Holiday apartment to let at Antibes, South of France

Beaches In Antibes

Plage de la Gravette: A pleasant little beach by the Old Town, the nearest to the apartment and a 20 minute walk. 

Plage du Ponteil: At the far end of the Old Town, with cafes on the front. One can go banana boating, water skiing and hire pedallos at the beach during the main holiday season.

Plage de la Salis: A bigger beach at the entrance to the Cap d’Antibes. There are sailing boats for hire, plus wind surfing at the “Club de Vollaille d’Antibes”. 

Plage de la Garoupe: Further down the Cap, a very pleasant beach with marvellous views of the Riviera coast and the Alpes Maritime. Quiet off-season. 

There are also extensive beaches at Juan-les-Pins on the other side of the Cap, with lots of pleasant cafes and restaurants along the front.
 

Local walks in Antibes 

The Old Town: Guests should certainly visit “le vieille ville” of Antibes, which is a maze of picturesque old streets and little squares, with lots of interesting shops and restaurants and places of historical interest such as the Cathedral and the Chateau. A walk along the Rampe des Saleurs and the Promenade Amiral de Grasse on the front will give you fine views across the Baie des Anges towards Nice and beyond. 

Round the Cap: The Cap d’Antibes is definitely to be visited, being one of the most charming (and exclusive) residential areas in the South of France. Guests can park at the Plages de la Garoupe and walk round the Cap on the coastal path as far as Port de l’Olivette or Plage des Ondes and thence back across the Cap to the Plages de la Garoupe. There are marvellous views of the coast almost as far as Italy and the Alpes Maritimes on the one side of the Cap and of the Isles de Lerins and the Massif de l’Esterel on the other. 

To the Phare de la Garoupe: Guests can park at the Port de la Salis at the entrance to the Cap d’Antibes and walk up the Chemin du Calvaire, past the stations of the cross, to the old Chapelle and Phare de la Garoupe (the lighthouse), whence they will have panoramic views on one side of the Alpes Maritimes and the “Blue Coast” as far as Cap Ferrat and beyond, and on the other of the highlands of Haut Provence and the mysterious and wild Massif de l’Esterel. 

During the Summer months, one can sometimes climb to the top of the “phare”, whence the view is even more breathtaking (there is no charge but one is invited to make a donation). Also during the season, there is café outside the lighthouse. The history of the chapel is fascinating. St Helena, the mother of the Emperor Constantine, is alleged to have prayed there in the fifth century, while searching for parts of the Cross and services are still held there on Sundays.  

One can walk back down to the coastal road (on either side of the Cap) through the Bois Notre Dame de la Garoupe (a pleasant woodland park). This is probably the most magical of all the walks in Antibes. 

Port Vauban and the Vieux Port: This is allegedly the biggest yacht harbour in Europe and one can spend a very interesting hour or two wandering along the jetties and gazing at the many and varied billionaires’ yachts. 

Round the Fort Carre: One can park at the far end of the car park at Port Vauban and take the footpath round the Fort Carre (or Fort Vauban), an impressive seventeenth century fortress which dominates the view to the Northern side of Antibes. 

Parc de Vaugrainier: A couple of miles in the direction of Nice is this very large mainly wooded park. Part of the park is reed-covered marshland full of ducks, geese and other estuarial-type birds. One can walk for an hour or more without retracing one’s steps.

Restaurants and night life in Antibes

Night-life is mainly centred on Juan les Pins, the twin town of Antibes, on the other side of the Cap. There are plenty of clubs there and also many restaurants and cafes. There are of course many, many restaurants and cafes in Antibes, with prices to suit all pockets. Guests will doubtless make their own delightful discoveries. The Michelin Red Guide is very useful; there is a copy in the apartment.
 

Cultural events and church services 

There are many concerts, exhibitions and other cultural events on the Cote d’Azur. The Office de Tourisme in Place de Gaulle in the centre of Antibes will provide details. 

Religious services (French language of course) are held at Antibes Cathedral on Sundays. There are Sunday services also at the Chapelle de la Garoupe on the Cap d’Antibes. There is a modern but nice English-speaking Anglican Church behind the Carlton Hotel in Cannes.

