For most travelling to Monaco, they may arrive by private jet, yacht, or an eye-catching car. But the city-state has a train station, albeit a slightly unusual one.
Gare du Monaco-Monte-Carlo enables people to reach the principality by rail, however the station itself isn’t entirely in Monaco.
Half of Gare du Monaco-Monte-Carlo is actually in Beausoleil, France, where many of the people that work in Monaco live.
The station, built in the 1990s, is completely under ground and comprises a curved 1,529ft tunnel, which is 72 ft wide and 43 ft tall.
The first railway line to reach Monaco arrived in 1868 from Marseille and the first station built in the principality was in La Condamine – one of the micro-state’s coastal districts.
The year after another station opened in Monte Carlo, directly below the famous Monte Carlo casino.
However, both were shelved to make way for the current station that is used today, which opened in 1999.
Visitors tend to be impressed by the contemporary design of the station and its proximity to the centre.
One visitor wrote on Tripadvisor: “Surprisingly large and airy. It is both comfortable and easy to get around – you won’t get lost despite the size. Very clean and bright.
“Nice introduction to Monaco. We stayed in Cagnes-sur-Mer just on the opposite side of Nice so using the train to visit here was very convenient.”
Another said: “Great underground mainline station built into Monaco’s cliffs. Easy to find your way around with great signage and as a bonus contains a tourist information area and for those who need it a Starbucks.”
