost, what are you allowed to wear, and can you take pictures inside. The answers depend almost entirely on what time you arrive, so this guide is organised around the clock.
Two different visits in one building
The casino works as two separate places during the day. From 10am to 1pm it runs as a heritage visit: you buy a ticket, walk through the gaming rooms while the tables are closed, and look at the architecture. The last entry for this morning visit is at 12:15, so arriving at half past twelve is too late.
From 2pm the gaming rooms and bars open, and the building becomes a working casino for adults only. In between, Le Salon Rose restaurant opens at noon.
The Atrium and the boutique are free to enter from 10am. The Atrium is the hall with the marble floor and 28 onyx columns, so if you only want a quick look and a few pictures of the entrance hall, you do not need a ticket at all.
Tickets and prices
For the morning heritage visit, adults pay 20 euros, children aged 13 to 17 pay 15 euros, and children from 6 to 12 go in free. The ticket includes an interactive guide you download to your phone, so bring headphones if you want to listen without holding the phone to your ear.
Entry to the gaming rooms from 2pm also costs 20 euros. That price includes 10 euros you can spend on the slot machines, at the bar or at Le Salon Rose, though using it in the restaurant requires a bill of at least 40 euros. Members of the My Monte-Carlo loyalty programme at Silver level and above get in free while the tables are open.
Groups of ten or more pay 17 euros per adult and 12 euros per teenager for the morning visit. You do not need to book ahead, and at the time of writing the official site says online booking is unavailable, so plan to buy at the door.
What to wear
The rules change three times a day.
For the morning visit and the open areas (the Atrium, the Salle Renaissance, the Café de la Rotonde, Le Salon Rose and the boutique), the official wording is to dress appropriately, and T-shirts, bermuda shorts and trainers are allowed. A normal summer sightseeing outfit is fine, but change first if you are coming straight from the beach.
From 2pm, in the gaming rooms, the list of what is not allowed gets long: shorts of any kind including bermudas, ripped or cut-out jeans, sportswear, trainers, sandals, men's flip-flops, vest tops and beachwear. In practice that means long trousers or a dress or skirt, and closed shoes that are not running shoes.
After 7pm, T-shirts and sweatshirts are also refused. A separate official page for the Salle Renaissance goes further for the evening: it says men must wear a jacket, while dark jeans and smart casual shoes are tolerated. The two official pages do not say exactly the same thing, so if you are a man planning an evening visit, a jacket and a collared shirt remove any doubt.
The final decision is made by staff at the entrance. If you are borderline, they decide, not the website.
For photos this works in your favour. The evening rules push everyone into darker, more formal clothes, which look good against the gold and marble interiors and against the lit façade at night. For a morning visit, light colours and simple shapes read better in the bright Atrium than busy prints.
ID and age
To enter the gaming rooms from 2pm you have to be over 18 by at least one day. You need a national ID card if you are an EU citizen, or a valid passport with a photo. Photocopies and digital ID on your phone are not accepted, and a driving licence will not do either. Keep the physical document with you, not a picture of it.
There is no age limit for the Atrium, the Café de la Rotonde, the Salle Renaissance, Le Salon Rose, the boutique or the morning heritage visit, so families with children can do the morning tour together.
Monaco residents are not allowed to gamble in the gaming rooms, so if you are visiting with a friend who lives there, they can come along to the morning visit or the restaurant but not to the tables.
Taking pictures
Inside, photos are allowed in some of the gaming rooms during the morning sessions only. If pictures of the interiors are the reason you are going, the morning visit is the one to buy. Once the tables open at 2pm, plan on keeping your phone in your pocket.
Outside, Place du Casino gives you more than the façade. The Hôtel de Paris and the Café de Paris both sit on the square, and the Café de Paris has a terrace if you want to sit and wait for the light to change. The Boulingrins Gardens, laid out by Édouard André, slope down towards the casino with French-style flowerbeds and fountains, so walking down through them gives you the building framed by greenery instead of by parked cars.
The Opéra de Monte-Carlo, a red and gold Italian-style hall by Charles Garnier, is part of the same complex. It was inaugurated on 25 January 1879.
Getting there
From Nice, the regional TER train to Monaco-Monte-Carlo takes about 23 minutes, with around sixty round trips a day. The station is underground and has several exits. The Monte-Carlo exit comes out on Pont Sainte-Dévote, the Parvis Sainte-Dévote exit is the one for Port Hercule, and the La Condamine and Fontvieille exits are the ones for Monaco-Ville.
Inside Monaco, buses run from about 7am to 9pm. Lines 1, 2 and 6 stop at the Casino, and lines 1 and 2 also go up to Monaco-Ville, which is useful because the walk between the two involves a lot of climbing. A single ticket costs 2 euros from the driver or 1.50 euros if you pay by card or through the Monapass app, and a day pass is 5.50 euros. After 9pm, night buses N1 and N2 take over.
If you drive, the casino's underground car park is on Allée des Boulingrins, with the entrance facing the garden next to the police station.
Fitting it into a day
The changing of the guard at the Prince's Palace in Monaco-Ville takes place every day at 11:55. That clashes with the casino's morning visit, which stops letting people in at 12:15. You have two options. Either do the casino at 10am, then take bus 1 or 2 up to Monaco-Ville in time for 11:55, or watch the guard first and come back to the casino after 2pm, dressed for the gaming rooms.
If you want both the interiors and an evening picture of the lit façade, the simplest plan is the morning visit, a free afternoon, and a return to Place du Casino after dark, with the right clothes on in case you decide to go in.
One date to note: the official page lists morning visits as closed from 10am to noon on Monday 19 and Tuesday 20 October. Check the official casino page for other closures before you go, because prices and hours are set by the operator and change.
Ilia Pisarenko is a photographer based in Paris.