Monaco, 14 May 2026 - There was a time when Monaco's sporting narrative was neatly defined by the roar of Formula 1 engines threading through its streets, or the quiet precision of tennis played out against manicured backdrops for the Rolex Masters. Today, another movement is taking hold. Padel, the world's fastest-growing racket sport, has settled into the Riviera with an infinite ease.

Monaco has always understood the art of proximity. Padel, with its doubles format and glass-walled courts, thrives on interactions and shared momentum. This spring, the scene gathered pace with the return of Padel Best Village at the Grimaldi Forum Monaco, an event that captured the sport at its most dynamic. Now firmly established on Monaco's sporting and social calendar, it brought together professional players, former athletes, industry insiders and a growing global audience. 

If Padel Best Village offered a snapshot of padel at its most dynamic, summer in Monaco reveals its more enduring appeal, where the game is played out daily just steps from the sea.

At Monte-Carlo Beach Hotel, the padel courts are woven seamlessly into the cadence of a Riviera summer. Sitting just footsteps away from the shoreline, and open from mid-April through to mid-October, from 9:00 a.m. to 7:30 p.m, access is intentionally discreet. Specially reserved for Monte-Carlo Beach Club members for the humble cost of €20 per person, while guests of Monte-Carlo Beach Hotel enjoy the courts for free.

For travellers considering where to plan their next sport-led escape, Monaco offers something few destinations can replicate: the ability to move between world-class hospitality, coastal leisure and high-energy sport within the span of a single afternoon. Players can head straight from a morning game to the hotel's Olympic-sized seawater pool, settle into a long lunch at Elsa Marcel Ravin, or enjoy aperitifs at Monaco's latest gem on the Riviera, La Vigie Zanoni Monte-Carlo.

There is very little separation between sport and lifestyle here, which is exactly what gives padel in Monaco its appeal. And perhaps by 2027, when travellers begin planning where their next great game, and greatest stories might unfold, it will no longer be tennis, golf, or even the races drawing them to the Riviera, but padel in Monaco.