The Villa Eilenroc tea room – a cup of tea at the tip of the Cap

At the very end of Cap d'Antibes, where the coastal path runs out of rocks, there is a villa the town owns and shares with everyone. Villa Eilenroc was built in 1867 to plans by Charles Garnier, the architect of the opera houses of Paris and Monte Carlo, and it stands in eleven hectares of Mediterranean park that run down to the sea. It is Belle Époque luxury in its purest form – and, since a bequest in 1982, it belongs to Antibes. In the heart of the park, a recently renovated tea room serves drinks and sweet things on three days a week. That is the whole proposition, and it is a perfect one: walk the shore path, wander through the rose garden, sit down in the shade of one of the great estates of the Riviera, and have a cup of tea. There is no grander setting for something so simple on the whole of the Cap.

Here is the villa's story, the gardens, the tea room and how to plan the walk.

01A villa with a name in reverse

In 1860 a wealthy Dutchman, Hugh-Hope Loudon, bought land at the far end of the Cap and commissioned a grand residence, finished in 1867. He named it Eilenroc – his wife Cornélie's name, spelt backwards. In 1927 the estate passed to the American businessman Louis-Dudley Beaumont and his wife, a young soprano, who redecorated it with contemporary artists and filled it with 18th-century furniture and paintings. In 1982 Madame Beaumont left the whole estate to the town, on one condition: that its gardens be opened to the public. They have been since 1988, and the villa is listed as a historic monument.

02The gardens

The park is planted with the traditional species of the Mediterranean, and it is as much a reason to come as the villa. At its heart is a public rose garden of thousands of varieties, most of them bred in Antibes – a reminder that this was for generations a town of rose growers. A scented garden, created in 2011, greets you at the rose garden's entrance, and an olive grove completes the walk. Come in spring, when the roses are at their best, or on a clear winter morning, when the light is sharp and the Cap is quiet.

Insider tip

Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, 10.00–16.30; villa closed in August.

03The tea room

The tea room sits in the middle of the park and has recently been renovated. Its card is short: drinks and sweet things, exactly what you want after the walk along the shore. It opens on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from 10.00 to 16.30. There is no better way to take in the estate than slowly, from a table, with the park around you.

04Saturdays at the villa

Saturday is the day to plan for. As well as the park and the tea room, the first floor of the villa opens to visitors from 10.00 to 17.00, with last entry at 16.30, so you can see the rooms the Beaumonts decorated before taking your tea outside. Entry has been a single rate of €2 for the autumn of 2026 – one of the best-value visits on the Riviera.

05Arriving on foot

The finest way in is the coastal path. It runs for 3.7 kilometres between the Garoupe bay and the villa's own beach, along the rocks of the Cap, with a stop at the little cove of the Anse de l'Argent Faux on the way. Start at La Garoupe beach in the morning, follow the shore round to Avenue Mrs L. D. Beaumont, and let the tea room be the end of the walk. Wear proper shoes: the path is rocky in places.

06In August

Because of the risk of fire, the villa closes to the public for the whole of August. The tea room is the exception: it stays open, reached from the Chemin des Douaniers, the old customs officers' path along the shore. So even in the height of summer, the walk still has its reward.

For a weekend. For a lifetime.