The smugglers' path
A way on the rock edge directly above the sea.
Patrick Rouzet — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Txllxt TxllxT — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Arnaud 25 — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Txllxt TxllxT — CC BY-SA 4.0
Yes — and it is one of the Riviera's better secrets. French law guarantees a **right of way along the coastal strip**, and the smugglers' path is a preserved public way around the cape even though the property behind it is among the most expensive in Europe. You need no permission and pay nothing. But respect the boundary: the path is clear and defined, and beyond the walls is private. ⚠ Note that **sections close** for maintenance, rockfall or rough seas, so check the state of the route before planning a whole day around it.
**Moderate** — neither a surfaced stroll nor a climb. The ground is natural uneven rock with cut steps and narrow stretches close to the water that can be **slippery with spray**. Anyone of ordinary fitness in good closed shoes manages it, but it suits neither **pushchairs, open shoes, nor limited mobility**. The main section is an hour to ninety minutes one way — plan the return (bus, or walk back on the upper road). There is no shade: avoid the middle of the day in July and August.
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A rocky tongue reaching into the sea south of Antibes, and one of the most expensive pieces of ground on earth: villas hidden behind walls and umbrella pines, legendary hotels, and estates invisible from the road. Scott Fitzgerald stayed here and wrote about this coast, and the world's wealthy still spend their summers on it. But **the cape is not closed off**, which many people don't realise. Around its perimeter runs the **smugglers' path** — a public coastal footway on the very edge of the rock above the sea, inherited by the communes from an old customs trail that watched for smuggling. You walk it among rocks and spray and see the villas from the side that never appears in photographs. The main section takes about **an hour to an hour and a half** one way, and its surface is natural rock, unsurfaced in places. At the top of the cape stands the **La Garoupe chapel** with its lighthouse beside it, and a view stretching from Nice to the Estérel mountains. At the northern end is the free **Thuret botanical garden**, with its subtropical trees.
A way on the rock edge directly above the sea.
The cape's high point, with a view from Nice to the Estérel.
A free botanical garden of subtropical trees.
Cap d'Antibes, 06160 Antibes