A tale of 3 Caps

Part I - Roquebrune-Cap-Martin
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A beautiful pathway round a lesser-known cap

Posted by Dan Norris on 2 March 2024
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Ask anyone familiar with the French Riviera about famous ‘caps’, or presquiles (peninsulars) and you’re bound to hear about Cap Ferrat, one of the most expensive and desirable real estate sectors in the world, or Cap d’Antibes, which is not far behind. Both of these beautiful strips of land have world-class five star hotels – the Grand Hôtel du Cap on Cap Ferrat, and the legendary Hôtel du Cap-Eden-Roc on Cap d’Antibes. They both have stylish towns at their base – Antibes and Beaulieu respectively – and gorgeous walks around their rugged shorelines. But there is another, less famous, less expensive (for the moment) and subtly different cap, just a little further along the coast, Cap Martin.

Hiking Roquebrune Cap Martin near Monaco

Where the waters meet the bare rock below your feet

Possibly because Cap Martin may not have the same exotic reputation of its two siblings, and arguably a little less glamour – you’ll have to go to nearby Monaco to enjoy five star luxury – it is often overlooked. But you could be missing out on a wonderful piece of (relatively) hidden, classic Riviera coastline. Sitting between Monaco and Menton, close to the Italian border, the town of Roquebrune is a fine place to visit, with plenty of good quality apartments and some lovely villas, a pretty, well preserved Old Town, and a bustling, lively atmosphere. There are good restaurants, and the town is by no means ugly – this is the Cote d’Azur after all – but it is a little more down-to-earth than some of the towns and villages on the Nice side of Monaco.

Officially called Roquebrune-Cap Martin (similar to Saint Jean-Cap Ferrat, where in the 1970s two small adjacent communes were combined to make one single entity) the two elements of Roquebrune town, with its perched Old Town looking regally down from the cliff, and the Cap Martin peninsular blend seamlessly into one another. For walking enthusiasts, there is a coastal path that follows the water’s edge round the whole of the Cap, and for those who are slightly less ambitious, there is a good cut through half way round that still allows you to take in plenty of beautiful scenery without so much shoe-wear.

“Quiet gardens, pretty vegetable plots on the terraces, and a higgledy-piggledy collection of villas…”

A good place to start your coastal walk around Roquebrune-Cap-Martin is the little parking on the Avenue Corbusier, situated between the sandy, quiet Plage du Buse beach and the Plage du Golfe Bleu, and what used to be the station house, now a museum, the Hangar Cap Moderne. You can park your car, bike or scooter there, and there’s a bus stop close by. At first the pathway runs along the side of the railway line, between the tracks to your left and the beach to your right, but soon the path drops down and you find yourself with a view of quiet gardens, pretty vegetable plots on the terraces, and a higgledy-piggledy collection of villas, apartment buildings and greenery. If that doesn’t sound glamourous, it is still easy on the eye, and distinctly more down to earth than the deserted Russian-owned palaces of the caps Ferrat and Antibes.

Roquebrune Cap Martin coastal walk

A typically French scene on a lazy Sunday

Roquebrune Cap Martin coastal walk

Friends enjoying life

At one point the pathway splits just before it joins Cap Martin, with access on the right to the very pretty little sandy beach as our path meanders onwards. Crossing a brook (or possibly a drainage ditch!) flowing down towards the sea, the pathway weaves around a pretty but modest villa. As we passed, music filled the air, breathy French 1970s pop that seemed somehow perfect for a calm Sunday. A group of friends sat drinking and chatting amongst the vegetables on a rickety wooden table, and the owner, who seemed more than happy to greet passers-by with a cheerful smile, had placed a small shelf full of books at the edge of the pathway. We stopped to take in this perfectly French view before climbing the stairs up to join the main Cap Martin path.

Soon, the walk is following the sea, with the beautiful azure waters lapping against the ragged, heat bleached rocks just below you, the strong, perfumed scent of the umbrella pines and early spring shrubs filling the air. There are stone benches placed along the way, and underfoot the path is smooth and easy to navigate (unlike Cap Ferrat) making it popular with older walkers, and much more comfy for your feet – one could perhaps say more civilized.

Villa Cypris Roquebrune Cap Martin

A strangely abandoned beach house high on the rocks

As the pathway continues, one can spot a few discreetly hidden villas, the slightly eerie remains of a once fabulous elevated beach house, and in one particular case, a simply wonderful beachside mansion with its elegant lawns stretching down to the edge of the water, the walls abutting the beach bookended by splendid structures – a guest house and beach house.

“Menton’s pastel coloured Old Town rises from the sea as the final full stop to the Riviera…”

As you round the Cap, the view from the other side opens up, and the pretty outline of Menton, just around the coast eastwards from Roquebrune, comes into view. With its pastel-coloured old town rising from the sea, Menton is a final, handsome full stop to the French Riviera, and from the path on Cap Martin the view stretches into Italy, with those first stops on the way East, Ventimiglia and San Remo, just visible in the distance. Soon, the pathway meets a quiet residential road, and this is the point where those choosing the shorter walk can stop to take in the view, before heading back, slightly inland, towards the start point. Between the road and the sea to the left, one sees that the villas overlooking the waters are part of a secure private estate, a lovely strip of land that sits enticingly behind some fairly sturdy looking security fencing, somehow without totally spoiling the pleasing atmosphere along the road, which to the right has a row of discreet, pretty detached villas. Looking at these more modest properties (everything is relative here) – many of which have clearly been recently bought and undergoing restoration – one gets the feeling that Cap Martin is undergoing its own subtle transformation. Its hard to call the change ‘gentrification’, as the area is certainly already gentrified, but one suspects that the more affordable properties in the area will soon be transformed by developers into a higher price bracket, aimed at the international elite searching for their own piece of personal paradise.

None of this, of course, affects the passing walker, and soon the road rejoins the mainland, and the pathway back to the start. As the winter sun starts to fade, and the warmth of the afternoon starts to chill somewhat, we headed home contented and relaxed. Cap Martin may not have the same cache as its two sisters, Cap Ferrat and Antibes, but it may just be the perfect destination for a quiet, relaxing, bucolic Sunday stroll. We’ll be back for the full fat version soon…

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