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Port Vauban in Antibes is the largest marina in Europe, with 1,642 berths and the IYCA quay holding yachts to 165m LOA on its 15 deep-water alongside positions. A 50m motor yacht charter that embarks at IYCA on a Saturday in July 2025 saved 24 hours of operational reset time over the same yacht embarking at Cannes Vieux Port, because Antibes is where the yacht lives and Cannes is where it has to position to. That 24 hours is the difference between an embarkation week and a charter week.
The captain's preference is almost always to embark at IYCA. The broker's preference is sometimes to embark at Cannes, because Cannes is the address charter clients recognize. The right answer for most clients is to take the IYCA pickup and use the embarkation efficiency to add a quieter, longer route. The eastward run through Cap-Ferrat, Monaco, and the Italian Riviera dei Fiori is the route most captains recommend when the brief is "less crowded, more interesting."
This is the week from IYCA. The pickup logistics, the route, the bookings, and the 10-day variant that adds Portofino.
What IYCA actually is
The International Yacht Club d'Antibes is the deep-water section on the south-eastern side of Port Vauban, separated from the transient marina by a security gate and a quay structure that holds the largest yachts in the harbor on a clear T-pier and along the south Quai des Milliardaires. The club itself is part-marina, part-private-club, with crew facilities, a small restaurant, and the operational infrastructure (water, power, waste, fuel coordination) that yachts over 50m need on a basis.
IYCA is not a transient berth on the Cannes model. Berths are assigned and most are held under long-term agreements between the yacht's owner or management company and the port. A charter client embarking at IYCA does not book the berth. The yacht's operator does, often months ahead. The client arrives, clears the security gate, and walks to the yacht. The whole process takes 8 to 12 minutes if the operator has coordinated correctly.
The address matters. "Quai des Milliardaires" translates literally but the name in operator circles is just "IYCA." The captain's preferred line on the radio is "Antibes IYCA position 12" or whichever T-pier slot the yacht holds.
Why captains prefer IYCA for embarkation
Three reasons.
First, the operational reset. The yacht arrives at IYCA after the previous charter. The captain has 18 to 30 hours typically (Friday morning to Saturday afternoon) to refuel, take provisions, swap any rotating crew, complete laundry and linen, and run the technical checks. IYCA's fuel barge handles 30,000 to 60,000 liters of MGO in one call. The Antibes provisioning chain handles 18-pallet drops with two-hour notice. The crew accommodation in Antibes and Juan-les-Pins is dense and €140 to €220 per night. None of this is true at Monaco, half of it is harder at Cannes, and Antibes is built for it.
Second, the guest experience. A charter client arriving at Nice airport reaches IYCA in 35 minutes by car, the same as Cannes, and 50 minutes for Monaco. The Antibes town itself is a 5-minute walk from the IYCA gate. The Provençal market on the Cours Masséna runs every morning. The captain who wants to leave by 18:00 can let guests have an aperitif at the Place Nationale and walk back to the yacht without complication.
Third, the access east. The eastbound transit from IYCA is shorter to every anchorage between Cap d'Antibes and Portofino than the equivalent transit from Cannes. Cannes adds 5 to 7 nautical miles of westbound recovery on every Riviera-east transit. Antibes does not.
The embarkation logistics
The Saturday afternoon pickup at IYCA follows a predictable pattern. The captain confirms the gate clearance with the operator on Friday. The chief stew briefs the IYCA security office on Saturday morning with the guest list, the arrival times, and any private staff (nannies, doctors, security) traveling with the party. Cars enter the IYCA gate after presenting the guest list. The maximum is typically three vehicles per arrival window without prior coordination.
Guests are walked from the gate to the yacht by a deckhand. The captain does the welcome aboard at the saloon. Departure is from the alongside berth between 16:00 and 18:00, depending on guest schedule and the captain's preferred wind window for the first leg.
If the embarkation is late (after 18:30), the captain holds the yacht in the IYCA berth overnight and departs Sunday morning. The IYCA overnight is part of the operational cost and is rarely a problem.
The 7-day eastward route
This is the route most captains recommend for a Saturday IYCA embarkation when the brief is "Riviera, but quieter than the Cannes loop."
Day 1, Saturday: IYCA to Cap d'Antibes anchorage off Plage de la Garoupe. 2 nautical miles. The shortest opener of any Med charter. Anchor in 6m to 12m sand off the Garoupe, captain's-table dinner aboard. The water is the cleanest on the French Riviera.
Day 2, Sunday: Cap d'Antibes to Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat (Passable anchorage). 14 nautical miles. Lunch at Eden Roc on Cap d'Antibes (reservation Monday morning is too late; book before embarkation), then transit east. Anchor at Passable on the west side of Cap-Ferrat in 5m to 10m, the Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild on the headland, the Plage de Passable restaurant on the beach. Overnight Passable.
Day 3, Monday: Cap-Ferrat to Monaco for dinner, returning Beaulieu buoy. 5 nautical miles each way. The Monaco day. Anchor outside Port Hercule in 18m to 25m off the Larvotto bathing area for lunch and afternoon. Dinner ashore at Le Louis XV or Yacht Club de Monaco. Run back to a Villefranche or Beaulieu buoy for the overnight. The Monaco-alongside option exists for €4,200 to €4,800 plus VAT but most captains avoid it on a 7-day route because the Port Hercule premium does not earn its night.
