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Your Monaco driving licence – the one-year exchange rule, MC plates, parking tariffs and transport

Last updated 25 September 2026Rules checked every MondayOfficial sourcesSources & methodology →

A rewritten Code de la route, a new card-format licence and a scrapped windscreen sticker: 2026 changed the rules for drivers in Monaco. Here is when you must exchange your licence, what registration and parking cost, and how buses, trains, lifts and the airport link work without a car.

Blue regional train at a small station below wooded hills at Eze
Photo: 亜由美 大石/Adobe Stock

Sovereign Ordinance 11.966 of 18 June 2026, published in the Journal de Monaco on 3 July 2026, rewrote the Monaco driving licence rules in the Code de la route: article 116 became new articles 116-1 to 116-5. The one-year exchange rule already applied, but it is now spelt out in law. From 4 July 2026 Monaco also issues a card-format licence renewed every 15 years, the 2027 registration renewal runs without a sticker, and 2026 parking tariffs were set by Ministerial Order 2025-654, in force since 1 January 2026.

Monaco driving licence exchange – who must, and by when?

Anyone with 'normal residence' in Monaco may drive only on a Monegasque licence, obtained by exchange or by passing the test (article 116-2). Normal residence means living in Monaco at least 185 days per calendar year; for residence-card holders it is deemed acquired on the 186th day after arrival (article 116-3). You then have one year to request the exchange. After that the foreign licence is no longer valid in Monaco, and exchange requires a driving-skills check per category, after at least three hours of lessons at a Monaco driving school. The Government's formalities portal gives this example: arrival on 1 January 2023, normal residence on 6 July 2023, exchange window until 5 July 2024.

Exchange is open to licences from the states listed in Ministerial Order 2019-638, last amended on 4 June 2025: all EU and EEA states, Switzerland, the United States, Canada, Australia, Japan and others, plus any state party to the 1968 Vienna Convention. The United Kingdom is not named – only Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man are – so whether a UK licence can be exchanged is not verified: ask the Service des Titres de Circulation (STC – the licensing office).

How the exchange works – documents, fees and the new card

You apply on form STC010 or online with a copy of your carte de séjour (residence card) and of the foreign licence, a certificate from the issuing country less than three months old confirming that your driving rights are not suspended, a sworn French translation for non-EU licences, a photo and, if you are over 70, a medical certificate from an approved Monaco doctor. If accepted, the STC contacts you within a month at most for an appointment, where the Monegasque licence is handed over against the original. Since 4 July 2026 that licence is a card renewed every 15 years – a photo update, no new test – and old-format licences stay valid for a transition period.

Item2026 fee or deadline
Deadline to request the exchangeOne year after day 186
Exchange of a foreign licence€117
Driving-skills check after the deadline, per category€117
New card-format licence, first issue or 15-year renewal€23
International driving permit, recommended outside Monaco€32

Source: Mon Service Public (STC tariffs 2026) and the Code de la route, read 24 September 2026.

The STC, 5 Promenade Honoré II, Hall B, 6th floor, receives by appointment only: +377 98 98 80 14.

Registering a car and getting MC plates

Under article 102 of the Code de la route, as replaced in April 2024, people domiciled in Monaco with a valid residence card may register a vehicle, as may owners or tenants of a home there. A car already registered in your name needs no sale deed or invoice. A car from the EU needs a VAT certificate from the Direction des Services Fiscaux (the tax office); a car from outside the EU needs the French customs receipt, form 846A, because Monaco is in the customs union with France. A car over four years old needs a Monaco technical inspection less than six months old (€72, then every 36 months at most). Plates are ready within 72 hours of your STC appointment, and motor insurance is compulsory. The pages read set no deadline for re-registering a foreign-plated car, so ask the STC.

Registration2026 fee
Car or other light vehicle€122
100 per cent electric car€69
Motorcycle or scooter€88 (electric €46)
Z or temporary-transit series, car€617
Annual renewal, car / two-wheeler€53 / €42
Annual renewal, 100 per cent electric€0 – but you must still confirm it

Source: Mon Service Public (STC tariffs 2026), read 24 September 2026.

