Can’t get to Monaco? Have it come to you

A company called Yacht Island Design are floating (pardon the pun) the concept of a mini-Monaco on the high seas.

The idea is to build a Monaco replica on board a massive yacht, complete with all the principality’s famous features. Kind of like what Paris Las Vegas is to Paris…but floating around the Mediterranean.

Plans include a grand prix track ( for go-carts) that winds its way around the deck, replica Monaco Casino in garden surrounds, Hotel de Paris, and Port Hercule. Yep, a replica port in the boat. That’s certainly turning things inside out.

Passengers who get bored on the race track or in the casino will be able to take to the water in one of a number of watercraft, including a submarine.

As for the accommodation, probably a little more opulent than your usual yacht cabin.

Pictured below is not the grand ballroom. It’s an apartment, or part thereof.

Don’t expect to see Mini Monaco floating into a harbour near you soon. It presently exists on paper only and its designers are still looking for investors to fund the project that they say will cost somewhere around $443 million (a figure they concede is pretty rubbery at this stage).

If you think this sounds like a lot and they won’t find a buyer, consider this. The recently launched super yacht Azzam, now the biggest privately owned yacht in the world after bumping Roman Abramovich’s Eclipse into 2nd place, cost $605 million.