Monte-Carlo

The view everyone knows.

Monte-Carlo is the Monaco the world pictures: the Casino on its terrace, the Café de Paris, the Salle Garnier a few steps away, and below it all the harbour full of light. One weekend each year the race passes directly beneath the windows; the rest of the year the same windows look out over one of the most composed views in the Mediterranean.

The buildings climb the hillside, so the prize here is height. High floors carry long sea views and a quiet that first-time residents rarely expect this close to the centre - the noise stays at street level. Below, the cultural life of the Principality is all within walking distance: the opera season, the ballet, the gardens.

It is the address for someone who wants Monaco to feel like Monaco every morning - the recognised view, the short walk to everything, the sense of being at the centre of things without being in the middle of them.