Antibes – the city guide: Vieil Antibes, the Cap and Juan-les-Pins

About Antibes

Antibes began as Antipolis, a trading post set up by the Greeks of Marseille, probably in the fourth century BC and most likely at the foot of the rock where the old town stands. Under Rome it became a city of Gallia Narbonensis. The oldest layers are still underfoot: traces of the Greek town have been found around the château, the cathedral, the Rue du Bateau and under the Cours Masséna.

For centuries this was France’s frontier town, facing Nice across the Var. Henri IV bought it from the Grimaldis in 1608; the Fort Carré rose on its peninsula in the sixteenth century, and Vauban, who came in 1682 and 1693 and drew a last project in 1703, worked on the harbour and the walls. The walls began to come down in the nineteenth century – the stretch along the sea, under the Promenade Amiral-de-Grasse, still stands.

Then the Riviera arrived. Villas filled the Cap d’Antibes from the middle of the nineteenth century, Juan-les-Pins was founded as a resort in 1882 and took off in the 1920s, and in the autumn of 1946 Picasso painted for two months in the Château Grimaldi, which became the Musée Picasso in December 1966. Since July 1960, Jazz à Juan has played under the pines of the Pinède Gould.

Today Antibes is the second town of the Alpes-Maritimes after Nice, with 77,637 inhabitants in 2023, two postcodes – 06600 for the town, 06160 for Juan-les-Pins and the Cap – and about 25 km of coast. This guide covers all of it: eleven quartiers, every street, every apartment building and landmark with its own page, and the places worth knowing.

Text: Metro Mode. Sources: Wikipédia – Antibes (Toponymie, Histoire); Wikipédia – Antibes (Époque moderne, Prémices de changements); Office de Tourisme d’Antibes Juan-les-Pins – Antibes, la cité des remparts; Wikipédia – Cap d’Antibes; Office de Tourisme – Juan-les-Pins, lust for life; Office de Tourisme – Picasso Museum; Wikipédia – Antibes (Festival Jazz à Juan); Wikipédia – Antibes (Démographie, d’après l’INSEE ; Quartiers); Office de Tourisme – The beaches.

The quartiers

Vieil AntibesThe old town inside the sea walls: the Château Grimaldi and its Picassos, the cathedral, the covered market of the Cours Masséna and the flowered lanes of the Safranier.Port VaubanThe harbour under the ramparts: the fishermen’s quay of the old port, the marina of 1971 and the long quay where the largest yachts on the Riviera tie up.Fort CarréThe star-shaped fort on its own peninsula, the sports grounds below it and the shingle beaches that run north towards La Brague.Cap d'Antibes & La GaroupeThe wooded peninsula of villas, the lighthouse on the Garoupe plateau and the coastal path of Tire-Poil, between the Garoupe beach and the Villa Eilenroc.Juan-les-PinsThe resort of the Jazz Age: pine woods and sandy beaches facing the Lérins islands, the Pinède Gould of Jazz à Juan and the Art Deco of the 1920s and 1930s.La Salis & Le PonteilThe town’s family beaches: the long, shallow sands of the Ponteil and the Salis, between the old town and the foot of the Cap.Town centreThe nineteenth-century town outside the walls: the Place de Gaulle and its Haussmann-style fronts, the Boulevard Albert-Ier down to the sea and the station.Saint-Jean & FontmerleThe residential hills between the town centre and Juan-les-Pins: Saint-Jean, La Badine, La Colle, Laval, Fontmerle and Saint-Maymes.La Fontonne & RabiacThe town north of the centre: La Fontonne, Rabiac-La Paganne, Les Prugnons, Azurville and La Constance.Les Semboules & Les Trois MoulinsThe north-west of the commune towards Sophia Antipolis: Les Semboules, Les Trois Moulins, Les Combes, Les Bastides and L’Estagnol.La Brague & Les GroulesThe north-east of the commune, where the Brague meets the sea: Les Groules and Les Bréguières.

The essentials

Sixteen places to start with, chosen by the Metro Mode editors – by place, never by rating.

