Car transport
Car transport to Monaco
1,370 kilometres, one driving day, one dedicated driver taking your own car to Monaco, and one who knows you really need it there in the first week of June.
Why this route
The shortest of the southern routes, and the most calendar-driven
Monaco sits about 1,370 kilometres from the Netherlands. That is inside one long driving day, and it changes everything about the price: no hotel night on the road means no hotel night on the invoice. Your car can be at the door the day after departure.
What makes Monaco different from Málaga or Alicante is that it is rarely about a second home and a whole season. It is about dates. Three weekends a year, demand for transport into these two square kilometres outstrips supply, and on all three the same thing applies: people want their own car there without driving 1,370 kilometres for it.
And there is a practical point that goes wrong more often than you would think. Monaco is not France, but you only reach it through France. French cities above 150,000 inhabitants must have a low-emission zone in 2026. Nice is one of them, and Nice is the city you pass. Those rules apply to Dutch plates too.
Your route
Netherlands → Monaco
One direct drive from the Netherlands, your own car, one dedicated driver, from your door to the destination. Every other destination in Europe I drive just as readily.
direct route · 1 dedicated driver
Price indication — Monaco
One-way
~ 1370 km · ~ 1 driving days
- Driver fee
- € 650
- Travel expenses (calculated up front, no mark-up)
- € 790
- Total (indicative)
- ± € 1.750
incl. 21% VAT · ± € 1.440 excl. VAT
Return (combi)
~ 1370 km · ~ 2 driving days
- Driver fee
- € 1.200
- Travel expenses (calculated up front, no mark-up)
- € 1.410
- Total (indicative)
- ± € 3.160
incl. 21% VAT · ± € 2.610 excl. VAT
Prices may vary slightly due to variable costs such as hotel, fuel and tolls.
Who sends a car here
Three weekends, and the rest of the year
In Monaco the calendar is not background information, it is the demand itself. These are the moments the phone rings.
The Grand Prix
In 2026 the Monaco Grand Prix falls exceptionally on 4 to 7 June rather than in May. That week the principality is closed off with grandstands and barriers, there is not a hotel room free in the surrounding towns, and nothing decent left to hire. Anyone who wants their own car there has to have it brought months ahead, not the week before.
The Monaco Yacht Show
From 23 to 26 September 2026 at Port Hercule. Four days with the harbour full and the town full of people who have to get from a boat to an appointment ashore. For anyone who wants a car waiting, the same applies as in June: plan well ahead, because the approach roads seize up.
The Rallye Monte-Carlo
From 22 to 25 January 2026, the ninety-fourth running and the opening round of the World Rally Championship, with the rally base at Gap. January is otherwise a quiet month on this route, so this is the one winter peak, and one of the few moments when someone has a car taken to the south of France while it is freezing at home.
And the rest of the year
Outside those three, Monaco is mainly a destination for people with an apartment that stands empty part of the year, and who want the car down in spring and back in autumn. Then the route is quiet and the planning is simple.
The route
1,370 kilometres in a day
This run is short enough to do in one day, but only if the last part works. The difficulty is not the motorway; it is the final five kilometres.
- 01
The Netherlands to Reims
± 400 km, toll-free to the French border
Through Belgium into France. Belgian motorways are toll-free; the toll network starts at the French border. This is the stretch where you make distance and where the day is won or lost, because a late start is never recovered.
- 02
Reims to Lyon
± 480 km, the expensive toll section
The A26 and A31 towards Beaune, then the A6. This is where most of the French toll sits. Around Lyon the junction in peak hours is the only real hold-up on the whole route; outside those hours it runs.
- 03
Lyon to the coast
± 300 km via the A7 and the A8
Down the Rhône valley and then east along the A8. On summer Saturdays this is the stretch where the whole of France drives to the sea at once; on other days it flows. When planning I therefore look at the day of the week before I look at the distance.
- 04
The last five kilometres
What it actually comes down to
Monaco is two square kilometres of height difference, tunnels and one-way streets, and almost all parking is underground. Delivering here nearly always means entering a garage with a tight ramp and a low clearance. Tell me which building or car park it is when booking, and I will work out in advance whether it fits and how.
- 05
The way back
Nice is round the corner
After delivery I do not drive back: I fly. Nice-Côte d'Azur is half an hour from Monaco and has several direct flights a day to the Netherlands all year round. That is why this route is relatively good value. The return leg costs a ticket, not a second driving day.
Practical points
Recurring events
Three dates to watch, and all three need months of notice: the Grand Prix from 4 to 7 June 2026 (exceptional, it normally falls in May), the Monaco Yacht Show from 23 to 26 September at Port Hercule, and the Rallye Monte-Carlo from 22 to 25 January, the opening round of the championship. In those weeks it is not only the roads in Monaco that are closed; the hotels on my route south are full as well.
