Beaulieu

Beaulieu-sur-Mer sits in a sheltered bay between Villefranche and Èze, with Cap Ferrat closing it on one side. About 6,000 people live there.

The bay is so protected by the cliffs behind it that the quarter at its eastern end has been called the Petite Afrique since the nineteenth century — bananas and palms grow outside, and it is the mildest spot on the whole French coast in winter.

Villa Kérylos

The reason most people come. Between 1902 and 1908 the archaeologist Théodore Reinach had the architect Emmanuel Pontremoli build him, on a rock over the sea, a reconstruction of a wealthy Greek house of the island of Delos in the second century BC.

It is not a pastiche in the usual sense: the plan, the materials and the furniture were researched and then executed properly — Carrara marble, alabaster, exotic woods, mosaics copied from excavated originals, bronze fittings made to ancient designs. Reinach lived in it, and the rooms carry Greek names.

The villa was left to the Institut de France and is open all year. Allow an hour and a half; the audio guide is worth taking.

The town and the coast paths

Beaulieu is a quiet resort of belle-époque hotels and a marina, with a casino and a rotunda on the front. It is not lively, and that is what its regulars want from it.

Two walks start here and both are among the best short coastal paths on the Riviera:

• Sentier du bord de mer to Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat — round the eastern shore of the cape, about an hour, past the villas and the small coves
• Promenade Maurice-Rouvier — the paved shore walk linking Beaulieu to Saint-Jean directly, twenty minutes, flat and open to everyone

The beaches are shingle: Petite Afrique at the eastern end, Baie des Fourmis below the villa.

Getting there

• By train — the station is in the centre, on the Nice–Ventimiglia line: Nice 10 minutes, Monaco 10 minutes, Menton 25. This is far the easiest way.
• By bus — the coastal line along the Basse Corniche.
• By car — the Basse Corniche; parking in the centre is limited and paid. See parking in France.

Around

• Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat — next door, with the Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild and the cape walk
• Èze — 10 minutes up, the hilltop village
• Villefranche-sur-Mer — 5 minutes west, with the deep-water bay
• Monaco — 10 minutes by train
• La Turbie — the Roman Trophy of the Alps, on the ridge above

When to go

Beaulieu is one of the few places on this coast that genuinely works in winter — the Petite Afrique reputation is earned, and January here is mild and empty. Otherwise April to June and September to October; the villa is open all year.

See the Côte d’Azur.

Photo credits

Photographs on this page come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences, by Waterborough, CC BY-SA 4.0:

• The port and the villa
• The peristyle

Nearby

Other places on this site within easy reach, as the crow flies:

• La Turbie — 7 km
• Aéroport de Nice — 11 km
• Roquebrune-Cap-Martin — 12 km
• Saint-Paul-de-Vence — 17 km
• Vence — 18 km
• Biot — 21 km

Weather in Beaulieu-sur-Mer

Updated: 20 October 2026