# Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat and the Villa Ephrussi — The South of France
> A green peninsula of legendary villas between Nice and Monaco, a rose-pink palace ringed by nine gardens, and a coast path round the whole cape. Cap-Ferrat, on the Côte d’Azur.

*Source : https://the-south-of-france.com/en/french-riviera/cap-ferrat-ephrussi/*

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By **The Editors** — _Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, Alpes-Maritimes_

Spring 20268 min read Share LinkMail

Between Nice and Monaco a wooded peninsula reaches out into the sea — **Cap-Ferrat**, for a century one of the most coveted addresses on earth. Kings and writers built villas in its pines; Somerset Maugham wrote here, and a Rothschild raised a palace of rose-pink stone above two bays. And yet a public path runs the whole shore, free to anyone.

## I. The cape and the coast path

The **sentier du littoral** rounds the entire peninsula at the water’s edge — past the villas hidden in their gardens, the little **Plage de Paloma**, the lighthouse at the point, and back to the fishing harbour of **Saint-Jean**. It is one of the loveliest coastal walks on the Riviera, and it asks nothing but good shoes and a couple of hours.

“The villas are private, but the path along the sea belongs to everyone.”

From the notebook

![A rose-pink belle-époque villa above terraced gardens](https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1567720512899-3a71832bd46c?fm=jpg&q=74&w=1400&auto=format&fit=crop)

The Villa Ephrussi — Béatrice de Rothschild’s rose-pink palace above the sea.

## II. The Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild

On the narrow neck of the cape stands the **Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild**, the rose-pink belle-époque palace Béatrice de Rothschild filled with art and surrounded with **nine gardens** — French, Spanish, Florentine, Japanese, a garden of stone and a garden of roses — laid out so the whole thing reads, from above, like a ship between two blue bays. The musical fountains play on the hour.

![Formal gardens running down to a blue bay](https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1582497475588-49b76871cf42?fm=jpg&q=76&w=2400&auto=format&fit=crop)

The gardens of the Villa Ephrussi — nine worlds between Villefranche and Beaulieu.

## III. The harbour and around

The village of **Saint-Jean** keeps a real fishing harbour turned gently to pleasure, with restaurants round the quay and the **Grand-Hôtel du Cap-Ferrat** on the point. Next door, **Villefranche-sur-Mer** and **Beaulieu** with its Greek **Villa Kérylos** complete one of the richest few kilometres of coast in France.

The Practical Carnet · Carnet pratique

### Plan the _visit_

Getting there

About 20 min from Nice by car or bus; the nearest train is at **Beaulieu-sur-Mer**, a short walk on.

When to go

Spring and autumn; the coast path is best in the morning, the gardens for the fountains on the hour.

Where to stay

**Grand-Hôtel du Cap-Ferrat** on the point, or a small hotel by the harbour of Saint-Jean.

Read next

[Villefranche-sur-Mer, the deep harbour](https://the-south-of-france.com/en/french-riviera/villefranche-sur-mer/)

E

About the Author · L’auteur

#### Élise Marchand

Travel Editor — based in Marseille

Élise has been driving the back roads of the Midi for the journal since its first issue. She pays for her own rooms and her own lunches — and only writes about the places she would return to.

[More by Élise Marchand — voir ses articles](https://the-south-of-france.com/en/journal/)

Continue reading · À lire ensuite

### More from the _South_

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