Skip to content
Dawn light over the Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat coastline

The Villas Saint-Jean Journal

Letters from a quieter stretch of the Riviera.

Seasonal guides, concierge field notes and recipes from our kitchen — written between bookings, never to fill an inbox.

Editor's Note — Summer 2025 Edition

A short note before you settle in.

The Journal began as a private newsletter we sent to clients between stays — a way of telling them which alley in Èze was finally open again, or which Cap Ferrat bouchon the chef had quietly started serving lunch at. Fourteen years on, we still write it the same way: a few pieces, twice a season, from the team in Villefranche-sur-Mer.

What follows is the summer edition. A destination guide for Cap Ferrat in July, a field report from Antibes in late August, the recipe our chef sends out when a guest asks for one last dinner on the terrace, and a short piece on booking windows for 2026 — the ones our reservations team would tell their own families about, if they had time to take them.

— The concierge desk, Villefranche-sur-Mer

Seasonal Guide — Cap Ferrat, July

Twelve days on the peninsula, written for the guests who come back every summer.

A working itinerary for July — the morning swims, the lunch counters the concierges keep off Google, and the four dinners worth planning around. Drawn from 1,847 stays hosted since 2009, written for a 7–21 night visit.

Read the July guide
A terrace on Cap Ferrat at the hour before dinner

From this season's edition

The next three pieces, in the order we'd read them.

  1. 01

    Field Report — Antibes

    The Marché Provençal at 7 a.m., and what to put on the boat.

    Our Antibes concierge on the stalls she actually buys from, and the four provisions a charter boat should never leave the quay without.

  2. 02

    Recipe — Closing-Night Kitchen

    A short menu for the last evening, written for a chef who has the morning off.

    The complimentary closing-night tasting menu, adapted for hosts who'd like to cook it themselves with produce from the marche.

  3. 03

    Concierge Note — Booking Windows

    On the dates that quietly sell out by March, and the ones that never do.

    78% of our July and August villas are booked solid by the first of March. Here is the quieter window our reservations team would book for their own families.

A line from the kitchen

"A closing-night menu should not impress. It should let the holiday exhale. Buy the fish from the man whose boat you have watched come in all week. Cook it simply, with the lemons he brings you. Pour the rose the concierge has been keeping in the back of the cellar. Sit down a little later than you planned."

— From the chef's note accompanying the complimentary closing-night tasting menu, served in every Villas Saint-Jean stay since 2011.

The next letter is yours

When the dates are firm, send them to us.

A short note with your arrival window, party size and budget is enough to begin. The reservations desk in Villefranche-sur-Mer replies within nine hours, in your time zone.

Check Availability & Request a Quote

Or call the desk directly: +33 4 93 01 84 22 — seven days a week, 08:00–22:00 CET.