Antibes has a swimming spot for every mood: a sheltered town beach you can reach barefoot from the old town, long sandy stretches facing the Alps, and the intimate coves of the Cap. Here is how locals choose between them.
La Gravette — the old town’s beach
Tucked inside the harbour walls beneath the ramparts, La Gravette is calm, family-friendly and absurdly convenient: from our houses you can be in the water within minutes, towel over your shoulder. It keeps its charm well into the evening, when the old town lights come on behind you.
Because it is sheltered, it is also the best early- and late-season swim in town.
Salis, the Garoupe and the Cap
Walk south and the first sand you meet is the Plage du Ponteil, closest of all to the centre — a wide, gentle beach where Antibes itself comes to swim after work, with the promenade and its cafés a step behind. Just beyond it, Plage de la Salis offers the classic postcard: golden sand with the old town, the château and the snow-capped Alps in one frame. Further on, the Garoupe’s clear shallow water made it the playground of the 1920s Riviera set — part free beach, part legendary clubs like Plage Keller (1035 chemin de la Garoupe). Locals also love the Plage des Ondes, between antique ruins and a tiny fishermen’s harbour.
Around the Cap, rocky coves along the coastal path reward those who walk: bring water shoes and pick your own private spot between the pines.
The western shore, towards Juan-les-Pins
Cross the isthmus — one stop on the train, or a short drive — and the coast changes character. The Plage du Pont du Lys is a modest crescent of sand between the two towns, calm and rarely crowded, the kind of place families return to because nobody else has found it. A little further, the Plage de la Gallice sits beside the Port Gallice marina: small, well kept, clear water, and yachts for scenery.
Then comes the Plage de Juan-les-Pins itself, the long sandy front of the resort — beach clubs, paddleboards, music drifting from the terraces. It is the loud, cheerful opposite of the Gravette, and some evenings that is exactly what you want. In July it is also two minutes from the Jazz à Juan stage, under the pines.
Further along the coast
With a car or a boat day, the Riviera’s storied beaches line up: the beach clubs of the Croisette in Cannes (35 min), the sheltered public coves of Cap Ferrat (60 min), the pebbles and quiet clubs of Èze-Bord-de-Mer, the dramatic white cliffs of Mala Beach at Cap d’Ail, the Monte-Carlo Beach Club, and — for a full excursion — the legendary sands of Pampelonne near Saint-Tropez, home of Club 55.
Everything on this page is minutes from our doors.
Seven restored houses inside the old town — live availability, transparent prices, and your hosts two streets away.
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