A registration runs to 31 December and is renewed annually. The 2027 campaign, from 1 September to 31 December 2026, abolishes the sticker: after payment the STC posts a payment certificate to keep in the vehicle. It covers 55,452 Monaco-registered vehicles, 5,729 of them fully electric. Unpaid vehicles are struck off on 31 December, and if your residence card lapses so does the registration.

Parking in Monaco – the 2026 tariffs

Monaco Parkings, a public service, runs more than 40 car parks on one unified tariff, with six exceptions such as the cheaper Salines entry car park. A subscription requires living or working in Monaco, and requests may go on a waiting list. Monaco Parkings has had a single number, +377 98 98 28 00, since October 2025.

Parking2026 tariff
First hourFree
2 hours / 3 hours / 4 hours€7.40 / €11.90 / €15.50
Maximum per 24 hours€24
Night rate, 20:00–08:00€0.20 per 15 minutes (not at the Casino car park)
Residential subscription, day and night€118.50 a month (€20 less for electric or low-emission hybrid cars)
Work subscription, 300 hours€105 a month
Two-wheeler / bicycle subscription€10 to €15 / €5 a month

Source: Journal de Monaco (Ministerial Order 2025-654) and Monaco Parkings, read 24 September 2026.

Buses, trains, lifts and Nice airport – Monaco without a car

On about two square kilometres of hillside, the Government has built 33 mechanised public links – around a hundred free lifts, escalators and moving walkways, open 24 hours a day. The Compagnie des Autobus de Monaco (CAM) runs nine daytime lines according to its FAQ, two night lines, a boat-bus across the port and the on-demand ClicBus; an evening bus runs from 21:20 to 00:20 daily, and a night bus until 4:00 on Friday and Saturday nights. Residents over 60 travel free on an annual pass. New rules for e-scooters and e-bikes – no riders under 14, helmets for all e-scooter riders and e-bike riders under 18 – were announced on 5 August 2025.

Ticket or passPrice
Single trip, paper ticket bought on board€2
Single trip via the Monapass app or a contactless card€1.50; contactless capped at €5.50 a day and €22 a month
24-hour pass / 7-day pass€5.50 / €15
Monthly pass / under 26€22 / €13
Annual pass / under 26€199 (€18 a month by direct debit) / €89
Pass Sud Azur, buses and TER trains across the Alpes-Maritimes€69 to €88 a month by zones

Source: Compagnie des Autobus de Monaco, read 24 September 2026.

Monaco-Monte-Carlo station is operated by SNCF; TER trains reach Nice or Ventimiglia in 25 minutes, every 15 minutes at peak, and in 2025 the service rose to 124 trains a day on weekdays, for about 9.4 million passengers. Nice Côte d'Azur airport is 22 km away – 25 minutes by motorway, or 7 minutes by helicopter from the Fontvieille heliport, with departures every 20 minutes – and Lignes d'Azur buses 100, 100X, 110 and 112 link Monaco with Nice and Menton. By road, take A8 exit 56 from France or exit 58 from Italy.

What to do now

StepWhatWhen
1Note your arrival date and count 186 days: your one-year exchange clock starts thenOn arrival
2Get the driving-rights certificate from your home authority and a sworn translation if neededWithin three months before you apply
3Apply to the STC for the exchange (€117) on form STC010 or onlineWell within the year
4Register your car with the VAT or customs document and, if over four years old, a technical inspectionOnce you hold the residence card
5Renew the 2027 registration and keep the payment certificate in the car1 September to 31 December 2026

Source: Mon Service Public and the Journal de Monaco, read 24 September 2026.

Official sources

The official pages this guide is based on, read 24 September 2026. Links open the authority’s own website.

Relocate in Europe provides general information, not legal or financial advice for your individual situation. Check with the authority named above before you act – rules change, and your case may differ.