Musée PicassoThe Château Grimaldi stands where the acropolis of Greek Antipolis stood, above the sea wall.

Antibes Cathedral (Notre-Dame-de-l’Immaculée-Conception)Antibes was a bishopric from the fifth century until 1244, and its former cathedral – also called Notre-Dame-de-la-Platea – is still the largest church in town.Olivier2000 · CC BY-SA 1.0 · Wikimedia Commons Marché ProvençalThe covered market of the Cours Masséna – the old «Place Vieille», renamed in 1860 – has fed the town since farmers came to sell here at the start of the nineteenth century; its metal hall dates from 1928.

Fort CarréBuilt on the orders of Henri II in the middle of the sixteenth century, the fort watched the border with the County of Nice from its rock 26 metres above the sea; it was operational by 1585 and first attacked in 1592, by the Duke of Savoy’s army.Abxbay · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons Port VaubanA natural harbour since antiquity in the Anse Saint-Roch, it was given a first dyke in the sixteenth century, a jetty in 1648 and Vauban’s works from the 1680s.Nomade, by Jaume PlensaAn eight-metre figure made of steel letters, open to the sky, on the point of the Bastion Saint-Jaume at the end of the port.Musée d’ArchéologieAntibes’s archaeology museum sits in the Bastion Saint-André, built in 1698 on Vauban’s plans at the southern tip of the town walls; its two brick-vaulted galleries were the garrison’s refectory.Musée Peynet et du Dessin humoristiqueRaymond Peynet drew his famous «Amoureux» in 1943 and settled in Antibes in 1976; the museum on the Place Nationale opened in 1989 with nearly 300 works he gave the town.La Garoupe LighthouseA first lighthouse was lit on the Garoupe plateau in 1837; blown up by the German army in August 1944, it was rebuilt in 1948, 29 metres tall.Notre-Dame de la GaroupeThe sailors’ chapel on the top of the Cap is a fourteenth-century church in the Provençal Romanesque style, listed since 1926.Villa EilenrocA neoclassical villa finished in 1867 on plans attributed to Charles Garnier, at the tip of the Cap in an eleven-hectare park by the sea.Jardin botanique de la Villa ThuretThe botanist Gustave Thuret, famous for his work on seaweed, came south for his health and created this garden on the Cap in 1858 to see which exotic plants could live on the Riviera.La Pinède GouldThe pine wood in the heart of Juan-les-Pins is in two parts: to the north a playground, a carousel and a sculpture by Sosno under century-old pines; to the south the open-air stage where Jazz à Juan has played since 1960.

Hôtel Belles RivesIn 1925 F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald rented the Villa Saint-Louis on the water at Juan-les-Pins, and Fitzgerald worked here on Tender Is the Night.Leaaa9 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons Plage de la SalisThe long sandy beach between the old town and the Cap, with shallow water that makes it the town’s favourite for small children and, across the bay, the ramparts of Vieil Antibes with the Alps behind.Plage de la GaroupeThe sandy cove on the eastern side of the Cap, below the plateau, facing the Baie des Anges – one of the best-known beaches on the Riviera for its setting.

Lists and itineraries

The MICHELIN tables of AntibesThree restaurants in Antibes and Juan-les-Pins hold one MICHELIN star in the 2026 guide – Louroc at the Hôtel du Cap-Eden-Roc, Les Pêcheurs on the Cap and La Passagère at the Belles Rives – and seven more are in the selection, from the old town’s lanes to the Garoupe.Dinner with a viewTables with the sea in front of them: the tip of the Cap, the water’s edge at Juan-les-Pins and the rocks facing the Lérins islands.The beaches of AntibesAbout 25 km of coast, from the shingle north of the Fort Carré to the sand of the Ponteil, the Salis and the Garoupe, and the long public beaches of Juan-les-Pins.Picasso’s AntibesIn the autumn of 1946 Picasso painted in the Château Grimaldi, and left the town the works that made it the Musée Picasso in 1966.Antibes on a rainy dayMuseums, chapels, a covered market and a theatre: the places that do not need the sun.Antibes with childrenShallow sandy beaches, a fort to explore, a lighthouse, a small cartoon museum and a playground under the pines of Juan-les-Pins.One day in Vieil AntibesStart with the market in the morning, climb to the cathedral and the Château Grimaldi, cross the old town to the Place Nationale and the Safranier, and end on the ramparts and the port at sunset.Two days in Antibes and the CapThe first day in the old town and round the port to the Fort Carré; the second on the Cap, from the Salis up to the lighthouse, down to the Garoupe and along the coast, with dinner at the water’s edge.A Jazz à Juan weekendJazz à Juan has played in the Pinède Gould every July since 1960.

