Cap d’Antibes has drawn the discerning for more than a century, and it has never needed to raise its voice. The peninsula’s glamour is quiet, wooded and almost entirely private — which is exactly the point.
Jutting into the Mediterranean between Cannes and Nice, the cape is a world apart from the bustle of the coast around it: a green, residential peninsula of pine and parasol, where the grandest estates hide behind high walls and the sea is never far. This is a guide to its character, its walks and its waterfront — and to the stretch of shore the world knows as Billionaires’ Bay. For the estates themselves, see our Cap d’Antibes villa collection.
Billionaires’ Bay — the Baie des Milliardaires
At the south-western tip of the cape, where the coastal path ends below the Villa Eilenroc, the shore turns to face the Golfe-Juan, the Lérins islands and, beyond them, the red hills of the Esterel. This stretch of rock and small coves around the Anse de l’Argent-Faux is the Baie des Milliardaires — Billionaires’ Bay to English speakers, and simply “la baie” to those who live there.
The name comes from what lines it: walled waterfront estates of extraordinary value, set in deep gardens of pine and olive that run down to the rocks, many with their own jetty or bathing platform. Together they form some of the most valuable private property in Europe. Most of these houses are held quietly, passed between families and never advertised; when one becomes available to rent, it is placed by introduction through a private concierge rather than listed online — the heart of the coast’s off-market world.
Who lives on the bay
The question is asked often, and on the cape it is answered rarely. The estates belong to private families, some for several generations, and their owners are seldom seen: the houses sit far back from the road, behind walls, gates and long drives, and from the path you see little more than stone, pines and the glint of a pool. We do not name owners, here or anywhere else. Discretion is the cape’s first rule, and a large part of why those who stay here choose it.
The history is easier to tell. Since the 1920s the cape has drawn those who wanted the Riviera without its crowds — Gerald and Sara Murphy at their Villa America below the Garoupe lighthouse, their friends from Paris and New York, and later the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, who took the Château de la Croë in the late 1930s. The pattern has not changed: the cape is chosen precisely because nothing on it is on show.
Seeing the bay: the path and the water
There are two ways to see Billionaires’ Bay, and both are worth doing. The first is on foot. The coastal path — the Sentier du Littoral, also known as the Sentier de Tirepoil — follows the wild southern edge of the peninsula from the Plage de la Garoupe to the Villa Eilenroc: rock, pine and open sea, with the bay opening up at its western end. It is free, rough underfoot and among the most beautiful walks on the coast. Allow one to two hours, wear proper shoes, and note that it can be closed when the wind is strong or the sea is heavy. The gardens of the Villa Eilenroc, now owned by the town of Antibes, open to visitors on set days.
The second is from the sea, which is how the bay is meant to be seen. From the water, the gardens, terraces and jetties hidden from the path come into view, with the Lérins islands across the gulf. A tender or a day cruise from Port Vauban or Golfe-Juan rounds the point in minutes, and a swim at anchor off the cape is one of the finest hours of a Riviera summer. Anchoring close to shore is regulated and some coves are reserved for swimmers in season; a good captain will know where.
La Garoupe and the lighthouse
On the eastern side of the cape, the Plage de la Garoupe — once raked smooth by the Murphys and their Jazz Age friends — remains the cape’s favourite beach. Above it, the Garoupe lighthouse and its chapel look out over the whole coast, from the Esterel to the Alps on a clear day, and the lighthouse path remains part of the cape’s enduring ritual.
Eden-Roc and the old town
The Hôtel du Cap-Eden-Roc, with its pavilion and its pool carved into the rock in 1914, remains the peninsula’s grande dame and the backdrop to a century of Riviera legend. Just to the north, Antibes itself is among the coast’s most characterful towns — Port Vauban, the largest marina in Europe and home to the great superyachts; the ramparts and the covered Marché Provençal; and the Picasso museum in the Château Grimaldi, where the artist worked in 1946.
Juan-les-Pins & the jazz
On the cape’s western side, Juan-les-Pins brings a lighter, livelier note — pine-shaded beaches and, each July, the Jazz à Juan festival, one of the oldest in Europe, drawing the great names to an open-air stage under the umbrella pines. It is the cape’s social counterpoint to the silence of Billionaires’ Bay.
Staying on the cape
Villas on Cap d’Antibes fall into two families. Waterfront estates on the bay and along the southern shore offer direct access to the sea and complete privacy behind their walls; they are the rarest houses on the coast, and July and August are committed months — often a year — in advance. Higher on the cape, around the lighthouse and towards Juan-les-Pins, hillside houses trade the jetty for views across the gulf and a short drive to the beach at La Garoupe.
Either way, the best houses rarely reach the open market. We hold a selection on the cape and above Juan-les-Pins, several of them privately: see our Cap d’Antibes villa collection, our note on how far in advance to book and, if privacy governs the stay, how we approach privacy and security in a Riviera villa. For the town itself, our guide to Antibes and Juan-les-Pins covers the rest.
A base for the coast
Cap d’Antibes sits between Cannes and Nice, with Nice airport around twenty to twenty-five minutes away outside peak hours. It pairs naturally with a day on the water; a yacht charter from Port Vauban reaches the Lérins islands in under an hour. For the full coastline, see our Riviera overview, or our guide to when to visit.