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Best design hotels in Monaco

The Maybourne Riviera, for contemporary architecture: Jean-Michel Wilmotte's white terraces on a clifftop looking down on Monaco, with studios and suites by Bryan O'Sullivan, Rigby & Rigby and André Fu. Hôtel Métropole Monte-Carlo, for Belle Époque warmth: Jacques Garcia's new rooms in hand-embroidered Colefax & Fowler, and Karl Lagerfeld's pool terrace.

2 of our ten · Hand-pickedHotels cannot pay to be hereLast checked: September 2026

9.1/10

5,300+ Expedia guest reviews of the 9 hotels we list

Average of the guest scores Expedia publishes, weighted by review count; read 22 October 2026.

At a glance

  1. The Maybourne Riviera: The Maybourne Riviera on its clifftop

    The Maybourne Riviera

    Wilmotte's clifftop terraces, suites by Bryan O'Sullivan and others

    Roquebrune-Cap-Martin · From about €700 a night

    See prices on
  2. Hôtel Métropole Monte-Carlo: The Métropole at dusk

    Hôtel Métropole Monte-Carlo

    Jacques Garcia's new rooms and Karl Lagerfeld's pool terrace

    Monte-Carlo · From about €400 a night

    See prices on

What we looked for

In most Monaco hotels the window does the selling: the square, the harbour, the sea. In these two, the rooms do. The Maybourne Riviera is new architecture, opened in 2021: Jean-Michel Wilmotte turned the site of the old Vista Palace on the Grande Corniche into a cascade of white terraces, and the studios and suites were shared among Bryan O'Sullivan Studio, Rigby & Rigby, André Fu and Maybourne's head of design, Michelle Wu. Hôtel Métropole Monte-Carlo works the other way round. It has been a hotel since 1886, and Jacques Garcia is remaking it floor by floor for the second time, around a pool terrace designed by Karl Lagerfeld.

The choice is between a view and a street. The Maybourne Riviera looks down on Monaco from ten minutes' drive away and runs a shuttle into it; the Métropole is a street back from the casino square. Both hold two Michelin Keys in the 2026 guide.

The Maybourne Riviera: The Maybourne Riviera on its clifftopThe design one

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The Maybourne Riviera

Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, Monaco

The Maybourne Riviera is a hotel you book for the building. Jean-Michel Wilmotte rebuilt the old Vista Palace some 300 metres above the sea as a stack of white terraces, tiered so that each of the 65 studios and suites has its own terrace facing the sea. Inside, the rooms went to Bryan O'Sullivan Studio, Rigby & Rigby, André Fu and Maybourne's head of design, Michelle Wu, and one category can come from different hands: the entry Sea View Studio is by Bryan O'Sullivan or Rigby & Rigby.

The detail holds all the way up. Even the entry studio has a freestanding marble tub facing the sea; Bryan O'Sullivan's duplexes float his 'diving board' beds over carpets patterned on the cliffs' flowering cacti; and Rigby & Rigby's Surrenne Suite pairs a 70 square metre terrace with a thermal bath. Guests single out the rooms and the design.

Infinity Blue Suite at The Maybourne Riviera: the terrace and its infinity pool, with a lounger and a table facing the sea

The room to book

Infinity Blue Suite

90 m²

Bryan O'Sullivan's split-level suite: a 'diving board' bed over a carpet of flowering cacti, and a private infinity plunge pool on a 40 square metre terrace above Monaco.

Every room, and why

If the Infinity Blue Suite is taken, the Infinity Pool Duplex Suite gives the same designer and a plunge pool on a 25 square metre terrace.

