the geography lesson
Charter from Nice or Beaulieu? The map answers.
Most visitors search “boat rental Nice” because Nice is the name they know — then board in a commercial port and spend the first hour motoring to the water they came for. The comparison below is the one we wish every visitor saw before booking anywhere, including with us.
the quieter harbour
What each port actually is
The Port of Nice (Port Lympia) is a working city harbour: Corsica ferries, commercial quays, tour boats, a one-way traffic system and genuine Niçois charm — as a place to visit. The Port de Beaulieu, twenty minutes east, is a small pleasure harbour between the Cap Ferrat peninsula and the Èze cliffs, with nothing industrial in sight and the coast’s best water beginning at its sea wall.
The first-hour test
Chart the morning from each. From Nice: clear the harbour, round the airport headland or run the long Baie des Anges, and reach Villefranche — the first great anchorage — after twenty-five to forty minutes underway. From Beaulieu: Villefranche is five minutes one way, Cap Ferrat’s coves are ten the other, Monaco is ten more. On an eight-hour day, departure geography quietly decides an extra hour of swimming — in your favour or against it.
The short answers
Ten kilometres — fifteen minutes by car or taxi along the Basse Corniche, fifteen by train (five minutes’ walk from station to our quay). Staying in Nice and chartering from Beaulieu costs a quarter-hour and repays it several times over on the water.
By arrangement for special cases — but honestly, the Beaulieu start is part of what guests are buying: the good coast from minute one. The fifteen-minute taxi is the best-value upgrade on the Riviera.
further down the chart
Your next summer story begins here.
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.