Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat

Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat is a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes département of France. Its tranquility and warm climate make it a favourite holiday destination among the European aristocracy and international rich who visit the French Riviera. Nicknamed as one of the pearls on the French Riviera, this quiet fishing village is renowned in the whole world for its peninsula of lush vegetation and rocky beaches

Understand

In 2017, it had a population of 1,600.

Some of its Italianate and belle époque estates have hosted a plethora of heads of state, aristocrats, and personalities: King Leopold II of Belgium, Baroness de Rothschild, Charlie Chaplin, Prince Rainier III, David Niven, Somerset Maugham, Jean Cocteau, Lady Kenmare and Roderick Cameron, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, Pierre and São Schlumberger, Hubert de Givenchy, Rachel Lambert Mellon, Mary Wells Lawrence, Isadora Duncan, Winston Churchill, French prime ministers Maurice Rouvier and Raymond Barre. In 2012, Cap Ferrat was named the second most expensive residential location in the world after Monaco.

Get in

81 bus from Nice Gare Routiere.

See

• 1 Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild (by bus: line 15, "Passable - Rothschild" stop or ligne 100, "Point Saint Jean" stop and about 15 minutes walk to the Villa; by train: Beaulieu-sur-Mer station), ☏ +33 4 93 01 33 09. Feb-Jun: daily 10:00-18:00; Jul Aug: 10:00-19:00; Nov-Jan: M-F 14:L00-18:00, Sa Su 10:00-18:00; last admission 30 minutes before closing. 20th-century Italianate villa and gardens, once home to Baroness Béatrice de Rothschild. The villa grounds have an extensive set of seven gardens designed in different styles: French Traditional, Florentine, Spanish, Exotic, Lapidary, Japanese, and Provençal. The villa is located at the northern end (entrance) of the peninsula. Adult €16, senior €15, student €13, youth €11 (7-25 years old), family €45 (2 adults and 2 youth). (updated Dec 2023)
• Villa Grècque Kerylos - Early 1900s copy of a Greek villa, in neighbouring Beaulieu-sur-Mer
• St Hospice: There is a very large bronze statue of the Madonna and Child, the early-19th century chapel, and a military cemetery for the 1914-18 war.
• Le Phare: A highlight of St-Jean-Cap-Ferrat is the lighthouse, built in 1862 by decision of Napoleon III who wanted to equip the French littoral with a semaphoric chain. The goal was to ensure a monitoring of navigation, transmit messages to the ships, organize help in the event of maritime disasters, and take part in the first maritime meteorological observations.
• Port de Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat: This is a small marina with 560 berths. It is very well-sheltered and quiet, located on the French Riviera.
• Grand-Hôtel du Cap-Ferrat: Built in 1908, this stately white palace has hosted many worldwide personalities since it was erected, such as Paul Deschanel, George W. Bush, and Bill Clinton, Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll, Queen Victoria's daughter, who remained a guest for many seasons and was often visited by her brother the Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, who lived for twenty years on Cap Ferrat.

Do

• Promenade Maurice Rouvier

Beaches

• Paloma beach southeast of the port, on the north side small peninsula (St Hospice). Being on a northeast-facing shore and at the base of some tall cliffs. The location is about a 5–10 minutes walk from the port.
• Passable beach is on the northwest side of the main peninsula, past the Office de Tourisme and past the zoo (parc zoologique). It's west-facing, with a view across the Rade de Villefranche.
• Cro de Peï Pin is the biggest beach, located just north of the port at the Anse Lilong (the bay between the main peninsula and the smaller Ste Hospice peninsula), facing eastward into the Baie des Fourmis and the Tete de Chene. There's a public parking lot alongside the beach.

Buy

• Cap Ferrat Watersports, La Paloma, St Jean Cap Ferrat, ☏ +33 6 16 67 78 28. 08:00-20:00. Waterskiing, tube & donut, wake boarding, wake surfing, jet skiing, boat and even helicopter rides... CFW offers high-tech and best-of equipment, for all water/adrenaline sports. from €20. 

Eat

• Le Sloop, Port of St Jean waterfront

Sleep

• Grand-Hôtel du Cap-Ferrat. Built in 1908, this is one of the world's Grand old hotels, having hosted many world leaders.