Monaco

Does real estate get ritzier than Monaco? This tiny country, the most densely populated on Earth, has been a retreat and pleasure-ground for the moneyed and the famous since the 19th century. If motorsports, casinos, and mansions don’t float your boat, there’s still the benevolent Mediterranean climate and the novelty of a 700-year-old ruling dynasty to entice you.

Accounting for less than one square mile of coastline between France and Italy, Monaco forms the eastern margin of the French Riviera; and that fabled seashore’s hub, Nice, is a mere nine miles to the west. Plentiful sunshine and an average annual temperature of around 60 degrees Fahrenheit explain some of Monaco’s fundamental appeal; no income tax and a plethora of other financial incentives explain the rest. Since 1861, the great gambling district called Place du Casino has anchored Monaco’s most legendary quarter, Monte Carlo, the home base for rock stars, CEOs, actors, and a collection of top-ranked tennis players.

As of mid-2015, the principality’s headed by Prince Albert II, only the latest in the very long royal line of Grimaldis. The family’s headed Monaco since its days as a Genoese colony in the 13th century (save for the brief interval of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Empire). Not part of the European Union, Monaco nonetheless does its business in the euro and relies on France for its defense; the majority of its citizens are actually French, with native Monegasques joining Italians, Belgians, and other European nationals as minorities.

Besides the Place du Casino, some of Monaco’s defining attractions are sporting events—the Grand Prix de Monaco, Monte-Carlo Rally, and Monte-Carlo Masters tennis tournament among them—and the elite Larvotto beachfront in Monte Carlo. It’s not all opulence and spectacle, though: You can glimpse much older dimensions to this corner of the French Riviera at the Museum of Prehistoric Anthropology, or investigate Mediterranean ecology at the clifftop Oceanographic Museum.

If you’ve got the money to call Monaco a regular getaway, more power to you. And even if you don’t, this gilded, pocket-sized country puts on enough of a singular show along its jet-set waterfront to warrant at least one novelty day-trip.