Wanderlust: Monte Carlo

So last week me and the boy went on a midweek break to southern France!

We stayed in a beautiful villa in Boulouris, a small town outside popular tourist spot St Raphael on the Cote D'Azur - separate post to come on this another time!

As a few things didn't go entirely to plan (slightly poor at the mo due to the boys Uni course fees and that there was a good old fashioned transport strike going on) we were watching the money and also didn't get to go to Cannes as planned (booo)

We did however, have a fantastic day in the glamorous and ever so lovely Monte Carlo.

Monte Carlo is well known for being a home & playground to the rich and famous. If you want to stay there on a break or live there, you will obviously pay through the nose for the privilege. However as we found, its not too expensive to have a day out in Monaco whilst on a budget, we spent just £63 between the two of us during the day we were there.

In total in Monaco we spent

x2 train tickets from Nice to Monaco  - 3 Euros each
x2 tickets to the aquarium (depending on month of visit) 14 euros each - peak time
x2 tickets to the Prince Rainier vintage car collection exhibit 6 euros each
x2 Ice creams at the Cafe De Paris 10 euros
GP Trackside snackage from local supermarket (6 sandwiches, 2 drinks and a box of 20 Madeline's) - 13 euros

Being that we came for the Monaco GP week we also bought tickets in advance from bookf1tickets.com

x2 Monaco GP trackside tickets for Thursday Practice - £120 (bought before we went)

Total - £183.00

Make sure that you arrive early as there is plenty to do but its far nicer to enjoy at a slower pace as per the relaxed Monte Carlo way of life!

I'd recommend anyone to come along to Monaco during the GP week as this is when the city really comes to life as its well known for it's famous race circuit around the harbour which is stunning!

The circuit is already set up but you can freely walk around it (aside from on the roads obvs!) but you also can wander in to the pit lane where the teams are starting work on the F1 cars and get a close up look at the Red Bull party boat before this all gets cordoned off for the VIP ticket holders! Quite possibly F1's best kept secret :)

Near the pits you can make the climb up the hillside stairs to see some beautiful views of Monte Carlo. A great picnic lunchstop.

Up the top of the hill you will find a huge aquarium with 3 floors of sea-life heaven and a top floor museum which is all included in your ticket price a great place to sped a couple of hours out of the sun.

This has to be one of my favourite aquariums I've ever visited due to the number of species of fish and that you also could touch the sharks!

After cooling down in the aquarium we headed over to the west side of town which you get through by going in to a lift going underground, though a small shopping center and then out the other side of one of the rocky mountains (yep, sounds like a evil Bond villains lair!) we paid a visit to the Prince's vintage car collection.

Basically imagine the biggest garage you have ever walked in to and times this by at least 200! so many old cars, rally cars and old F1 cars are on display in here.

So there you go!

I'd definitely go back to Monte Carlo again one day We didn't have time to visit the beautiful exotic Gardens or the Casino so we will make sure we include this in our return visit one day. Though next time we will go in a car, hopefully avoiding any kind of strikes! :)

Love, Sarah x