The Cap Ferrat coastal walk: the three paths compared

Cap Ferrat has no museum other than the Villa Ephrussi, no shopping street and no nightlife. What it has is a coastline you can walk at sea level on paths that are free, well maintained and mostly flat. Three routes cover the peninsula, from twenty minutes to an hour and a half, and together they are the best thing to do on this part of the coast. One of them is currently cut, which nobody tells you until you are standing at the barrier, so start with that.

Access notice, verified August 2026: the Tour du Cap coastal path is closed between the lighthouse and the Plage de Passable for safety works, with no reopening date announced. The closure has been in place since September 2023. The lighthouse itself is not open to the public. Check the tourist office notice before you set out, since it is only signposted at the access points.

Which Cap Ferrat coastal walk should you do?

If you have half an hour, do the Promenade Maurice Rouvier. If you have an hour, do the Pointe Saint-Hospice loop. The Tour du Cap is the long one, but it is partly closed, so plan it as an out and back rather than a circuit.

Distances and times are the tourist office figures. Beyond the standing closure above, sections also shut in rough seas and after storms, posted at the access points. Verified August 2026.

What is on each route?

The Promenade Maurice Rouvier

The easy one, and the one nobody regrets. It runs at sea level from Beaulieu-sur-Mer around to Saint-Jean, paved the whole way, flat enough for a pushchair, with the water on one side and the gardens and gates of the great villas on the other. It is 1.3 kilometres, about twenty minutes end to end. Because it starts at a station, it is also the most practical arrival route onto the Cap without a car.

The Pointe Saint-Hospice loop

The one with the destination. From the harbour of Saint-Jean the path climbs gently onto the eastern point, past the chapel and the large bronze madonna that faces out to sea, then round the headland above Paloma beach and back. The views run from Villefranche and the roofs of the village on one side to Beaulieu and the cliffs of Èze on the other. It is 1.8 kilometres and about forty minutes, an hour if you stop at the chapel, and the finest of it is the last hour before sunset.

The Tour du Cap, and why it is not a loop right now

The serious one, and the one to plan carefully. The path runs around the southern and western sides of the peninsula along rock shelves where the sea is close, 4.8 kilometres and about an hour and a half when it is fully open. It is not fully open. The section between the lighthouse and the Plage de Passable has been closed for safety works since September 2023 with no announced reopening, so the honest plan is an out and back from Saint-Jean rather than a circuit. Take water, because there is none once you leave the village, wear real shoes rather than sandals, and expect no shade on the southern half.

Where do you swim, and where do you eat?

Paloma gets the photographs, Passable gets the sunset. Paloma, on the eastern side below Pointe Saint-Hospice, is the one people photograph: pebbles, clear water, and public and free since 2018, with the Paloma Beach restaurant sitting at one end rather than owning the beach. Plage de Passable, on the western side, faces Villefranche across the bay and gets the sunset, which makes it the better evening swim of the two. Both are reachable on foot from the harbour.

For food, the harbour of Saint-Jean is where the village eats, and it is small enough that booking in summer is sensible. This is not a place with fifty restaurants. It is a place with a handful, most of them looking at boats.

When is the light best on the Cap Ferrat coastal path?

The peninsula faces every direction at once, which is unusual and useful. The eastern side, meaning Pointe Saint-Hospice and Paloma, gets the morning. The western side, meaning Passable and the Villa Ephrussi slope, gets the evening and the sunset over Villefranche. In practice that means you can shoot here at either end of the day without moving more than twenty minutes.

If you want the peninsula photographed properly while you walk it, our Cap-Ferrat photography page covers the sessions we run here and the Instagram photoshoot page covers the shorter format.

Seasonally, May, June, September and October are the months that work best: warm enough for the water, soft enough for the light, and quiet enough that the paths are not queues. In July and August the Sentier du Littoral is close to unusable between eleven and five, because there is no shade on the southern half and the rock reflects the heat back at you. Start the full loop before eight or leave it for another day. The Promenade Maurice Rouvier is the only one of the three that works at midday, because half of it is under trees. Sunset times for any date are linked in the sources below, and our guide to the best photo spots in Cap-Ferrat maps the specific points on each route.

Frequently asked questions

What are the best coastal walks on Cap Ferrat?

Three routes cover the peninsula. The Promenade Maurice Rouvier runs flat and paved at sea level from Beaulieu-sur-Mer to Saint-Jean, 1.3 km and about twenty minutes. The Pointe Saint-Hospice loop from the harbour is 1.8 km and about forty minutes, an hour with the chapel. The Tour du Cap is 4.8 km and around an hour and a half, but it has been closed between the lighthouse and the Plage de Passable since September 2023.

Is the Cap Ferrat coastal path open?

Partly. The Tour du Cap has been closed between the lighthouse and the Plage de Passable since September 2023 for safety works, with no reopening date announced, so it has to be walked as an out and back rather than a loop. The Promenade Maurice Rouvier and the Pointe Saint-Hospice loop are open and easy. Closures are only signposted at the access points, so check the tourist office notice before you set out.

Which beaches are worth it on Cap Ferrat?

Paloma on the eastern side, below Pointe Saint-Hospice, with pebbles and clear water, public and free since 2018, with the Paloma Beach restaurant at one end rather than owning the beach. Plage de Passable on the western side faces Villefranche across the bay and catches the sunset, which makes it the better evening swim. Both are reachable on foot from the harbour of Saint-Jean.

When is the best time of day and year to walk the Cap?

The peninsula faces every direction, so the eastern side around Pointe Saint-Hospice gets the morning and the western side around Passable gets the evening and the sunset over Villefranche. May, June, September and October are the best months: warm enough to swim, soft enough for the light and quiet enough that the paths are not crowded.

More reading: the Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild, the best photo spots in Cap-Ferrat, and the best time of year for a photoshoot here.