Le Bistrot du Curé – lunch under the pines on the Garoupe plateau

Every good walk needs a destination, and on Cap d'Antibes it is this one. The Garoupe plateau is the high point of the peninsula, some 75 metres above the sea, and up here, side by side, stand the lighthouse, the navy semaphore and the chapel of Notre-Dame-de-la-Garoupe, its walls covered with the thank-you offerings of sailors who came home. Tucked behind the chapel, in the shade of the pines, is a small café with a terrace: Le Bistrot du Curé. It serves the food of the region and of France without fuss – pan bagnat and pissaladière, cheeses, foie gras, charcuterie and oysters – and it comes with the finest view on the Cap thrown in. Walk up the old Calvaire path from the sea, look in at the chapel, take in the coast from the orientation table, then sit down. Few lunches on the Riviera are as well earned, or as simple.

Here is the climb, the chapel, the menu and how to time your morning.

01At the top of the Cap

You reach the plateau either by the road or on foot up the Chemin du Calvaire, the old pilgrims' path that climbs from the seafront at La Salis, roughly paved and lined with the stations of the cross. It is a short, steep climb through the pines, and it is the right way to arrive: the view opens up gradually behind you, and the plateau feels like a small village of its own when you reach the top.

02The sailors' chapel

Before lunch, step inside Notre-Dame-de-la-Garoupe. Pilgrims have been climbing to this spot for around a thousand years, and the chapel, listed as a historic monument since 1926, is lined with some 300 ex-votos – paintings and objects left by sailors and their families in thanks for a shipwreck survived, an illness cured, a war come home from. The oldest dates from 1506. Every year, on the first Thursday of July, the sailors of Antibes carry the statue of Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Port down the Calvaire path to the cathedral in the old town, barefoot and dressed in blue and white, and bring her back up to the plateau on the following Sunday.

Insider tip

Call ahead to check it is open.

03What they serve

The menu is short and exactly right for the place. On the local side there is pan bagnat, the great sandwich of Nice, and pissaladière, the onion tart of the coast. On the French side, a plate of cheeses, foie gras, charcuterie and, in season, oysters. It is the food of a long, unhurried lunch in the shade rather than a formal meal, eaten on a terrace behind the chapel with the pines overhead.

04The view

Walk a few steps from your table to the orientation table and the whole coast is laid out below you. On a clear day the view runs from Italy in the east to Cap Camarat beyond Saint-Tropez in the west, with the Alps rising to the north. On an early morning, when the air is at its clearest, you may even make out Corsica on the horizon. It is the widest view on the Cap, and it is free.

05Make a morning of it

Start early at La Salis, the beach just south of the old town, and climb the Calvaire path while it is still cool. Look in at the chapel, walk to the orientation table, then take your time over lunch. Afterwards, go down the other side of the plateau to La Garoupe for a swim and the coastal path along the rocks – or simply stay in the shade a little longer. It is the most rewarding half-day on Cap d'Antibes, and it costs almost nothing.

For a weekend. For a lifetime.