directly opposite the harbour
Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat is the greenest, most guarded money on the Riviera — a pine peninsula of walled villas whose best façades all face the sea. From the road you see gates. From the water you see the whole performance: gardens down to private jetties, the lighthouse on the point, and coves between the rocks that stay glassy when the open coast is not.
Timings are from her berth at Beaulieu-sur-Mer. Staying closer? We bring her to you — and it is simply a boat day in Cap Ferrat instead.
The slow lap of the Cap is the best hour of sightseeing on the coast: La Fleur du Cap on the water’s edge, the Villa Ephrussi’s gardens crowning the ridge, the old King of Belgium’s estate, Somerset Maugham’s Villa Mauresque somewhere in the pines, and a dozen anonymous fortunes between them. The captain narrates as much or as little as you like — some guests want every story, some want the engine at a murmur and the gin cold.
Passable is the Cap’s west-facing beach, looking straight across at Villefranche, and arriving by boat is the whole point of it: the tender takes you from deck to table dry-shod, lunch runs as long as it runs, and the boat waits at anchor off the sand. Round on the east side, the Fossettes bay under Pointe Saint-Hospice is the quiet lunch-hour anchorage — pines to the waterline and water like glass. We book the table when we confirm your charter — in August, that matters.
Either side of lunch, the anchorages: Les Fossettes and the point’s eastern coves for clear-water swimming, or around to Villefranche bay when the east wind says so. This is the day we recommend to first-timers more than any other — least time underway, most time in the water, and the Riviera at its absolute prettiest.
a few suggestions
These are suggestions, nothing more — places we actually take guests, each with the captain’s own note. Tell us which ones tempt you and the day is built around them, name somewhere that is not on the list and we go there instead — or leave the whole thing with us.
Beaches & swimming
arrive by sea
The Cap’s west-facing town beach, looking straight across at Villefranche — an easy crowd, a good table on the sand, and the best sunset view on the peninsula.
Anchor off it before nine and it is glassy, gold-lit and completely empty. Come back for lunch and the tender puts you ashore in a moment.
Beaches & swimming
arrive by sea
The little shingle bay tucked under Pointe Saint-Hospice, on the side where the Cap turns back on itself — pines to the waterline and water like glass.
A classic lunch-hour anchorage, ten minutes from our quay. We drop the hook a few metres off and the afternoon simply happens.
Anchorages
arrive by sea
The folds along the Cap’s eastern shore, clear over rock and seagrass, pine-shaded in the morning.
Our default first swim of the day — ten minutes from the berth and reliably quiet while the beaches are still filling.
Sights & museums
A rose-pink Venetian palazzo crowning the Cap’s ridge, with nine themed gardens and musical fountains.
Ninety minutes, and the terraces show you both bays at once — the clearest explanation of why this peninsula costs what it costs.
Hotels
The white palace in fourteen acres of pines at the peninsula’s tip, with the famous cliffside pool at Club Dauphin.
If you are staying here, boarding at the Port de Saint-Jean rather than Beaulieu can save you the drive round the Cap. Ask when booking.
whatever you have in mind, that is the day we build
from the log
Yes — the bays off Passable and the Fossettes are classic anchorages, and the tender means you can land for lunch without wetting a shoe. In peak season we time arrival before the anchorage crowds; being based opposite the Cap makes that easy.
Many guests combine them — the Cap at idle in the morning, Monaco after lunch, home along the Èze cliffs. But a Cap-only day is nobody’s compromise: an hour of villas, three swims and a two-hour lunch fills eight hours with embarrassing ease.
Often, yes — the Port de Saint-Jean is minutes from our berth and pickups there are a regular arrangement, subject to the day’s berthing. Tell us where you are staying; if you are at the Grand-Hôtel du Cap-Ferrat or a villa on the point, boarding at Saint-Jean can save you the drive around.
One boat, one crew, up to 10 guests, and a coast that is entirely yours for the day. Tell us how you want to spend it and the rest is ours to arrange. The day is yours and it is our pleasure to be part of it.