€€€€From about €700 a night

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Hôtel Métropole Monte-Carlo: The Métropole at duskThe intimate one

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Hôtel Métropole Monte-Carlo

Monte-Carlo, Monaco

Hôtel Métropole Monte-Carlo is a Belle Époque house that Jacques Garcia is remaking for the second time, two decades after his first pass in 2004. The mood is velvet, dark wood and low light, with a lobby closer to a private club than a hotel hall. The first 45 new rooms and suites are on the second and third floors: blues and hand-embroidered Colefax & Fowler fabrics on one, golds on the other, with Calacatta marble bars in the rooms and a Devon & Devon cast-iron bath in the Deluxe Premium Junior Suite.

Outside is the Odyssey terrace, the only pool Karl Lagerfeld designed, where eighteen backlit engraved glass panels trace Ulysses' voyage beside a heated seawater basin. Upstairs, Jacques Messin landscaped the 110 square metre terrace of the Carré d'Or Suite. The rebuild continues floor by floor, so book one of the five new-scheme categories.

Prestige Room at Hôtel Métropole Monte-Carlo: the bed against blue floral wallpaper, with two armchairs by the window

The room to book

Prestige Room

32 to 44 m²

The roomiest of Garcia's new rooms below suite level: hand-embroidered Colefax & Fowler, a Calacatta Borghini bar and 32 to 44 square metres, up to twice the entry room.

Every room, and why

Ask for the second floor for Garcia's blues or the third for his golds, and confirm the room is in the new scheme.

€€€€From about €400 a night

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How to choose

Your tripBook
Contemporary architecture and Monaco as a viewThe Maybourne Riviera
Belle Époque interiors a street from the casinoHôtel Métropole Monte-Carlo
A designer suite with its own plunge poolThe Maybourne Riviera

Also worth a look

Questions people ask

Good questions about Monaco & around

Who designed The Maybourne Riviera?

The building is by Jean-Michel Wilmotte, who rebuilt the old Vista Palace on the Grande Corniche above Roquebrune-Cap-Martin as a cascade of white terraces; the hotel opened in 2021. The studios and suites are by Bryan O'Sullivan Studio, Rigby & Rigby, André Fu and Maybourne's head of design, Michelle Wu, and Jean Mus laid out the gardens. Bryan O'Sullivan did the Infinity Blue, Infinity Pool Duplex and Azur suites, and Rigby & Rigby the Horizon and Surrenne suites.

What has changed at Hôtel Métropole Monte-Carlo?

The hotel closed in December 2024 and reopened in May 2025 in the middle of a rebuild by Jacques Garcia, who first reworked it in 2004. The first 45 new rooms and suites are on the second and third floors, in five categories: the Deluxe Premium Room, the Prestige Room, the Deluxe Premium and Prestige Junior Suites and the Deluxe Premium Suite. July 2025 brought the Spa Métropole by Guerlain and its ten treatment rooms. The work continues floor by floor, so ask which scheme your room is in.

What is the Karl Lagerfeld pool in Monaco?

The Odyssey pool terrace at Hôtel Métropole Monte-Carlo, the only pool Karl Lagerfeld designed: eighteen backlit engraved glass panels tracing Ulysses' journey across the Mediterranean stand over a basin of seawater. It is heated all year and open from 7am to 8pm for hotel guests and members of the Club Metropole Monte-Carlo. From April to September Zia at Odyssey cooks Italian beside it, from breakfast by the pool to dinner under the stars.

Is there a design hotel near the Casino in Monte-Carlo?

Hôtel Métropole Monte-Carlo is three minutes' walk from the casino, behind its own gates on Avenue de la Madone, with Jacques Garcia's new rooms on the second and third floors and Karl Lagerfeld's pool terrace. The Maybourne Riviera is further out, on the Grande Corniche ten minutes above Monaco by car, with a complimentary shuttle to and from the principality. For Belle Époque architecture two minutes from the square, Hôtel Hermitage Monte-Carlo has a winter garden under a glass dome engineered by Gustave Eiffel's firm.

How did you choose these hotels?

Independently, through extensive research, trusted sources and first-hand visits. Hotels cannot pay to be included, and every one of the ten has to exist for a different reason.

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Prices are a guide from our last check, not live rates.