The catch at Hôtel Hermitage Monte-Carlo

The hotel sells 26 categories across five wings, Excelsior, Midi, Beaumarchais, Costa and Princes, and the spread inside them is the story. The entry Superior Queen is 18 square metres with a 160 centimetre bed and, its own page says, no twin option. The Superior King and the Deluxe Prestige are 25, the Deluxe 30, the sea-view Exclusives 30 to 37, and the Diamond Suite Penthouse 330 with its own lift.

Renovation is rolling rather than finished. SBM's 2025 registration document says the first phase, complete for the 2025 season, delivered 24 refurbished rooms and turned 20 rooms into 10 suites; the second, begun in October 2025, brings 41 renovated rooms and suites for 2026. Against a stock the same document puts at 259 rooms, most of the house is still in its earlier state. Guests rate the location well above the value, and some report thin walls in older rooms.

Of the seven room categories on the hotel's site, four are sold as city or courtyard view: both Superiors, the Deluxe Prestige and the Deluxe. It does not stop at the rooms. There is a courtyard Junior Suite, a courtyard Prestige Suite at 50 square metres, a courtyard Suite at 55, and even the 240 square metre Diamond Suite Pagnol, with its 130 square metre terrace, is listed as courtyard view. The harbour and the sea, which are what every photograph of this hotel shows, belong to the categories with sea view in their name, and the Prince's Palace is named only in the view of two Diamond Suites, the Presidential and the sea view with jacuzzi.

The cheapest of those is the 31 square metre Exclusive Room, which the hotel sells with harbour and sea view across Excelsior, Midi, Costa and Princes and quotes, undated, from 636 euros a night; then the 30 square metre Exclusive Prestige in the Beaumarchais wing, from 716. Everything below them looks at Square Beaumarchais or an inner courtyard.

The hotel's practical information page prices the buffet breakfast at 58 euros per person, served at the Eiffel Mezzanine, with room service extra. Tourist tax is 7 euros per adult per day. The car park is 55 euros a day. Late check-out until 4pm costs half the nightly rate, after 4pm the full rate. A one-way transfer from Nice airport is 230 euros in a Class V or 250 in an S-Class; a shared helicopter seat from 245 euros a head, a private helicopter from 750 per booking. One dog under 15 kilos is allowed, with a daily charge.

The spa is more included than you may have read. The room pages list the Thermes Marins pool, solarium, sauna, steam room, jacuzzi and gym under experiences included, and the spa's pool page confirms direct access for Hermitage guests. What costs is everything with a therapist: the spa's own examples run 195 to 250 euros a treatment, and outsiders pay 160 euros for a day in the wellness area you get for nothing.

The Hermitage has no pool of its own. What it has is the private passage to the Thermes Marins, whose pool is an indoor 25 by 13 metre seawater pool heated to 29 degrees, open 7am to 9pm and shared with Hôtel de Paris guests and day-pass buyers. It is a swim, not a sunbed.

The outdoor option is the Monte-Carlo Beach Club on Avenue Princesse Grace in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, over the French border, by resort shuttle or the boat from Port Hercule. Entry is reserved for members and guests of the three SBM palaces, and the group says Hermitage guests get it free with a sun lounger; cabins, terraces and cabanas cost extra on the club's 2026 rate card. The club runs 13 April to 11 October; from 15 July to 31 August sunbeds cannot be reserved.