Book a Photoshoot
in Monaco

Monaco is a separate country — a principality of two square kilometres squeezed between the mountains and the sea — but from Nice it is about twenty minutes by train or along the corniche, with no border to cross and the euro in your pocket, so it shoots like part of the Riviera. Its two halves look nothing alike. Monaco-Ville, on the Rock, is the old town: the Prince's Palace and its square lined with cannons above the harbour, cream and ochre lanes, the cathedral where Grace Kelly is buried, and the Saint-Martin gardens running along the cliff edge in pines and agaves with the open sea below. From the ramparts beside the palace comes the view on every postcard — Port Hercule packed with yachts, and Monte-Carlo climbing the slope behind it to the mountains. Across the harbour, Monte-Carlo is the glamorous half: the Belle Époque casino remodelled by Charles Garnier, the Hôtel de Paris and the Café de Paris around the Place du Casino, the gardens sloping down in front, and supercars parked outside as part of the scenery. Down by the Larvotto beaches, the Japanese Garden is a calm, free corner of stone lanterns, a waterfall and wooden bridges over a carp pond. Monaco is small, dense and busy, and it has its own rules. The casino, the grand hotels and their terraces are private, so sessions work around them rather than inside; the palace square is at its most crowded for the changing of the guard just before noon; and the principality regulates professional shoots in public space, which is your photographer's side of things. Early morning is when the Rock and the casino square are quiet; golden hour softens the whole harbour view.