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The guide · Walk 1 of 5 · easy

Juan-les-Pins waterfront

Six gates in four hundred metres — and the invention of the summer season on the Riviera.

6gates
312 mstraight-line between gates – the road is a little longer
13 minat 4.5 km/h, a minute and a half at each gate
Avenue Notre Damestart
123456
Cap d’Antibes · VERA’s own boundary6 stops · dots: the other walks
  1. 1
    Start · Avenue Notre Dame · built 1931–1932

    Le 1932openparcel confirmed

    Avenue Notre Dame · Public frontage

    Stand at the corner. The rotunda above you was drawn as the bow of a ship — Art Deco crossed with an ocean liner, opened in 1932 as the Hôtel Les Ambassadeurs.

    What the record saysIt opened in 1932 with thirteen nationalities in the lounge in its first year. Requisitioned in the war, it was badly damaged under the occupation.
    Directions Photograph the gate
    Le 1932, VERA field photograph 1Le 1932, VERA field photograph 2Le 1932, VERA field photograph 3Le 1932, VERA field photograph 4
  2. 2
    +102 m · 102 m in · built 1927

    Hôtel Le Provençalopenparcel confirmed

    Boulevard Edouard Baudoin · Public frontage

    The long Art Deco front of what was a 280-room hotel with its own clubhouse and tennis courts.

    What the record saysIts owner had bought the bankrupt local casino cheaply in 1923 and made it the first on the Riviera to open in summer. In the 1936 general strike the guests served themselves at the bar.
    Directions Photograph the gate
    Hôtel Le Provençal, VERA field photograph 1Hôtel Le Provençal, VERA field photograph 2Hôtel Le Provençal, VERA field photograph 3Hôtel Le Provençal, VERA field photograph 4Hôtel Le Provençal, VERA field photograph 5Hôtel Le Provençal, VERA field photograph 6
  3. 3
    +104 m · 206 m in · built 1885

    La Picoletteparcel confirmed

    Boulevard Edouard Baudoin · Private — the slab is at the gate

    PICOLETTE is cut into a white marble slab at the entrance. The old deeds spell it Piccolette, with two Cs; the marble has one.

    What the record saysThe house was given to a daughter as a wedding present in 1922, valued at 130,000 francs with 25,000 francs of furniture. It was later seized and looted during the occupation.
    Directions Photograph the gate
    La Picolette, VERA field photograph 1La Picolette, VERA field photograph 2La Picolette, VERA field photograph 3La Picolette, VERA field photograph 4La Picolette, VERA field photograph 5
  4. 4
    +41 m · 247 m in · built 1902

    Hôtel Belles Rivesopenparcel confirmed

    Boulevard Edouard Baudoin · Hotel — open

    The hotel entrance. Built in 1902 as Villa Saint-Louis for a Paris doctor's wife, and let to Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald for the seasons of 1925 and 1926.

    What the record saysIt sold for 17,113 francs in 1902, 63,000 in 1913 and 80,000 in 1918. The 1913 deed describes the drapes matching the wallpapers and the wooden panels above the doors.
    Directions Photograph the gate
    Hôtel Belles Rives, VERA field photograph 1Hôtel Belles Rives, VERA field photograph 2Hôtel Belles Rives, VERA field photograph 3Hôtel Belles Rives, VERA field photograph 4Hôtel Belles Rives, VERA field photograph 5Hôtel Belles Rives, VERA field photograph 6
  5. 5
    +38 m · 285 m in · built 1895

    Villa Sudparcel confirmed

    Boulevard Edouard Baudoin · Private — gate on the boulevard

    A seafront gate. The villa behind it has been called Bagatelle, then Montout, then Sud.

    What the record saysIts builder died two years after finishing it, and the book records a myriad of owners in the twelve years that followed. An estate agency was already selling it as a modern residence in the 1960s.
    Directions Photograph the gate
    Villa Sud, VERA field photograph 1Villa Sud, VERA field photograph 2
  6. 6
    +27 m · 312 m in · built 1912

    Villa La Vigieparcel confirmed

    Boulevard Edouard Baudoin · Private — gate on the boulevard

    The neo-Gothic house on the point. Frank Jay Gould bought it in 1926; to his wife the villa and the hotel down the road were annexes of one another.

    What the record saysThe land alone cost 50,000 francs in 1912. Its most famous owners bought it in 1926, the year after the casino down the road opened and made the resort.
    Directions Photograph the gate
    Villa La Vigie, VERA field photograph 1

Next

The other four walks.

Château Empel, the first gate on the walk
easyWalk 2

La Salis and Bacon

The oldest private holdings on the Cap, and the three finest gates on the peninsula.

8 gates1.3 km29 min
Villa Duby Dubeau, the first gate on the walk
moderateWalk 3

The east shore to La Croë

Where the estates get large and the walls get high. The longest of the five.

5 gates2.9 km47 min
Villa Eilenroc, the first gate on the walk
easyWalk 4

The southern tip

The grandest ground on the Cap, one gate you can walk through, and one villa that no longer exists.

5 gates1.5 km27 min
Villa Soleil, later the Grand Hôtel du Cap, the first gate on the walk
moderateWalk 5

The west shore, back to town

Two hotels, a botanist's garden, and a comic singer's face on a gatepost.

9 gates2.5 km47 min