Sports facilities

There are several golf courses, including one at Biot (3 kilometres), and tennis courts nearby. There are two magnificent swimming pools, one indoor and one outdoor, just round the corner in Avenue Jules Grec. The indoor one is open every day except Monday. Five ski stations in the Alpes Maritimes are within two hours drive of Antibes. Isola 2000 is only 90 minutes drive. One can go banana boating, dinghy sailing, windsurfing and waterskiing at the Plage du Ponteil in Antibes or hire small boats at the Old Port.

Places to visit outside Antibes

These are innumerable. The Green Michelin Tourist Guide to the French Riviera, of which there is a copy in the apartment, is invaluable. It is full of useful and interesting information about the Cote d’Azur. Just a few places worth mentioning are as follows:

Esterel: Well worth a half-day trip to see the quite remote-feeling reddish coloured mountains of the Massif de l’Esterel which run behind the coast between Frejus and Cannes. In the very early Spring, the mimosa woods are in blossom and are astoundingly beautiful. Some of the roads are somewhat hair-raising. The coast road (Corniche d’Esterel) is superb.

Grand Canyon et Gorges du Verdon: Worth a day trip to see the spectacular gorges of the River Verdon a few miles inland. Suggested route Antibes - Grasse – Castellane – Lac de Ste Croix – Banjols – Draguignon – Frejus – Cannes – Antibes. There are wonderful views of the Mediterranean from the hills above the coast.

Saint-Tropez: A few miles west of Antibes, the coast is charming in a slightly different way: lusher though perhaps not so spectacular. Saint-Tropez is particularly worth visiting and there are very pleasant walks in the pinewoods of the Isle de Saint-Tropez (a peninsula, not an island). This is a whole-day trip and utterly delightful all the way.

Eze: One of the features of Provence are the many quaint and ancient hill-top villages. Eze, on the coast half-way between Nice and Monte-Carlo, is the queen of them all.

Beaulieu sur Mer: A couple of stops on the train beyond Nice Ville. A delightful and rather exclusive small resort at the entrance of the even more exclusive Cap Ferrat (which one can see from the flat), where Somerset Maugham, David Niven and the Rothschilds, inter alia, owned magnificent houses. The African Queen restaurant by the yacht marina is a pleasant place to lunch. There are charming walks around the Cap.

Menton: An attractive, old-fashioned and slightly down-at-heel resort very near the Italian border. A favourite of Queen Victoria, it contrasts with the more affluent Monte-Carlo (which is certainly worth visiting as well).

Nice: Capital of the Cote d’Azur and a fascinating and substantial historic city. Old Nice, the Port and the Chateau Hill (“the Acropolis”) are particularly worth exploring. There is an excellent flower market behind the Eastern end of the Promenade des Anglais.

Cannes: An elegant resort, great for fashionable shopping, with an excellent market and a magnificent and very long promenade. The old town end is especially attractive.

Other enjoyable and interesting places to visit include Grasse and the hill villages of Valbonne, Biot, Mougins, Haut de Cagnes, Fayence, Vence and St Paul de Vence – but there are dozens more and it is perhaps more fun to discover them for oneself. A boat trip from Cannes to the Iles des Lerins (Ile Ste Marguerite and Ile St-Honorat) makes a very pleasant day out. If one is thinking of longer trips, the magnificent and quite magical Avignon, city of the Popes for most of the fourteenth century, is to be heartily recommended, as well as Ste Maxime and St Raphael. And of course the Italian border is only an hour’s drive away on the peage, with easy access to the Ligurian coastal towns of Ventimiglia, Bordighera, San Remo and Imperia. Most of these places can be reached by train from Antibes station.

For travelling inland, guests will certainly need a car. A good way to travel is by Autoroute one way (fast and excellent but remember there are tolls) and lesser roads the other. One can visit any of the towns and villages on the coast by using the good railway service. There is a meandering but lovely railway line from Nice to Digne les Bains (centre for the lavender and honey industries). This would be an all-day outing.

Email:  james.wroe@orange.fr

Tel:   0033 (0)494 735 826