The words “Monaco” and “budget” are rarely uttered in the same breath. Throw in Grand Prix weekend and it’s perhaps almost laughable to consider the principality as a realistic city break for anyone without seven figures sitting in their bank. But – and hear me out here – a trip to Monaco during the most extravagant weekend of the year isn’t as inaccessible as you might think.
With the popularity of F1 surging thanks to the Netflix genius of Drive to Survive, the appeal of watching the likes of Lando Norris, Max Verstappen and George Russell battle it out at a Grand Prix is expanding far beyond the petrolheads. Grand Prix attendance numbers soared to over 6 million over 24 race weekends in 2024, a 9 per cent increase on 2023 and a huge jump from the 4.16 million spectators that attended the 22 races pre-pandemic in 2019.
While it’s relatively easy to whizz down the M1 or hop on a train to Milton Keynes for Silverstone, other race weekends have traditionally been rather less accessible. Indeed, Monaco is in a class of its own. The Monaco Grand Prix is not just about the roar of the racetrack: it’s about sipping champagne on superyachts, eating a Michelin-starred menu trackside and watching the Monaco royals parade from your hotel balcony.
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At the lowest end, you can score general admission tickets on race day for €100 (£80), or as low as €40 (£33) for the Thursday practice, sitting on the grassy hill of La Rocher or in the Z1 area. Combine this with a hostel in nearby Nice, grabbing food from one of the stalls and taking the train into the principality, and you can do a day or two at the Grand Prix on a relatively reasonable budget.
However, if you want the full Monaco “experience” with the aforementioned swanky hotels, superyachts and prestige champagnes, it’s not hard for your bill to creep up into the five or even six figures. After all, this is the town where hotel rooms go for £20,000 ($27,000) a night, bottles of Moët & Chandon are sprayed wantonly and a private jet is considered a reasonable mode of transportation.
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But Mark Hooper, founder and managing director of luxury hospitality company Go Privilege, believes that there is a middle ground; while you might not have the budget of a billionaire, you can live the champagne lifestyle for a couple of days while watching McLaren, Ferrari and Red Bull do their thing. The former professional golfer set up his company with the vision to “make premium experiences available to wider audiences and make the hospitality offering less formulaic”.
He tells me: “Many VIP events hospitality providers operate through costly membership fees, subscription models or concierge charges – meaning unique experiences like the Monaco Grand Prix have historically only been accessible to the privileged few. Go Privilege removes these barriers.”
With a company like Go Privilege, racegoers can forgo the membership or subscription and instead choose a package catered to them. So you’re able to pick the parts that will elevate your trip while leaving others which aren’t so important to you. For example, you may not need to be flown in by helicopter, but you’d like trackside viewing on a yacht. Or you may be willing to stay outside of Monaco, but experiencing a Michelin-starred restaurant is a non-negotiable.
Mark adds: “Beyond terrace packages, Go Privilege offers grandstand seating, trackside views with champagne receptions and curated hospitality add-ons that don’t demand five-figure price tags. Fine dining, good wine and a prime vantage point doesn’t mean being confined to Le Rocher.”
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It’s worth noting that the experiences we’re talking about here still aren’t cheap. Go Privilege packages start at £695 ($933) per person for La Rascasse corner for the Friday practice, rising to over £2,000 on race day. Far more than you’d pay for a budget package holiday; closer to what you may spend on a safari, blowout honeymoon or retirement trip.
So not exactly “affordable”, but certainly more accessible than you may have thought from the images of Rolex-adorned, Dom Perignon-quaffing racegoers we usually see over Grand Prix Weekend. Mark tells me their aim is that “every element feels frictionless, personal, powerful and unforgettable”. You’ll feel like a character from Succession for a day or two.
But to stop your budget from soaring, you’ll need to make a few concessions – and this is where I’d recommend saving cash without sacrificing the “Monaco experience”.
Stay outside of Monaco
Even if you were able to secure a room in Monaco over Grand Prix weekend (many hotels are already completely booked out), the prices are eye-watering. At the top end, a suite at Hotel de Paris or Hotel Hermitage could spill over into six figures for the weekend, and you’d be hard pressed to find even the most basic accommodation for under £1,000 ($1,350) a night.
Far better to stay in one of the charming Côte d’Azur towns that are well connected to Monaco both by road and rail. Nice is the most practical choice thanks to its proximity to Monaco, and it’s where most travellers will fly into. Although there’s no getting around the fact that prices are extremely inflated over Grand Prix weekend, there’s still plenty of reasonably priced accommodation to be had.
For example, the recently opened four-star Mama Shelter, with a rooftop pool and excellent restaurant, had rates starting at €200 (£168) for a double room for this coming weekend (up from an average price of €99 (£83) for a double room. The well-located three-star Arome Hotel currently has a junior suite sleeping three for €442 (£371) over 2026 Grand Prix weekend in early June, and if you’re happy with basic accommodation, you still have time to snap up the remaining double rooms at Nice’s SLO Hostel on those key dates at a very reasonable €150 (£126) a night.
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Take the train
The best way to skip the traffic between Nice and Monaco is probably a Blade helicopter, but with prices currently sitting at €650 (£546) a seat for race day, you’ll blow your budget pretty quickly. A decent car service will set you back around €200 (£170) each way on the Sunday, and you run the risk of getting caught in heavy traffic. Uber is a possibility, but the company doesn’t operate in Monaco, so you will need to be dropped off outside the principality and walk over the border.
Fortunately, this part of the coastline along the Côte d’Azur is well connected by rail, and you can whizz your way from Nice to Monaco for a mere £6 ($8), or even less if you book in advance. It only takes 30 minutes and trains run every half hour.
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Swap the afterparty for a street party
There is no shortage of glitzy afterparties across the Grand Prix weekend, with the likes of Lilly’s Black Coffee, the Amber Lounge and Jimmy'z offering revelry into the night. VIP tickets cost thousands, and there’s a good chance you’ll inflate that with high-priced booze. So if you’re not the sort who needs to rub shoulders with celebs or be served wildly expensive vodka, my recommendation would be to skip the parties and head to Slammers post-race, where you’ll find yourself at the centre of the Grand Prix street party.
Here you’ll enjoy live music until late while partying among racegoers in their Riviera finest. With zero entry fee and a beer costing just a few euros, it’s one of the cheapest nights out in Monaco – and arguably the one with the best atmosphere. Sure, you’ll likely still return home with a sore head, but the damage to your wallet won’t be quite so painful.
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