Monaco Travel Guide

It's the tax system, not the gambling (actually, the latter helps pay for the former), that has made Monaco one of the most sought-after addresses in the world. The principality bristles with gleaming glass-and-concrete corncob-towers 20, 30, even 49 stories high and vast apartment complexes, their terraces, landscaped like miniature gardens, jutting over the sea. You now have to look hard to find the Belle Époque grace of yesteryear. But if you repair to the town's great 1864 landmark Hôtel de Paris—still a veritable crossroads of the buffed and befurred Euro-gentry—or enjoy a grande bouffe at the famous Louis XV restaurant, or attend the Opéra, or visit the ballrooms of the Casino (avert your eyes from the flashy gambling machines), you may still be able to conjure up Monaco's elegant past and the much-missed spirit of Princess Grace.