Monaco

Monaco is two square kilometres of land, and the Grimaldi family have ruled it since 1297. There is no income tax, no shortage of yachts, and no other place in the Mediterranean where so much of the calendar revolves around six or seven specific weeks. The Formula One Grand Prix takes the principality over at the end of May or the start of June (this year it's 5 to 7 June, a one-off shift from its traditional late-May slot). The Monaco Yacht Show closes the season from 23 to 26 September, when most of the world's top brokers and clients are in town. And the Christmas calendar fills the Hôtel de Paris, the Casino Square and the Café de Paris from December through January.

The harbour itself is Port Hercule, which was cut into the rock at the start of the 20th century and has been rebuilt and extended several times since. It holds several hundred berths, with around half of them under contract a year ahead and the rest fought over by guests and brokers. Booking a stern-to spot here in March for September is the kind of thing a long-standing brokerage relationship is for. When Port Hercule is full, Cap d'Ail, the small French commune just over the western border, is the overflow.

A Monaco charter is rarely a Monaco-only charter. Most clients use the principality as the start or end of a French Riviera or Italian charter, or they come for one of the events. Breakfast tends to be on deck above the harbour. The afternoon is the Casino, the Grand Prix circuit walked on foot, or the run east to Menton on the Italian border. The evening is the Hôtel de Paris and the long walk along Avenue de la Costa to the lights coming on across the bay.