The quartiers on the map

Eleven quartiers, from the old town on its rock to the hills by Sophia Antipolis. Tap one for its guide.

Quartiers: INSEE’s IRIS districts grouped by VERA PI. The map can be embedded: https://verapi.fr/alpes-maritimes/antibes/allt?inb=1

On in Antibes

17 Oct – 31 Oct7ème Festival International d'Art Urbain "Coul'heures d'automne"Centre ville et divers lieux
24 Oct – 25 OctRégate Trophée d'AutomnePort Vauban - Quai Nord - Société des Régates d'Antibes
29 Oct – 30 OctJammin' Juan60 chemin des Sables Antipolis Palais des Congrès d'Antibes Juan-les-Pins

From VERA PI’s nightly events database (DATAtourisme and the Office de Tourisme Métropolitain, Licence Ouverte), read 2026-10-24. Check with the organisers before you go.

Through the year

1960Jazz à JuanEvery year in July, in the Pinède Gould, Juan-les-Pins – since 1960
·The Calvaire Antibois runEvery year in spring, 10 km from the Ponteil car park, round the Cap and twice over the Garoupe plateau
·The Marché ProvençalEvery morning, except Mondays from September to May, under the hall of the Cours Masséna
·The night market of Juan-les-PinsEvery evening in July and August, on the Promenade du Soleil

Recurring events; sources: Office de Tourisme – Juan-les-Pins, lust for life; Office de Tourisme – The Garoupe plateau; Office de Tourisme – The markets; Wikipédia – Juan-les-Pins / Antibes (Festival Jazz à Juan).

Places to know

The places in this guide with a Metro Mode text so far.

Sights

Beaches and beach clubs

Eat & drink

Hotels

Shops

Marché ProvençalMarket · Cours Masséna

Antibes in numbers

Population	77,637	INSEE via geo.api.gouv.fr, Licence Ouverte 2.0
Area	26.76 km²	IGN / INSEE via geo.api.gouv.fr (2,676 ha), Licence Ouverte 2.0
Coastline	25 km	Office de Tourisme d'Antibes Juan-les-Pins
Quartiers in this guide	11	VERA PI (INSEE IRIS)
Named streets	759	OpenStreetMap
Buildings	31,558	OpenStreetMap
Apartment buildings with a page	7,148	OpenStreetMap
Landmarks and public buildings with a page	136	OpenStreetMap, Wikidata
Restaurants, cafés and bars	496	OpenStreetMap, VERA PI
Hotels	87	OpenStreetMap, VERA PI
Shops	1,020	OpenStreetMap
Beaches and beach clubs	24	OpenStreetMap, VERA PI
Parks and gardens	71	OpenStreetMap
Bus stops	328	OpenStreetMap

Counts from the open data VERA PI reads, 25 October 2026. Prices are on VERA PI’s market pages for Antibes – never a single sale here.

Sources

Figures: INSEE and IGN via geo.api.gouv.fr (Licence Ouverte 2.0). Quartiers: INSEE’s IRIS districts grouped by VERA PI. Buildings, streets and places: © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL 1.0, and VERA PI’s own register. Sights: Wikidata (CC0) and the Mérimée base; photographs from Wikimedia Commons under the licence shown on each. Events: DATAtourisme and the Office de Tourisme Métropolitain (Licence Ouverte). Text: Metro Mode, with its sources named under each part.