No longer a sunny place for shady people: How Monaco is shedding its old-money image

It’s been said that the United States of America is not a country, it’s an idea. In that case, so is the tiny principality of Monaco; a visionary sovereign nation conjured from the imagination of a Victorian prince that’s been polished and perfumed for the better part of two centuries.

Its story as a playground for the rich and infamous begins in 1865 with the opening of its Beaux-Arts Casino de Monte-Carlo. His Serene Highness Charles III commissioned it to stave off bankruptcy and, by Jove, it worked.

It was an ingenious move and not his last. Income tax for residents was abolished four years later. Charles III’s successors kept up the momentum, leading Monaco to build some exceptionally luxurious hotels, become a banking Mecca and home to one of the world’s finest oceanographic museums, have its own football team and, since 1929, host the annual Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix.

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Aristocrats, industrialists, film stars and, eventually, oligarchs with a fondness for improbable wristwatches followed. The Port Hercule attracted increasingly large and splendid motor yachts and, throughout, the state provided Fort Knox levels of safety and security, fostered a glamourous social, cultural and sporting scene, and promised discretion.

Three-quarters of a square mile of concrete spilling onto the Mediterranean in the shadow of the Alpes-Maritimes, Monaco is, as much as anything, a triumph of branding, a high-rise ghetto fantasy of unapologetic ostentation, where the Dom Pérignon is chilled, the supercars are loud, the blondes are pneumatic and the taxman is nowhere to be found. That’s the old stereotype of Monaco, however. Changes are afoot — and it’s time for a rebrand.

When I started visiting more than 25 years ago, it was nearly impossible to find anyone living in Monaco between the ages of 18 and 60. The young would leave for university and jobs in Paris, London, Frankfurt and New York. They wouldn’t return until they’d retired.

Now, families with small children are rolling in. Many come from the fintech world. Young professionals and entrepreneurs are drawn to the increasingly dynamic energy of the place, as well its stability, safety and the quality of life: there are amazing sporting facilities and La Turbie, which rises behind the principality, is a popular cycling challenge.

Milan, Geneva and the Alps are an easy drive and Nice airport is only seven minutes away (by helicopter). Such is the demand for international schooling that the British School of Monaco opened in 2022.

Monaco has long attracted wealth, but what it’s beginning to draw now is activity. Instead of simply storing money (and some very fine wine, if the cellars of the Hotel de Paris are anything to go by), people are coming to Monaco to build companies, to network, to innovate and to use it as their European hub.

As well as the 24-hour ballet of Bugattis and Rolls-Royces in the Place du Casino, you’re likely to see prams, school-run traffic and coffee meetings at the Café de Paris where people are huddled over PowerPoints, not merely watching the world go by.

The most visible manifestation of Monaco’s changes is physical. It is no longer constrained by geography. Where once it built upwards, now, it’s building outwards having reclaimed land from the sea and built projects such as Mareterra, a new district of about 15 acres extending from Portier into the Mediterranean.

Residences have been built by ‘starchitects’ such as Renzo Piano, Lord Foster and Tadao Ando. It’s a contemporary antidote to the rather ugly apricot-coloured tower blocks that sprung up in the Larvotto, Monte-Carlo and La Condamine districts in the 1970s and 80s. One residence that has gone very much up, rather than out, is the 49-storey Odeon Tower that was inaugurated in 2015; the first high-rise to be sanctioned since the 1980s and which stands out thanks to its reflective blue glass.

The new architectural direction for Monaco isn’t only about space, it’s about tone. Design is softer around the edges, less Baroque. Glass and greenery has replaced marble severity. It’s an attempt to make it feel calming, rather than ostentatious.

The same impulse is visible in its bars and restaurants. The food and nightlife scene is being reshaped to appeal to a younger, more international crowd; less baccarat and tuxedos, more DJs, rooftop terraces, beach bars and casual dining. The maximalist Amazónico has been imported from Mayfair, together with its Peruvian and Japanese food, and, hidden beneath the restaurant, you’ll find the jungle-themed Selva Monte-Carlo, with deep house and electronic music of the kind more normally found in Berlin and Ibiza (the Monaco clubbing scene has, until now, been as cheesy as it is pretentious).

Maona Monte-Carlo has transplanted Mykonos energy, where dancing on tables is encouraged. The Instagram-friendly Maison FonFon combines Riviera kitsch with yacht-club chic and a Saint-Tropez buzz. Stamping its hipster credentials for the first time, Monaco also has its own craft brewery — the Brasserie de Monaco — which pours €10 pints (half price during happy hour).

There’s strategy in all this. Monaco’s old money has largely ascended to the gates of St Peter to explain their assets. To remain relevant, Monaco must court the next wave: founders, financiers, creative types and digital nomads who can live anywhere and, therefore, choose carefully.

Here’s the pivot: Monaco is no longer selling haute luxury, it’s selling lifestyle infrastructure: safety, connectivity, climate and efficiency. It’s a place where you can swim before breakfast, run a hedge fund in the morning, play some padel with your friends after a fresh seafood lunch, board a plane in Nice at 6pm and be in London in time for dinner with a client. The tax benefits remain neon lit, but they are now part of a broader package rather than the sole attraction.

Of course, Monaco is only accessible to those with the funds. Residency requires a minimum €500,000 deposit in a Monegasque bank. Property costs €50,000 per square metre and there are restaurants that’ll charge you €150 for a starter — although the Tip Top pizzeria, established in 1938, will do you a decent margherita for €19 and McDonald’s charges the same as it does in Paris, with the bonus of a Mediterranean view.

The old stereotype — this static, glittering enclave filled with diamond-laden Chanel-suited grannies with huge sunglasses — is coming to an end. It left no room for growth, only repetition. The world has moved on and Monaco is catching up. It’s experimenting and recalibrating. You see it in small moments; the technology entrepreneur discussing funding rounds in rooms that were reserved for gossip. Children on scooters in their school uniforms, navigating streets that are normally the preserve of Lamborghinis. Restaurants without white tablecloths, serving craft beer and loud hip-hop.

Monaco remains a spectator sport. Nowhere else is wealth so conspicuous and so concentrated. The casino still encourages black tie (although it’s no longer mandatory), and the yachts get bigger and bigger. The mythology remains for those who want it. Yet the cast is changing, as is the stage set. The roulette wheel still spins, but it’s no longer the only game in town.

This feature originally appeared in the June 3, 2026, issue of Country Life. Click here for more information on how to subscribe.