Crit'Air applies to your plate too
Monaco itself is not France, but you only reach it through France, and French cities above 150,000 inhabitants must have a low-emission zone in 2026, Nice among them. The rules apply to foreign plates. The Crit'Air sticker costs € 4.91 via certificat-air.gouv.fr; driving without one or in the wrong category often costs € 68 and can reach € 450. I arrange the sticker in advance, so it is not something you have to remember.
Delivering into an underground garage
In Monaco almost everything is below ground. Ramps are steep, clearances are sometimes under two metres and the turns are tight. With a low or wide car that is not a detail. Give me the address and, if you can, the garage name when booking, and I will check it beforehand rather than us concluding on the spot that it will not go in.
One driving day means no hotel night
Over 1,370 kilometres there is no need to sleep on the way. That takes a hotel night with secured parking out of the price, and it is why Monaco works out better per kilometre than Málaga or Sevilla.
Luggage travels with it
There is no trailer involved, so whatever fits in your car comes along. Golf clubs, suitcases, a child seat, the things for the apartment, everything you would otherwise have paid for on a flight or left at home.
Compare your options
The same car from the Netherlands to Southern Europe, three ways, three price tags. With a trailer, watch which one you are comparing: riding along on a scheduled line from depot to depot is the cheapest there is, but a transporter making the run for your car alone charges per kilometre and bills the truck’s journey home as well. Between those two extremes sits a factor of five.
Trailer transport
€675 – 4,500 excl.
± 10 working days, or 2–3
- €675 – 850 if your car rides along on a scheduled line
- But then you take it to the depot yourself and collect it yourself on arrival, ten working days later
- If the transporter runs for your car alone, door to door, it goes per kilometre — open ± €0.95, enclosed ± €1.35 — and the truck’s journey home counts too. Utrecht–Marbella comes to ± €4,500
- Luggage in the car usually not allowed
Driving it yourself
± €0.25 per km + your time
± 2 – 3 days of your own
- You drive the whole route yourself
- Fuel and tolls come to roughly €0.25 per kilometre
- Plus a hotel night on the way and a flight back
- And two to three days of your own time
Monarch DriveDrive-it-Back
± €2,040 excl. for Utrecht–Marbella
± 3 days
- One dedicated driver drives your own car, door to door
- Half what a transporter charges to make that same run for your car alone
- On the day you choose, not the day the line departs
- Load the car with your own luggage
- 360° condition report + daily updates
Trailer prices, September 2026: the line prices from one large Dutch car transporter's own route pages, the door-to-door price from a Dutch specialist in exclusive car transport's own rate calculator. My figure is the indication from the calculator above for Utrecht–Marbella, one way. All amounts exclude VAT so they can be read side by side. Travel expenses are calculated up front and included in the fixed price, with no mark-up.
Frequently asked
What people ask about this route
Yes. 1,370 kilometres is one long driving day, so with a morning departure your car is in Monaco the next day. That is also why this route carries no hotel night in the price.
Yes, but book well ahead. In 2026 the Grand Prix falls from 4 to 7 June, exceptionally not in May. That week streets are closed and the hotels on my route south are full as well, so I schedule those runs months in advance.
For the French cities on the route, yes, and the rules apply to Dutch plates. The sticker costs € 4.91; without one, or in the wrong category, you risk a fine from € 68 that can rise to € 450. I arrange it in advance, so there is nothing for you to do.
Usually not, but it has to be checked beforehand. Give me the address and the garage when booking; I work out the clearance and the ramp before we leave rather than us finding out on arrival.
Yes, same coast and same driving day. Nice is half an hour from Monaco, Cannes three quarters of an hour further and Saint-Tropez about an hour and a half. Delivery to another address along that coast usually costs nothing extra.
By air from Nice-Côte d'Azur, half an hour from Monaco. There are several direct flights a day to the Netherlands all year round, and that ticket is in the price.
How I safeguard your car
Clear about cover
Your own policy stays leading. Damage caused by me: I cover the excess up to €500. What I do not have is stated just as plainly.
Signed transport agreement
Every arrangement — excess, route, planning — recorded in writing beforehand.
360° condition report
Your car's condition fully documented with photos, before and on delivery.
Reply within 24 hours
A personal answer from one point of contact, not a call centre.
Elsewhere on the site
The same coast, or a very different destination?
The other direction
And if your car needs to come back from Monaco?
Bringing your car back from Monaco costs ± € 1.540. Going out is ± € 1.750, so the return works out cheaper: the last driving day ends at my own door, with no hotel night at the far end and no flight home. I fly out and drive it back to you.
Ready to have your car transported safely?
Request your indication with no obligation. Within 24 hours you will have a personal reply.