Cap d’Antibes, the peninsula on foot, by water and from a villa

The Cap d’Antibes is the pine-covered peninsula that runs south from the old town of Antibes, with the Bay of Juan-les-Pins on its western side. Its three essentials are the Tirepoil coastal path around the southern tip (about 5 km, roughly two hours), the Garoupe plateau with its lighthouse viewpoint, and a string of small beaches and rocky coves. Antibes and Cap d’Antibes are one commune, but the Cap feels like a separate world: residential, quiet and mostly hidden behind walls and gardens.

That privacy is the reason people come, and also the catch. There is no high street on the Cap, the best swimming spots are reached on foot, and the big villas are invisible from the road. A visitor on a day trip sees the path and a beach. A guest staying in a villa on the Cap, such as Villa Zeliane in Cap d’Antibes, gets the early morning walk before the car parks fill, a swim at a cove that is empty at 8am, and a terrace over the bay when the day visitors have gone home.

This guide covers the peninsula itself. For the ramparts, port, market and museums of the town, see our Antibes town guide; for the Croisette and the Lérins Islands, our Cannes travel guide.

Think of the Cap as a thumb pointing south into the sea. The old town and Port Vauban sit at its base on the eastern side; Juan-les-Pins sits at its base on the western side. A road loops round the whole peninsula, while the interior climbs to the wooded Garoupe plateau. The southern tip is where the coastal path runs, below the walls of the grand nineteenth and early twentieth century estates.

The table below is the quickest way to decide what to do with a morning, a day or a week.

Opening days and hours of the lighthouse, chapel and gardens change with the season. Always check the official tourist office before you set out.

The Garoupe plateau is the highest point of the Cap and the one place where you understand the whole coast at a glance. Beside the lighthouse stand a navy semaphore, a small oratory designed by the artist Raymond Peynet and the chapel of Notre-Dame-de-la-Garoupe, a listed building lined with sailors’ votive offerings. It reopened after two years of restoration and is still a place of worship, so dress and behave accordingly inside.

The lighthouse itself reopened for visits in 2024. Groups of ten climb every twenty minutes or so on open days, and the last ascent is shortly before closing. From the balcony at the top, the coast opens from Cap Camarat near Saint-Tropez to the Italian Riviera. Early risers have the best odds of a clear horizon and, on rare mornings, the outline of Corsica.

You can drive up, or walk up the Chemin du Calvaire, a steady climb through the trees. Our suggestion for guests is simple: lighthouse first thing, coastal path second, swim third, lunch back at the villa.

Most of the Cap is private residential land, laid out in the grand-villa era: Château de la Croë was built in 1927 and once housed the Duke of Windsor, and Villa Eilenroc dates from the 1860s and was given to the town in 1982. The pattern has not changed. Estates sit behind high walls and gates, roads are quiet after dark, and daily life happens on terraces and in gardens rather than in cafés.

For guests this means three practical things. First, you need transport: the villas are spread out and the Cap has few shops, so a car with driver or a hire car matters more here than in central Cannes. Second, service makes the stay: with no town square on the doorstep, a chef, a housekeeper and a concierge who books tables in Antibes or Juan-les-Pins turn a beautiful house into an easy holiday. Third, book early for July and August, because the number of large villas on the Cap is small.

Villa Zeliane, in Cap d’Antibes, shows how it works in practice. It stands in a secure private estate a few minutes’ walk from a beach, with terraced gardens of pines, cypresses and citrus trees, a heated pool, a tennis court and a spa with hammam, sauna and gym. A butler, a housekeeper and security staff are included, a private chef cooks one meal a week and a car with driver is available five hours a day, so the lighthouse at dawn and dinner in the old town need no planning on your side. Guests also enjoy exclusive access to the restaurants, pool, spa and tennis courts of a celebrated hotel close by. If you are weighing the Cap against the hills of Cannes, our selection of villas to rent near Cannes sets the two side by side.

• Choose the Cap for privacy, walks and swimming from the rocks, with Antibes and Juan-les-Pins a short drive away.
• Choose the hills of Cannes if you want to walk down to the Croisette and its restaurants in the evening.
• Combine both for a group: one villa on the Cap, one in Cannes, a single concierge for the two.