Three villages side by side between Nice and Monaco: the bay of Villefranche and its chapel painted by Cocteau, the Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild and the coastal paths of Cap-Ferrat, the Greek villa Kérylos and the harbour of Beaulieu. The addresses I give my own passengers, each with its phone number, its website and directions.
Nothing here was picked from online ratings. Two MICHELIN stars within three kilometres of each other, several tables held in the guide's selection, and two institutions people ask for by name. The entries are sorted village by village.
The harbour quay, facing the boats. That is where everything happens.
The tables of the Cap belong to its two great hotels. You need to book, and you need to be driven there.
One star inside a palace hotel, one guide-listed table in town, and the institution of the harbour.
🚕 I'll drive you there — and I'll come back for you when the meal is over. The great tables are inside the hotels of Cap-Ferrat and Beaulieu: you do not walk to them, and you do not park there.
+33 6 58 27 93 12Three villages following one another along five kilometres of coast, linked on foot by shoreline paths. The bay of Villefranche is one of the deepest natural harbours in the Mediterranean — which is why cruise ships anchor in it, right in front of the old town.
Everything is within a few hundred metres, between the harbour and the citadel.
⚠️ The Villa Santo Sospir, the house Cocteau covered with drawings in 1950 — he called it « tattooed » — has finished its restoration but remains CLOSED to the public. Do not turn up there.
The most sheltered spot on the coast: the cliff cuts the wind, which is why palms and banana trees grow at the Petite Afrique.
🚕 I'll drive you there. The best way round: dropped at the Villa Ephrussi, walk out to the Pointe Saint-Hospice, and I pick you up at the harbour of Saint-Jean.
+33 6 58 27 93 12⚠️ Paloma Beach, the best-known private beach on Cap-Ferrat, WILL NOT REOPEN: the family who had run it for seventy years announced the end on 4 March 2026 and the buildings were demolished. The cove itself, La Scaletta, stays public. Here is what actually exists in 2026, village by village.
Only one big beach — but it is the longest stretch of sand in the area.
Five beaches in all on the peninsula, two of them with a private section. None is large: go early.
Two beaches that could not be more different: one elegant and quiet, the other bigger and livelier.
🚕 I'll drive you there. Les Marinières, Passable, the Baie des Fourmis: three beaches, three villages, and not one parking space in summer.
+33 6 58 27 93 12The two great villas — Ephrussi and Kérylos — are under « What to see », because you go to them first for the gardens and the architecture. Here are the museums proper: all four sit inside the citadel of Villefranche, within the same walls, and can be seen one after the other.
One entrance, four collections, in the old casemates. Allow an hour for the lot.
🚕 I'll drive you there. The citadel of Villefranche holds four museums inside one set of walls — an hour's visit, a single trip.
+33 6 58 27 93 12This is not a nightlife area — Monaco is ten minutes away and Nice a quarter of an hour. What you will find: a casino, an open-air cinema inside a fortress, and the bars along the harbours.
The only casino of the three villages, on the Baie des Fourmis.
In summer the citadel turns into an open-air auditorium.
🚕 I'll bring you home. The casino in Beaulieu closes at 4am at weekends, the open-air cinema in the citadel around midnight. Call me before you go out and I'll note the time.
+33 6 58 27 93 12