Family travel gains a new, luxurious dimension in the scenic locales of Monaco
Whether you are jet setting with tiny tots or picky teens, Monaco unravels a welcoming paradise for all adventurous families. Create magical moments with your little ones, indulge them in supervised children’s programmes and choose from a plethora of fun filled activities depending on their mood: from luxuriating at the hotel and discovering the ramparts of the property to going on planned tours, spending a charming evening at a playpark, or even wrapping up at night with fabulous games. Monaco has something for everyone.
CUB CALYPSO
The Children’s Club at the Monte-Carlo Bay Hotel & Resort brings in a delightful array of activities for the young ones in the age group of 3-12 years. Children busy themselves with arts and crafts, sports, games and workshops, enjoy a leisurely lunch and a sumptuous afternoon snack. They soak in the natural vistas by strolling in the gardens or under a shady palm grove, or indoors as the weather permits.
BUDDING BAKERS
Hotel Metropole Monte-Carlo makes your children’s dream, of becoming a pastry chef, come true. Patrick Mesiano, Head Pastry Chef at the restaurant Joël Robuchon Monte-Carlo opens his kitchen doors to children who relish learning how to bake cupcakes, customize chocolate eggs and whip up any treat that their little heart desires. Each tiny apprentice baker leaves with his own adorable chef apron.
MAKE A SPLASH
Little ones can make the most of the sparkling blue under the supervision of BAFA-certified personnel. Budding music lovers can have a go at the drums, strum a guitar or opt for a snap cookery workshop. The Club also hosts birthday parties for kids, complete with a mega cake, cookies, milkshakes, sweet and savory snacks, balloons, treasure hunt and more.
STAR SPECIAL
The Hotel Hermitage Monte-Carlo brings in a smashing line up of activities for kids, designated as V.I.K (Very Important Kids). They are greeted with fruit juice, chocolate lollipops and colouring kits, enjoy screenings of handpicked kids films, have access to heated indoor pools, a private beach, water sports, the games room at the property… and are even pampered with a personalized VIK kit and a welcome gift and afternoon tea. Equipment for infants and toddlers are available gratis
TRIMS AND TREATS
The Fairmont Monte Carlo hotel is a beautiful dream come true for young ones. From babysitters available on request, accommodation for nannies to child-sized bathrobes interconnected rooms, the hotel has it all. The swimming pool is temperature controlled, with a special menu and spaces where you can brunch with your kids. Children below five eat gratis, with a fifty per cent discount for kids in the age group 6-11 years, on a menu replete with favourites including chicken strips, pizza, and chocolate mousse. Fancy trims include caps, wooden toys, coloring books, and multilingual childcare services.
ON THE DISCOVERY TRAIL
Little Playparks bring in the perfect spaces for juniors to play with their peers in the lap of nature. Monaco offers a multitude of well-maintained and thematic parks …
Princess Antoinette Park is a hectare of garden greenery. Home to hundred-year-old olive trees, it is perfect natural grot for your tykes, tweens and teens. There are play areas with swings, slides, springers, a multipurpose sports ground, ample courts and even a skateboard park.
Your children can knit themselves to a mini farm replete with sheep, goats, ducks, chickens and rabbits, and a Zen space’ with bamboo decking.
An 18-hole miniature course on clay with an adjoining kiosk attracts budding golfers, offers light refreshments as you relax on the terrace and watch your children play. Compliant with special needs of people, the park is accessible for those with reduced mobility and has a saucer-shaped swing particularly suitable for special children.
THE FLORA AND FAUNA
The Princess Grace Rose Garden blooms like an English garden with Mediterranean olive trees. The fragrance of over 315 varieties of roses fills the air, with a spell bounding array of 6,000 rosebushes arranged across seven lavish themes.
Experience the principles of Zen at the Japanese Garden, crafted by landscape architect Yasuo Beppu. Replete with bamboo hedges and stone lanterns brought in from Japan, with Mediterranean touches with koi carp, swimming peacefully among the water lilies and lotus flowers, a waterfall and a tea house. Perfect bliss
Think exotic turtles, caimans and hippopotamus. Get a taste the wild at the Zoological Gardens that are home to over 250 animals belonging to 50 species of wildlife. Located on the southern flank of the Rocher, these gardens are one of the last royal menageries in the world.
All guests stay entertained, no what matter their age and interests. Powered by this passion, Monaco brings in an array of sports including windsurfing, water skiing, wake boarding, banana boats, jet skis, parascending…at Larvotto Beach and Monte Carlo Beach. Swing with your teens on the tennis court at the Monte Carlo Country Club, or take your young ones on a beautiful morning walk along Avenue Princesse Grace with panoramic views over the coast or uncover the health track tucked away in an olive grove by the Exotic Garden, with 20 fitness stations.
Child safety comes imbued in the NI Box, an innovative, creative space, in a contemporary architectural setting. The juniors can make brilliant use of the lavish Bowling Alley with white concrete waves and giant skylights. For the screen champions, there is a massive gaming area having simulators, network, and the latest generation of video games.
The Stars ‘N’ Bars activities inside restaurants bring in games, videos, craft specials under supervision for children, together with a rush of eco-education for kids.
The Live Escape Game is a scintillating experience.
MUST SEE, MUST DO
Speed demon alert. H.S.H Prince’s Car Collection unveils a mean line up for cars to burn up the asphalt. Gleaming royal radiator grilles, F1 race cars, and much more abound. Park yourself here
If your kids have an appetite for history, dip into the Prehistoric Anthropology XXX to explain the chronology of interglacial periods. The Oceanographic Museum whips up a taste of the marine as you can touch and feed the animals from the Tactile Pool and enjoy a light and sound show.
Make time for the thrilling 15-metre-long game in the form of a whale skeleton while a lounge terrace lets you soak in the panoramic views. Hop on a train in red and white, colours of the Principality, that sets off from the Oceanographic Museum and discover La Porte de France, La Place d’Armes and its market, Port Hercule and hairpin bends on the Formula 1 Grand Prix circuit, the Casino de Monte-Carlo, the Prince’s Palace and the Cathedral.
