Cap‑d’Ail, Monaco and Cap‑Martin: a coastline under constraints

Preparing for the change of context

The approach to Monaco takes place in a busy and closely monitored environment. Harbour rules, vessel movements, the tight geography and the passage between French and Monegasque waters are not something to improvise. Before departure, contact the relevant harbour office and check the weather and official navigation information.

Cap‑d’Ail and the heliport

The PING map shows the zone where navigation and anchoring are prohibited around the Monaco heliport, on the territory of Cap‑d’Ail. Do not look for the closest possible passage: take into account the zone shown, the actual buoyage and the authorities’ instructions. Air operations may impose additional constraints.

Protected zones, bays and mooring buoys

The selected PING objects cover anchoring or diving bans, coastal strip restrictions and specific rules around the mooring buoys in the Èze sea area. They are drawn with their original geometries. Click a zone to read its description, then check the source before committing.

Monaco: separate harbour information

This page does not reproduce Monegasque navigation rules and does not draw a legal boundary. Port Hercule and the Port de Fontvieille follow their own access and stopover instructions. Contact the port authorities before aiming for a time slot, refuelling or a night-time arrival.

Swimming, paddleboarding and diving

Being close to the shore is not enough to make an activity suitable. In an area of fast boats, sensitive facilities and marked zones, only carry out an activity within a clearly authorised perimeter, with someone keeping watch, simple recovery and the certainty of staying clear of traffic lanes, ports and buoyage.

Towards Roquebrune and Menton

East of Monaco, the coastal relief continues the density of regulated zones. Before extending your trip towards Cap‑Martin or Menton, reframe the map, check the local rules and confirm alternative ports. The prohibitions shown are planning alerts, not a substitute for up-to-date notices and charts.

Refuelling nearby

Cap-d’Ail is the nearest refuelling point for this area; Beaulieu offers another option to the west. Your choice must never lead you to cut across a regulated zone or to approach the heliport or a harbour passage without instructions.

Find the contacts and published information on the fuel stations page. Time slots, fuel type and any delivery should be confirmed with the port before departure.

Two maritime laws, one border

Cap-d’Ail falls under French law: the orders of the French Maritime Prefecture apply there. From the border onwards, it is the Monegasque Maritime Code (Legimonaco). The two are similar on speed — 5 knots within 300 m of the shore, even without buoyage — but Monaco adds 3 knots in ports and channels, and prohibits anchoring along almost all of its coast.

Plage Mala: channel, no-motor zone and clean anchoring

Prefectoral order 78/2026 divides the Mala bay into three:

• a shore access channel in front of the landing stage, 25 m wide by 300 m long: 5 knots, no stopping or anchoring;
• a no-motor zone extending 130 m from the shore;
• a clean anchoring zone (ZMP) up to 250 m from the shore, reserved for boats under 20 m fitted with a black-water tank, at anchor only, at 5 knots.

Diving is prohibited in all three zones, and you never moor to buoyage buoys. Two establishments at La Mala themselves advertise access from the sea: Eden Plage Mala (boat shuttle) and La Réserve de la Mala (water taxi from your boat or from the port of Cap-d’Ail): book and have them pick you up, rather than approaching the beach.

Les Pissarelles, La Marquet and the fishing reserve

• Plage des Pissarelles: no-motor zone extending 50 m from the shore.
• Plage Marquet: an underwater breakwater runs along it; out of season the zone remains closed to motorboats even without buoyage, and becomes a swimming zone in summer (order 78/2026).
• Jet skis: prohibited throughout the buoyed 300 m strip of Cap-d’Ail, except in the Mala channel.
• East of Cap Rognoso, a fishing reserve prohibits anchoring and diving, both scuba and freediving (order 101/2026): do not stop there between the cape and the port.

The heliport and Fontvieille: zones you do not enter

Between the port of Cap-d’Ail and the special buoys of the Monaco heliport, navigation and anchoring are prohibited, including for unregistered craft coming from offshore (order 05/2023). On the Monegasque side, the zone running from the Fontvieille red light to the western boundary is permanently prohibited, and the one running from the solarium on the Rainier III breakwater to the Pointe de la Poudrière is prohibited from 1^st May to 31 October (Maritime Code, art. O.700-2). The two adjoin each other: pass well offshore.

Monaco: where you may not anchor or swim

• Anchoring: prohibited in three buoyed zones covering the coast from the eastern boundary to Les Spélugues and on either side of the Pointe de Ciappaira up to the western boundary (art. O.700-3).
• Marine protected areas: at the Larvotto (32 ha) and the Spélugues drop-off, fishing and anchoring are strictly prohibited (map of marine protected areas).
• Engine: from the eastern boundary to the Portier reclaimed land, running an engine is prohibited outside the buoyed channels.
• Swimming: prohibited from the western border to La Poudrière, in the ports and their passages; the official beaches are the Larvotto, the Plage des Pêcheurs and the Solarium (art. O.751).

So the Larvotto is admired from outside its buoys; you swim there from the beach.

The ports: berths, VHF, fuel and prices

In the ports of Monaco, 3 knots in the passages and basins, anchors prohibited in the channels (general port regulations). Direction des Affaires maritimes (maritime affairs department): +377 98 98 22 80.

Three trip ideas

• Lunch at La Mala: from the port of Cap-d’Ail, at 5 knots, anchor in the clean anchoring zone (boat under 20 m), then take the establishment’s shuttle; never through the channel or the swimming zone.
• Monaco seen from the sea: a slow pass offshore, without anchoring in Monegasque waters, keeping clear of the heliport and Fontvieille; a day stop at Fontvieille, booked in advance, and a fill-up at Hercule.
• The Larvotto: a view from outside the buoys, then back towards Cap-d’Ail before the end of the afternoon.

Mistakes to avoid

• Dropping anchor in Monegasque waters “just for a swim”: it is prohibited along almost the entire coast.
• Cutting through the heliport zone or in front of Fontvieille.
• Approaching Plage Mala through the channel to drop off passengers.
• Stopping to dive east of Cap Rognoso.
• Calling “the port” on channel 9 without saying which one.

Sources consulted on 26 September 2026. The number of visitor berths is published neither in Cap-d’Ail nor in Monaco; the VHF channel and the phone number of the Cap-d’Ail fuel station come from a 2016 brochure published by the port.

Priorities before departure

• Check PING, navigation notices and port rules on the day itself.
• Decide when to turn back, where to refuel and a fallback option before you approach the coast.
• Stay clear of buoyage, channels and marked zones until their use is confirmed.
• Count the crew before and after any swimming, paddleboarding or getting in the water.