The Oceanographic Museum in Monaco

The Oceanographic Museum in Monaco is an impressive place, especially due to its exceptional location on the cliffs above the Mediterranean Sea and its diverse aquariums. From the moment you enter the historic building, you can feel its unique atmosphere. The lovingly designed tanks, the fascinating underwater world, and the magnificent building itself make the visit an unforgettable experience.

Monaco

The annual Formula 1 race. Expensive yachts. And luxurious casinos. Even though Monaco is the second smallest country in the world (the Vatican is the smallest), it’s far from unknown. Somehow, you already know a bit about Monaco before you even get there. For example, that it’s supposedly teeming with millionaires. That’s because Monaco is popular among the wealthy – they don’t have to pay income tax there.

Did I see any millionaires? No idea. But probably.

I visited Monaco because I wanted to see the Oceanographic Museum (see below). But before heading to the museum, I wanted to get a few impressions of Monaco first.

With fewer than 40,000 inhabitants, Monaco isn’t exactly large. But what really caught my eye were all the yachts in the harbor. I wonder how many of the residents actually own one of those yachts?

I also looked for places that seemed familiar to me from watching past Formula 1 races on TV.

Every now and then, a street did actually look familiar.

By the way, Monaco is only about three kilometers wide, and if you want to walk from north to south, it’s just about a one-kilometer walk. That’s not far! So, long walks aren’t really possible in Monaco.

During my short strolls, I kept an eye out for beautiful spots.

In other words, I was looking for green oases in the city. And yes, they do exist.

But Monaco isn’t really all that green. The whole city seemed to be designed around driving. Is that a good thing?

Well, that’s something everyone has to decide for themselves.

In any case, I found it interesting to explore the city.

I came across some beautiful architecture, but also quite a few buildings whose design didn’t really match my taste — they could have easily stood in any average, gray city in Germany.

The closer I got to the Oceanographic Museum, the more the colors became pleasant and typical of the Mediterranean.

Not far from the museum lies the Prince’s Palace, from where you have beautiful views of the sea. Somehow, after the climb toward the palace and the Oceanographic Museum, I felt relieved to have escaped the gray jungle of buildings, luxury, and yachts in Monaco.

Of course, even in front of the palace I was still surrounded by plenty of luxury and pomp (there was some sort of parade happening when I arrived). But the bright, warm colors, the view, and the nearby museum lifted my spirits a bit.

In the narrow streets leading to the museum, restaurants and shops invite visitors to eat, shop, and linger. I strolled through the lanes, took in the surroundings, but preferred to keep moving toward the museum.

Fortunately, there was also a green area nearby. For me, it felt like a stroke of luck, as there were noticeably fewer people there.

The Oceanographic Museum in Monaco

The Oceanographic Museum in Monaco is located just about a ten-minute walk from the Prince’s Palace. There, in numerous different aquariums, you can find some of the most fascinating underwater creatures.

According to the museum, visitors should plan to spend about two hours. I spent a bit more time there, but still didn’t see everything. I mostly stayed around the aquariums, admiring the marine animals. It wasn’t always easy, though, because the Oceanographic Museum in Monaco was quite busy, and you needed a lot of patience. Allegedly, about 650,000 people visit the museum each year.

The underwater animals in the aquariums were, of course, breathtakingly beautiful, and I enjoyed watching them. But after spending about two hours in the crowds, it was quite a relief to have a bit more space to move around (it was pretty crowded!).

Now, I’d like to introduce a few of the animals I saw in the aquariums at the Oceanographic Museum in Monaco.

First, there was the boxfish, which looked a bit peculiar with its cube-shaped body.

I thought it was beautiful!

Could this boxfish have been the yellow boxfish?

Since I’m anything but a fish expert, I’m of course happy about any comments that can help me identify this fish and others!

Several times I tried to take a photo of a surgeonfish.

It was anything but easy. It was dark. The surgeonfish swam back and forth too quickly for me. And of course, it was crowded too.

Could this surgeonfish possibly be a yellowfin surgeonfish?

The unicornfish or naso has a very distinctive feature. Unicornfishes are also part of the same family as surgeonfishes, but they form a subfamily that includes only one genus. I won’t go into more detail because I don’t know enough about it myself. However, a characteristic feature is the bump on their forehead, which is why they’re called ‘naso’ (meaning nose) or ‘unicorn’.

