Postcard from Monaco: New and Different Ways to Travel

INSPIRATION | CABANA TRAVEL | WORLD OF CABANA

From Robert Louis Stevenson’s love of simple journeying to the evolving, and often misunderstood, world of modern private aviation, there's no doubt that transiting can be an experience in itself. Camilla Frances travels to Monaco to experience a different kind of member-led travel, one that challenges assumptions of excess and values skilled craftsmanship even at 40,000 feet.

BY CAMILLA FRANCES | CABANA TRAVEL | 25 APRIL 2026

Monaco during the 2025 Yacht Show © VistaJet.

“I travel not to go anywhere, but to go,” declared the great Robert Louis Stevenson, an author and avid traveller who traversed the globe in search of stories. “I travel for travel's sake. The great affair is to move,” he said. Providers of luxury travel experiences, from the Orient Express and beautifully designed sailing yachts to top-tier airlines, understand this need-to-move more than most, transforming the journey itself into the whole point of a trip.

Modern journeys, even with their red tape and potential for misadventure, remain a thrill for me: take off, touch down, the excitement of stepping off a plane and, like Dorothy waking up to Oz, straight into a new culture. A recent invitation to Monaco, travelling with VistaJet, felt like an opportunity to experience a new kind of journey: private aviation done differently, or so I was promised. I’ll admit to a certain early prejudice; I had always associated private aviation with overt display. Champagne sprayed at altitude by tech bros, influencers with carefully choreographed carousels, and people who want to be seen to arrive differently. VistaJet, from the first welcome at Farnborough Airport, began to dismantle that prejudice.

There was no theater the morning we took off for Monaco, bound for the annual Yacht Show and the iconic Hôtel Métropole. There were no velvet ropes or popping corks, just a warm welcome and calm, confident efficiency as luggage was wheeled away discreetly and passengers were settled into a comfortable, pastry-laden space that could easily have been in a private home. Gone were the queues, crowds and duty-free, this small, private terminal was unlike any airport. Luxurious, yes, but without pretension. This, I learnt, is VistaJet’s key proposition: a private aviation model for those who need to travel, and want to do it as efficiently and beautifully as they can afford to, but have no interest in showing off.

Boarding the Monaco-bound aircraft – a Bombardier Global 7500 for anyone who knows about these things - was also strangely disarming. No one rushed, no one was officious, and nervous flyers were reassured that the flight would be particularly smooth because, unbeknown to me, private airlines fly approximately 10,000 feet higher than commercial planes, allowing them to fly above most weather conditions. This means less turbulence, faster speed, lower cabin pressure and less fatigue. The cabin, designed with British firm Design Q, was decorated and upholstered in a way that read residential apartment rather than jet. The attention to detail and quality was evident: Italian leather upholstery, leather-wrapped cabin walls instead of conventional aircraft panels, high-pile carpets with cushioned underlayers, throw blankets made from alpaca fibers, crystal glassware and porcelain tableware.

VistaJet approaches cabin design with the same attention to craftsmanship you might expect in a finely made residence, yacht or haute-craft product, says CMO Matteo Atti. "Every material and finish is selected with longevity, comfort, and sensory experience in mind. The goal is to create an interior that feels warm and refined rather than overtly technical." For Atti, subtlety is also a key consideration: "The intention is that clients feel immediately at ease, as though they are entering a private, thoughtfully designed space rather than a highly branded environment. True luxury today is often about confidence and subtlety," he tells me.

Blankets made from alpaca fibers onboard a Bombardier Global 7500 © VistaJet. 

That sentiment seems to align with Monaco itself, which is sometimes misunderstood as a place without depth or elegance. Yet history and high gloss coexist well on this stretch of the French Riviera. For all its modern polish – the port was row to row with handsome vessels and improbable silhouettes when we visited – the principality was shaped by necessity, wedged between mountain and sea, with its history bound to diplomacy and adaptation. 

Long before super yachts and private jets, there were Grimaldis, still very much present, securing this rocky outcrop in the 13th century. There is the old town of Monaco-Ville, where laundry still flutters from windows, gardeners tend to public terraces and the cathedral holds the memory of Grace Kelly. And the Grimaldi family’s long stewardship has left behind museums, gardens, and libraries, notably the Oceanographic Museum, a belle époque fantasy founded by Prince Albert I and dedicated to the serious business of the sea.

VistaJet’s story is a relatively young one by Riviera standards. Founded in 2004 by Swiss entrepreneur Thomas Flohr, the company set out to reframe private aviation as a global, membership-led service rather than an ownership exercise. Flohr had identified a latent inefficiency at the heart of private aviation; ownership, long considered the pinnacle of airborne luxury, was in reality restrictive, anchored to geography, burdened by cost, and ill-suited to a generation whose lives were becoming increasingly global.

The Hôtel Métropole terrace during VistaJet's Yacht Show takeover © VistaJet 

The solution he envisioned would come to define VistaJet, a model built on access rather than possession. Rather than tying clients to a single aircraft or region, it introduced a subscription-based structure that allowed travellers to request a plane wherever, and whenever, they needed it. This 'floating fleet' concept removed the constraints of ownership, replacing it with a seamless, borderless system designed to follow its clients across continents. It was, in many ways, a reflection of a broader cultural shift from ownership to experience. In this sense, VistaJet today operates at the intersection of aviation and lifestyle.

Whether facilitating remote travel itineraries or connecting clients to culture, the company has evolved to become a lifestyle partner, working hard to understand its members. Our trip to Monaco is a case in point, experiencing an itinerary custom built for VistaJet members. The airline even staged a take-over of the beautiful terrace suite at the Jacques Garcia-designed Hôtel Métropole during the Yacht Show, inviting members to relax post show in one of the city's most historic hotels – from a catch-your-breath terrace with sweeping views across the Mediterranean no less. Garcia's interiors – deep colors, textured surfaces, and a certain cultivated darkness – proved an essential counterpoint to the glare of Monaco mid yacht show. 

At the port, where temperatures were climbing, VistaJet’s presence was characteristically measured: small tubs of ice cream and sorbet served to delegates weaving between the yachts. In a setting prone to excess, this low key treat was refreshing in every sense. But that, Atti tells me, is the ambition – to make private aviation feel less like a status symbol and more like a service, albeit an elegantly executed one for those lucky enough to need it.