Founded 1864 by Charles III's Société des Bains de Mer to anchor the new resort that gave Monte Carlo its name — 207 rooms after a four-year top-to-bottom restoration completed 2019, the Salle Empire, and Alain Ducasse's three-Michelin-star Le Louis XV in continuous residence since 1987.
"The single most consequential hotel address in the Mediterranean — opened in 1864 to give Monte Carlo a reason to exist, restored top-to-bottom over four years and reopened 2019, and still the only hotel in Western Europe where the lobby, the dining room, the Casino opposite, and the principal sovereign of the country are all part of one continuously operated 160-year programme."
The Hôtel de Paris Monte-Carlo was opened on 13 January 1864, the first building of the new "Monte Carlo" resort district that Prince Charles III of Monaco and his Société des Bains de Mer had created two years earlier on the rocky promontory above the bay then called the Plateau des Spélugues. The project — a casino, a grand hotel, an opera house, and the gardens of the Place du Casino — was the answer to the Grimaldi family's nineteenth-century fiscal crisis and gave both the new district and the SBM the financial foundation that has supported the Principality ever since. The hotel has been owned and operated continuously by SBM (now majority-held by the Government of Monaco) for the entire 160+ years of its existence — the only major European grand hotel still under its founding ownership structure.
The 207 rooms (including 74 suites) are arranged across the 1864 Belle Époque envelope and a contemporary garden-side wing added during the 2014–2019 reconstruction by the architect Richard Martinet of Affine Design. The historic façade, the Place du Casino frontage, the Salle Empire ballroom, and the Le Louis XV dining room were preserved intact; the rest of the building was rebuilt from the inside out. Standard Classic and Superior rooms run 30–40 square metres in the historic section; Junior Suites and Suites are larger, with the Garden Suites overlooking the new interior courtyard and the Sea View Suites facing south towards Port Hercule. The named suites — the Suite Princesse Grace, the Suite Cary Grant, the Suite Winston Churchill — occupy the top floors with private terraces over the Place du Casino, the harbour, or the Mediterranean. The Suite Princesse Grace is the headline unit and books twelve months ahead in season.
Alain Ducasse's Le Louis XV opened at the Hôtel de Paris in May 1987 and held three Michelin stars from 1990 — the first hotel restaurant in the world to do so within three years of opening. Ducasse remains the chef-patron and the dining room (the original 1864 Salle Louis XV, gilded and chandeliered, with the largest single restaurant chandelier in any European hotel) is in continuous operation. Le Grill on the eighth floor is the rooftop sea-view venue with the retractable roof; Ômer is the new Mediterranean restaurant by Alain Ducasse on the upper level (one Michelin star); the Le Bar Américain is the historic 1900 cocktail room where the Monte Carlo banking-and-yacht-broking world still confirms its largest deals after dinner. The wine cellar — the legendary 350,000-bottle Cave de l'Hôtel de Paris, accumulated continuously since 1874 — is the deepest private hotel cellar in the world, with vintages from before the First World War still in use.
Position is the second proposition: the Place du Casino frontage is the central ceremonial address of the Principality, with the Casino de Monte-Carlo opposite (private gaming-room access for hotel guests is automatic), the Café de Paris brasserie on the same square, the Hôtel Hermitage and Hôtel Métropole within four hundred metres, and the Galerie du Métropole (Hermès, Cartier, Chanel, Gucci) directly underground from the front door. The Thermes Marins Monte-Carlo spa is connected by an internal corridor; the Larvotto beaches are fourteen minutes on foot, Port Hercule six. By any honest measure the Hôtel de Paris Monte-Carlo is the headline answer for any Mediterranean grand-hotel brief, and the Suite Princesse Grace at peak rates remains the single most contested luxury-hotel booking in continental Europe.
For a Monte Carlo honeymoon at the level where the address itself is part of the trip, the Hôtel de Paris is the obvious choice. The Sea View Suites and the named historic suites face Port Hercule and the Mediterranean; the rooftop Le Grill at sunset, dinner at Le Louis XV (book ten weeks ahead), late drinks at Le Bar Américain, and the SBM-coordinated private gaming-room visit at the Casino opposite are the five-act programme. The Thermes Marins spa connection from the lobby is the wellness extension. The Suite Princesse Grace is the milestone-honeymoon booking.
A Monte Carlo anniversary at the Hôtel de Paris can be calibrated at every level — a Classic Room weekend out of season for under €900/night, a Sea View Suite for a milestone year, the Suite Princesse Grace for a major one. The Salle Empire is the Principality's preferred private-event venue for 60–200 guests; Le Louis XV at lunch is the most decorated working table on the Riviera; the SBM concierge handles every variant of the brief reflexively, including the helicopter transfers to Saint-Tropez or Portofino for a single-day extension.
For Monaco business stays at the family-office, private-banking, or yacht-broking level, the Hôtel de Paris is the only address. Le Bar Américain in the evening is still the city's most reliable deal-confirmation room; Le Louis XV at lunch is the most decorated working table in southern Europe; the Salle Empire handles board meetings and contract signings; the SBM concierge has the deepest list of yacht-broker, family-office, and Government-of-Monaco contacts in the Principality. The position on Place du Casino, opposite the Casino itself, is the immovable advantage that competing hotels cannot replicate.
Place du Casino
98000 Monte Carlo
Principality of Monaco
Casino de Monte-Carlo opposite (1 minute); Port Hercule 6 minutes; Larvotto Beach 14 minutes; Monaco-Monte-Carlo SNCF station 8 minutes; Nice Côte d'Azur Airport 35–45 minutes by car; 25 minutes by helicopter
207 rooms (incl. 74 suites)
Classic Rooms from €820/night
Superior Rooms from €1,050/night
Sea View Suites from €2,400/night
Suite Princesse Grace from €12,000/night
Check-in: 3:00 PM
Check-out: 12:00 PM
Founded 1864; Société des Bains de Mer continuous ownership; 4-year reconstruction completed 2019
Le Louis XV-Alain Ducasse (3 Michelin stars since 1990)
Le Grill rooftop (retractable roof)
Ômer by Alain Ducasse (1 star)
Le Bar Américain
Salle Empire ballroom
350,000-bottle wine cellar
Thermes Marins spa connection
Casino de Monte-Carlo private rooms
Leading Hotels of the World
From €820/night. Sea View Suites and the named historic suites book six to nine months ahead for spring and autumn weekends; twelve months for the Monaco Grand Prix (last weekend of May), where rates run €4,500–6,500/night with three-night minimums.
Book This Hotel →The 1900 SBM Belle Époque on Square Beaumarchais with the Eiffel-designed glass-domed Salle Belle Époque and direct access to the Thermes Marins.
125 rooms in the Jacques Garcia 2004 redesign on Avenue de la Madone, with Joël Robuchon Monte-Carlo (2 stars) and the Karl Lagerfeld-designed Odyssey pool.
SBM's resort property on the Larvotto peninsula — 334 rooms, sand-bottom lagoon pool, the Cinq Mondes spa, the only resort-format Monaco hotel.