But I wouldn’t dare to identify the exact species here. I’m grateful for any help with identification!

The foxface was also very striking in terms of color. Why is the foxface called the foxface? It probably isn’t because of its yellow body and tail. And its head? Probably not that either—I find that hard to imagine. However, the foxface is also known as the rabbitfish. Its white face with black stripes reminds me, however, more of a badger.

By the way, a bannerfish can be seen in the first photo.

Could this bannerfish possibly be the reef bannerfish?

A characteristic feature of the reef bannerfish is the long, white ‘flag’ that extends backward. The tail fin and the rear part of the dorsal fin are also yellow. Another distinguishing trait are the two black vertical stripes.

However, the schooling bannerfish looks quite similar. So, as a layperson, it’s hard for me to say whether this is a reef bannerfish or a schooling bannerfish.

In contrast, the brown butterflyfish was a bit less colorful or conspicuous. Its distinctive features are a long white stripe behind the eye and a short white stripe in front of the eye. Its tail is reddish, and thus, also known as the redtail butterflyfish.

Besides numerous colorful fish, the Oceanographic Museum in Monaco also had many less colorful (but no less impressive) fish, some swimming alone like the sharks, others moving in schools through the aquariums.

There was something to see everywhere in the aquariums.

Even on the bottom of the tanks. Here and there, rays could be found. With their flattened bodies and large pectoral fins fused to their heads, they stand out from other fish. They are fish (more precisely, cartilaginous fish), but don’t have the typical head-body-tail shape that we usually associate with fish.

Fish can look so different. Fascinating!

Seahorses are also fish (specifically bony fish), but they have a rather unusual shape for fish. Their heads resemble that of a horse, and their curled tails might remind you more of an earthworm.

Anyway, seahorses are fish and fascinating creatures—not just because of their appearance but also because of their way of life. In seahorses, it is the males, not the females, that become pregnant.

The following fish looked more typical for fish. But what kind of fish do you think these are in the photos?

Like these two fish, the grouper also seemed to prefer staying close to the bottom.

One fish that quickly caught my eye in an aquarium was a fish with fan-shaped pectoral fins. This fish is a lionfish, also known as a firefish.

Like most scorpionfish, lionfish are venomous. Their venom is contained in their fins. But despite being venomous, lionfish do have predators. Among them is the grouper, which can sometimes swallow them whole. There are also fish (such as porcupinefish) that tear lionfish into pieces and then eat them.

In my opinion, cuttlefish look especially fascinating.

At the Oceanographic Museum in Monaco, I got a special look at a beautiful specimen.

Did you know that cuttlefish can change their color and bury themselves in the sand in the blink of an eye?

In the middle of my visit, I spent a bit more time with the smaller fish.

To be honest, the Oceanographic Museum was a bit exhausting because it was so crowded. But of course, where it’s beautiful, there are always lots of people.

I even found a spot where I could watch some smaller fish like clownfish for a while.

There were also plenty of other small fish to observe, such as cardinalfish (photo five) and filefish (photo six).

After my little break, I continued on and discovered a few more beautiful fish.

One of them was a butterflyfish. Since there are currently only three known species of butterflyfish, this one might be a copperband butterflyfish.

The four vertical orange stripes are characteristic of the copperband butterflyfish, with the frontmost stripe running across its eyes.

I was especially impressed by a tang (same family as surgeonfish and unicornfish).

Like all fishes of the same family, these tangs have a laterally flattened body. In addition, they have tall dorsal and anal fins, which they raise when they want to display or impress.

The following fish is also a type of tang or surgeonfish. But what is this species called? Maybe it is the Sohal surgeonfish?

The porcupinefish gave me a rather grumpy look.

With its spines, you could already guess that it might be a porcupinefish.

Even though it looked a bit grumpy, I still found it to be a fascinating and beautiful creature.

Toward the end of the tour, I came across a pufferfish (photo above), some fish of the piranha family (photo bottom left), and a Picasso triggerfish (photo bottom right).

What fascinated me most about the whole visit was how diverse the underwater world is—and how little I actually know about it.

I saw so many colorful fish, and yet I wasn’t able to figure out the names of many of them. Please let me know if there has to be done a correction.

