This week, we galavante onto Monaco, for our very own Casino Royale experience. For a country half the size of New York City’s Central Park, Monaco is a beyond glamorous place.  A trip to Monaco is an escape anytime of the year for perfect weather, excellent cuisine and a chance to reset from the everyday drill.  I am lucky to travel to some pretty exotic locales, but Monaco was just an easy place to enjoy and indulge.

Monaco lived up to every image I’d ever had of this aristocratic country.  We checked into the Metropole, which has been newly renovated, and became our perfect vantage point to explore Monaco and the surrounding towns of the Cote d’Azur.  With its fresh decor, it’s the younger, cooler scene of the traditional luxury hotels in town.  We actually could have stayed the entire weekend just at the Metropole, with its new ESPA spa and outstanding restaurants.  With two Michelin rated restaurants, this is not your typical hotel restaurant fare.

The people of Monaco are some of the most beautiful I’ve ever seen in one place.  At Buddha Bar, as my husband and I dined, the table next to us order five triple magnums of champagne, which were delivered with sparklers and great fanfare to this incredible scene.  The couple proceeded to get the surrounding tables to dance, filling everyone’s champagne glasses while chanting “Allez, Allez!”, which means “Let’s do it, Let’s go”.  And we were two of the lucky recipients of their hospitality, which created an evening scene that I will never forget.   There are not many places where you can you wear black tie attire to dinner, the casino and clubs, and feel perfectly in place.  Monaco is it, and one of those lifetime experiences.  You could travel here with no research whatsoever but our Galavante recommendations, and have an extraordinary time.  It’s where you celebrate a momentous occasion, or just the everyday celebration of being alive.

All the Best,