Monaco v Vatican: which tiny nation is perfect for your dream trip?

By Amy Cooper

The world's two smallest countries are the Tom Cruises of the world map - tiny, but rich. Although either Vatican City or Monaco (0.44 sq km and 2.1 sq km respectively) could fit comfortably inside Canberra's Lake Burley Griffin, both are more minted than most huger countries. Microstates with megabucks.

But it's how you spend it that counts. Monaco has the world's highest density of billionaires, with extravagant habits. The Vatican has monks, who wear habits. One's for playing; the other's for praying. Does Monaco know how to have a good time? Is the Pope a Catholic? The diminutive domain is defined by glamour, gambling, the Grimaldis, the GOATs, the Grand Prix. Synonymous with Grace Kelly and James Bond, loved by Frank Sinatra, it's home to half the F1 grid, tennis champs including Novak Djokovic, and music legends like Shirley Bassey and Bono. All you need to do is relax in Cafe de Paris overlooking Casino Square, while Lambos, Ferraris and Bentleys glide past, and you'll fill your celebrity bingo card in a minute. Papal watching in the Vatican can't compete.

It might be the Holy See, but there's not a drop of ocean in sight at the Pontiff's pad. Monaco, meanwhile, basks on a sapphire strip of balmy Mediterranean on the French Riviera's Cote d'Azur. Superyachts fill two harbours of the world's most expensive berths. To charter one for an hour, I'd have to sell my house. But it's as amusing to bask on Larvotto Beach or stroll along Avenue Princesse Grace, watching the exotic species frolicking aboard - here a Leo DiCaprio, there a Naomi Campbell - especially when Cannes Film Festival's on just along the coast.

The closest you'll come to Vatican nightlife is midnight mass, but Monaco parties 24/7 with religious zeal at clubbing temples, like 50-year-old Jimmy'z, where the world's top DJs are dance priests at the altars of their decks, and Amazonico, where you can puff a $350 shisha while sipping a $1000 cognac cocktail. Next month Monaco Grand Prix takes it all up a gear, filling the glitzy streets with roaring motors and sizzling adrenaline. You can take a walking tour of the 3.3-kilometre track all year round.

Blow on your dice in the palatial Casino de Monte-Carlo, where Pierce Brosnan's Bond met Xenia Onatopp, and admire the Charles Garnier-designed gold ceiling, before a browse in retail heavens One Monte-Carlo or the Metropole Mall, where you can buy shoes or a private jet.

Monaco's hotels scale the upper limits of luxury, restaurants dazzle with Michelin stars, the royal family provides a soap opera sideshow and Vatican City has ... none of those things. While Mal's Roman holiday has the big guy on board, Monaco is divinely decadent. No wonder the petite principality has the world's highest life expectancy. In its own way, it's #blessed.

By Mal Chenu

I have a confession to make - I'm an atheist, and I love Vatican City. And while I don't want to pontificate about Monaco, this big argument about the smallest countries is a no-brainer.

On the one hand, you have some of the world's most inspiring architecture and art; on the other, a tax haven where the yachts (and egos) are bigger than the hotels, and an Aperol Spritz will set you back 30 euros.

Vatican City escaped the Trump tariffs, too, while Monaco and the penguins of Heard Island did not, and if it's good enough for the very stable genius, it should be good enough for you.

Vatican City is a very pope-ular tourist destination, a place where it's okay to get cross. And there's a whole lot to Holy See and do.

No other church can hold a candle to St Peter's Basilica. From the necropolis housing the tomb of St Peter up to the Michelangelo-designed dome that dominates the Roman skyline (which you can climb if you can handle the 550 steps and want to get some "exorcise"), the sheer grandeur is enough to make your psalms sweaty.