The Riviera, address by address

A fishing port that Paul Signac and the painters of the early 1900s discovered before Colette, then Brigitte Bardot in 1956, made it the symbol of Riviera summers. Behind the yachts of the old harbour lie the pastel houses of La Ponche, the Citadel and its maritime museum, the Place des Lices and its pétanque players. The Ramatuelle beaches of Pampelonne stretch just south of the peninsula.

• 11 seasonal rentals

Perched in a spiral of lanes above Cannes, Mougins was Picasso’s home for the last twelve years of his life, and Jean Cocteau, Fernand Léger and Christian Dior were regulars before him. Today the village is known for its concentration of fine restaurants, its art galleries and museum, and the wooded residential estates that surround it — the quiet hinterland of the Riviera, ten minutes from the sea.

• 16 seasonal rentals
• 6 long-term rentals

A modest fishing village until Lord Brougham fell for it in 1834, Cannes grew into the winter retreat of Europe’s aristocracy before the Film Festival, founded in 1946, made it a world stage. The Croisette and its palaces, the old quarter of Le Suquet, the covered Forville market and the Lérins Islands just offshore give the city a rare blend of glamour and Provençal daily life.

• 9 for sale
• 43 seasonal rentals
• 14 long-term rentals

Founded by the Greeks as Antipolis, Antibes keeps the Riviera’s best-preserved old town within its Vauban ramparts, with the Provençal market, the Picasso Museum in the Château Grimaldi and Port Vauban, Europe’s largest yachting harbour. The Cap d’Antibes stretches south with its pine-shaded villas, the Garoupe beach and the coastal path that Fitzgerald’s characters walked in Tender Is the Night.

• 12 seasonal rentals

One of the deepest natural harbours in the Mediterranean, Villefranche-sur-Mer has sheltered ships since the Dukes of Savoy fortified it in the 16th century. Its ochre and pink façades tumble down to the quays, the vaulted Rue Obscure runs beneath the old town, and Jean Cocteau decorated the fishermen’s chapel of Saint-Pierre in 1957. The bay’s calm waters and the gentle slope of the hills make it a favourite among those who know the coast.

• 5 for sale
• 9 seasonal rentals

A peninsula of pine woods and secluded coves between Nice and Monaco, Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat has drawn kings, financiers and artists since King Leopold II of Belgium bought up its slopes in the 1890s. The Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild and its gardens, the fishing harbour of Saint-Jean and the coastal path around the cape define a place where privacy is the ultimate luxury.

• 6 for sale
• 10 seasonal rentals

An eagle’s nest village clinging to a rock 430 metres above the sea, Èze has watched over the coast since the Middle Ages. Its stone lanes lead up to the Exotic Garden on the site of the old castle, with views from Cap Ferrat to Corsica on clear days. Below, Èze-Bord-de-Mer offers a quieter, seaside face; Nietzsche composed part of Zarathustra on the path that links the two.

• 6 for sale
• 6 seasonal rentals

Sharing its eastern border with Monaco, Cap-d’Ail grew up in the Belle Époque as a resort of grand villas, one of which hosted Greta Garbo and another Winston Churchill. The coastal path skirts the rocks from Mala beach, one of the Riviera’s most beautiful coves, to the Principality’s harbour. Villas here enjoy the calm of a village setting with Monte-Carlo a few minutes away.

• 3 for sale
• 3 seasonal rentals
• 4 long-term rentals

Beausoleil rises in terraces directly above Monte-Carlo — the border with Monaco runs along a street, and many residents walk down to the Casino gardens in minutes. Created in 1904 during the Principality’s Belle Époque boom, the town kept its Italianate façades and its covered market, and offers a French address with the daily life of Monaco at the doorstep.

• 10 for sale

The Principality. The best of the world in two square kilometres.

• Our Monaco site

Between Monaco and Menton, Roquebrune-Cap-Martin pairs a medieval hilltop village, built around a 10th-century castle that is among the oldest in France, with the wooded Cap Martin peninsula, where Empress Eugénie, Winston Churchill and Le Corbusier all spent time. The coastal path around the cape, the thousand-year-old olive tree and the sheltered beaches make it one of the Riviera’s most discreet addresses.

• 21 for sale
• 16 seasonal rentals
• 10 long-term rentals

From a pearl-diving creek to a global city in two generations, Dubai has become one of the world’s most dynamic property markets, with a tax-free environment and year-round sunshine. Waldhof accompanies its Riviera and Monaco clientele there through a dedicated office, from waterfront residences on the Palm to the towers of Downtown.

• 4 for sale