Port Hercule

We are going to take a quick stop here on this balcony, overlooking the magnificent Port Hercules, the only deep-water port in Monaco and one of the major ports in the Cote d’Azur region.

Port Hercules takes its name from the Greek demigod Hercules who constructed this port with his own hands, believe it or not – everything I say on this tour is 100% true – so this port is quite simply handcrafted by the gods.

It is deep water, which naturally means that the water is deep, so big cruise ships can come and dock at the far bank, tall, masted ships can come in and the huge luxury yachts can also come here to moor. On the far side are the fishing boats, used by the locals in their fishing trade which I will talk about later.

It is a big port and can support around 200 boats – currently (time of writing August 2022) most of these boats are Russian. France and Italy have taken very strict stances on Russia, particularly on the possession of goods including yachts. Russians cannot currently leave their yachts in ports on the French or Italian Riviera without the boat being seized and confiscated by the local authority. However, Monaco doesn’t care – as long as Russia continues to pay, Monaco will continue to accept their money.

It is fairly expensive to leave your boat here in Monaco – it is not a cheap alternative to real estate. On top of maintenance and fuel, you must pay around 5000 euros a night to keep your boat here. This skyrockets exponentially around Grand Prix season, when it goes up to 100,000 euros a night to keep your boat here, dependent on size – some of the huge yachts have been known to pay 300,000 euros a night. What happens is that the small boats will generally leave as they cannot pay this amount of money, and the bigger boats will move in right up to the Grand Prix circuit where they will rent out tables on the decking, so that the very richest people across the world can come and enjoy some Monaco champagne on a Monaco yacht watching the Monaco Grand Prix – my god, it must be nice to have some serious cash in the bag. This happens during the day, then at night, the yachts host super extravagant, exclusive and expensive parties, which means that overall, not only do the yacht owners make their money back but they turn a tidy profit – if anyone has any yachts lying around, bring it to Monaco for the Grand Prix for a sure-fire way to become a multi-millionaire within a couple of days.

If you don’t have a yacht lying around, boohoo, life goes on I suppose. And never fear, you can still take a ride on a Monaco boat for 2 euros! Fantastic! The catch is, that it is a small tourist that goes from one side of the port to the other side of the port – it is dead slow, bright red and only lasts around 5 minutes, but if you want the experience of seeing Monaco from the water, surrounded by yachts, I know that your family, friends and Instagram followers are all dying to see you on your fancy holiday and boat trip around the French Riviera. It is a shuttle boat which runs all day, ferrying people from one side of the port to the other for 2 euros – it’s a lovely little thing to do if you have time and fancy taking a quick trip.

Founded by the Greeks, but it was the Romans who named it Port Hercules, as mythology says that it was this semi-god who constructed the path from Rome to Spain with his bare hands, this port being a central point of rest because of the natural beauty.