Finally, it’s worth mentioning that the aquariums didn’t just feature fish.

In addition to the fish, there were also jellyfish, a wide variety of crustaceans, and starfish — just to name a few.

Since I’m not a diver, I was grateful to get a small glimpse into the underwater world of our oceans at the Oceanographic Museum in Monaco.

Excursion Tips

Nice

Just about half an hour by train from Monaco lies Nice — a seaside city in southeastern France, only about 30 km from Italy. For me, it was really just a stopover before heading on to Italy to go whale and dolphin watching.

Fortunately, I took a three-day stopover in Nice. Just as a note: during that time, I took a day trip to Monaco. However, if you stay overnight in Monaco, I can warmly recommend a day trip to Nice.

The turquoise shimmering water, the bright light in the city, and the overall pleasant, friendly atmosphere made me feel instantly comfortable. And that was despite the city being very crowded in summer when I was there—and I usually tend to avoid overcrowded places. Yet Nice still impressed me.

Maybe Nice is so popular because it’s by the sea?

I can definitely understand why.

I took numerous walks through the city and along the seemingly endless promenade.

One end of the promenade leads toward the airport, while the other ends at Parc de la Colline du Château — from there, you get a great view over all of Nice. Behind the park is the harbor, which I passed on my bike tour to Éze (see below).

I especially enjoyed the old town, both during my walks and from above.

Nevertheless, during my walk through the park, I had a very special encounter.

That was with a firecrest (also known as the common firecrest).

It was sitting on the ground. Fortunately, it didn’t seem to be injured. I waited until it had moved back into some bushes because cars were driving on the path. That way, I could have warned a car if one had come.

The firecrest didn’t seem particularly skittish. It probably didn’t even notice the danger from the cars.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed my walk through the park and the warm light.

I really enjoyed spending time in the park.

Adjacent to Parc de la Colline du Château is Vieux Nice — Nice’s old town. Narrow, cobblestone streets were bustling with people. Houses painted in warm colors gave the old town a friendly atmosphere where I simply felt comfortable.

The small shops sold a wide variety of goods.

At the food and flower market on the pedestrian street Cours Saleya, the air was often filled with the scent of lavender. The market at Cours Saleya is a major attraction both for locals and visitors like me.

During my few evenings in the city, I enjoyed the last light of the day along the promenade…

Three days were definitely far too short for Nice and its surroundings. As mentioned earlier, I stayed in Nice, from where I visited the Oceanographic Museum in Monaco on one day.

Another trip took me from Nice to Éze. Since I really liked Éze, I want to tell you about this special place in the next section.

Éze

Éze was a place I visited rather spontaneously than planned. I wanted to do a bike tour along the coast but didn’t have a destination in mind yet. Then I heard about Éze and simply decided to go there.

From Nice, I cycled about 15 kilometers to Éze. I parked my bike and headed straight up to the hilltop village. The hike was only about 5 kilometers long but took over an hour and a half — and it was quite a challenge! Under bright sunshine and summer heat, I kept going without breaks, which made the tour pretty exhausting. But the view and the charming village (photos below) at the end were absolutely worth it.

Although I found the hike exhausting, I didn’t stop — I just kept walking and walking and walking…

Very rarely did I come across other people.

For a while, I didn’t see anyone and started to worry that I might have gotten lost.
I hoped I hadn’t.

The beautiful views made me forget the effort of the hike.

The higher I climbed, the shadier and livelier the path became. Just before the village, I suddenly encountered more people — and when I finally reached the top, I was quite surprised at how crowded it was. Where did they all come from?

The answer wasn’t long in coming: a look at the parked buses and cars was enough. Apparently, in this heat, only a few were crazy enough like me to dare the climb on foot.

As I wandered through the narrow, winding streets of Éze, I marveled at how much life there was — very different from my quiet, lonely path up. But that’s exactly what made the contrast so beautiful.

After thoroughly exploring the charming village of Éze and enjoying the special atmosphere there, I made my way back to my bike. On the descent, I was able to enjoy the breathtaking views even more — without the effort of the climb weighing on me.

All in all, a wonderful excursion — and definitely a day that will stay with me for a long time.

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Do you know the Oceanographic Museum in Monaco? Or do you know another aquarium? Let us know in the comments.