France · Côte d'Azur
Yacht Charter Antibes
Port Vauban, the largest marina in the Mediterranean, and a Greek town with a Picasso museum inside its ramparts.
Antibes was founded by Greeks from Marseille in the fifth century BC and has been a port ever since. Port Vauban is now the largest marina in the Mediterranean, with a quay built for the biggest yachts afloat, and behind its ramparts sits an old town with a covered market, a castle where Picasso worked for six months in 1946, and streets that have nothing to do with the Riviera outside.
The port and the ramparts
Port Vauban holds over a thousand berths including the Quai des Milliardaires, and it is the working heart of yachting on this coast — the crews, the yards and the provisioning are all here rather than in the resorts.
The Château Grimaldi on the ramparts was lent to Picasso in 1946; he painted there through the autumn and left the work behind, which is why the building is now the Musée Picasso and holds a body of pictures made in the room you stand in.
Cap d'Antibes
The peninsula south of the town has the Baie des Milliardaires on its sheltered eastern side, a coastal path cut round the point at sea level, and pine woods that hide most of what is built there.
Juan-les-Pins on the western side has the sand and the jazz festival; Îles de Lérins are forty minutes further west, and Nice twenty minutes east.
Practical notes
- Port Vauban is the largest marina in the Mediterranean and the working centre of yachting on this coast
- Nice airport is twenty minutes by road
- The Cap d'Antibes coastal path runs round the point at sea level, with the Baie des Milliardaires on the sheltered side
- The Musée Picasso is in the Château Grimaldi on the ramparts, and holds work made in the building
Reached from: the Balearics and the western Mediterranean
Where to dine
A table by the water
Le Figuier de Saint-Esprit
AntibesBehind the ramparts, doing Provençal cooking with a star and a courtyard fig tree.
Marché Provençal
Cours MassénaThe covered market every morning, and where the crews of Port Vauban do their shopping.
Bacon
Cap d'AntibesOn the point, doing bouillabaisse since 1948 for people who arrived by tender.
What to do
Anchorages & excursions
Port Vauban
The largest marina in the Mediterranean, with over a thousand berths and the Quai des Milliardaires along one side.
Musée Picasso
In the Château Grimaldi on the ramparts, holding the work Picasso made in the building through the autumn of 1946.
Cap d'Antibes
A coastal path cut round the point at sea level, with the Baie des Milliardaires on the sheltered eastern side.
Juan-les-Pins
The sand on the western side of the cape, and a jazz festival in July that has run since 1960.
The fleet
Yachts available for Antibes
Vessels that operate here, from flagship motor yachts to smaller crewed boats. Every rate is quoted on enquiry.
Good to know
Questions we are asked about Antibes
- Why is Antibes the centre of yachting here?
- Port Vauban. Over a thousand berths, the Quai des Milliardaires, and the yards, crews and provisioning that go with them — the working side of this coast is here rather than in the resorts.
- What is worth seeing ashore?
- The Musée Picasso in the Château Grimaldi, which holds the work he made in the building in 1946, and the covered market on the Cours Masséna in the morning.
- What does a yacht charter at Antibes cost?
- It depends on the yacht, the season, the crew and the berth, so we quote on enquiry rather than publish a figure that would be wrong for most weeks.
Destinations
Nearby destinations
Charter here
Enquire about a charter at Antibes
Tell us your dates and how many of you there are, and we will come back with the right yacht and a full quotation.