Day 4, Tuesday: Beaulieu to Sanremo (Italy). 22 nautical miles. The cross-border transit is straightforward, customs clearance is at the Sanremo Porto Vecchio or the new Portosole marina depending on yacht size. Lunch on the hook off the Sanremo coast at the Arziglia rock anchorage, or alongside at Portosole for an early-afternoon Italian dinner. Sanremo is the Italian Riviera dei Fiori, and the town is the underrated lunch and dinner destination of the eastern Med charter map. Restaurants: Buca Cena, Paolo e Barbara. Overnight on the hook outside the Sanremo harbor in 14m to 18m, or alongside in Portosole.
Day 5, Wednesday: Sanremo to Portofino via the Cinque Terre or direct. 70 nautical miles direct, 90 nautical miles via the Cinque Terre. This is the long transit day of the week. A 50m yacht at 14 knots covers the direct route in 5 hours, the Cinque Terre detour in 6.5 hours. The captain decides on the day depending on guest brief and wind. Arrival at Portofino late afternoon. Anchor outside the harbor in 18m to 28m (the harbor itself holds 12 yachts max and is booked months ahead) and tender into the village. Dinner at Hotel Splendido or Da Puny.
Day 6, Thursday: Portofino and the Liguria coast. Stay on the Portofino hook through lunch, take the tender to the village for the morning, then run 8 nautical miles east to anchor off San Fruttuoso or Paraggi for the afternoon swim. Return to Portofino for the overnight, or move to Santa Margherita Ligure for an alongside berth.
Day 7, Friday: Portofino back to IYCA via Sanremo refuel. 100 nautical miles. The long transit home. A 50m yacht at 14 knots covers the run in 7 hours. The captain typically refuels at Sanremo around noon and continues, arriving IYCA late afternoon. Final dinner aboard in Antibes or ashore at La Famille or Le Figuier de Saint-Esprit.
Day 8, Saturday: Disembark IYCA. Out by 11:00. Guests by car to Nice airport, 35 minutes.
The total mileage is approximately 245 nautical miles, which is 80 nautical miles longer than the Cannes loop. The fuel pass-through is correspondingly higher (€2,500 to €4,000 more on a 50m yacht). The trade is that the route delivers two genuinely different destinations (Sanremo and Portofino) and avoids the Pampelonne stack-up.
The 10-day variant
If the charter brief is 10 days, the route opens up. Add Cinque Terre (Vernazza or Riomaggiore anchorage), Lerici, and the Tuscan Archipelago (Elba, Giglio). The disembarkation can be in Portofino or at Lavagna for road transit to Genoa airport. This is the strong Italian Riviera variant. A 10-day version typically prices at 1.35 to 1.45x the 7-day rate. The cost-per-day drops, the route quality climbs.
What the eastbound week trades against the Cannes loop
The Cannes loop wins on Saint-Tropez. The eastbound week wins on Italy. A charter client who prioritizes the Pampelonne afternoon, Club 55, and the Saint-Tropez town day takes the loop. A charter client who prioritizes a quieter route and a Portofino night takes the eastbound week.
The eastbound week also trades on cost. The Italian dockage rates (Portofino, Santa Margherita) are now equal to or higher than the Riviera equivalents. Portofino in August 2025 ran €3,500 to €5,500 per night for a 50m yacht on the inner anchorage with the swing-mooring service, against €1,400 to €1,800 in Cannes Vieux Port. The compensation is that the Italian VAT (22 percent on charter inside Italian territorial waters) is offset structurally by the time the yacht spends in French waters, and the broker can structure the contract to optimize this.
Passed on
We pass on the IYCA-to-Saint-Tropez direct as a first-week move out of Antibes. The transit is 50 nautical miles to the west, and a Saturday embarkation followed by a long westbound transit on Sunday underutilizes the eastward access that the Antibes base provides. If the client wants Saint-Tropez, use the Cannes loop or the inverted version of it.
We pass on the suggestion that the eastbound run can reach Capri in 7 days. The transit from Portofino to Capri is 200 nautical miles, which is a 14-hour overnight passage. A 7-day route does not have the slack for it. A 10 or 14-day route does.
We pass on the Cinque Terre overnight on most yachts over 40m. The anchorages off Vernazza and Riomaggiore are open to the south and west, the holding is moderate, and the swing room is limited. Lunch anchorages, yes. Overnight, only on a settled forecast.
We pass on the Monaco-alongside overnight on a 7-day eastbound week. The Monaco day-trip plus dinner-ashore arrangement gives the same guest value at a fifth of the dockage cost.
How to ask the broker
The clarifying questions for an Antibes-based eastbound week.
First, "is the yacht actually at IYCA between charters, or does it have to position there from Cannes or Saint-Tropez?" A yacht based at IYCA does not pay a positioning leg. A yacht positioning in from Cannes adds a small APA hit and a slightly compressed reset.
Second, "what is the captain's experience east of Sanremo?" A captain who runs the Riviera all summer may not have been to Portofino in three years. The right captain has run the Portofino approach more than twice per season.
Third, "what is the Italian charter license situation for the yacht?" A French-flagged yacht can charter in Italian waters with the right MYBA contract addenda. A captain on a yacht that has not done the eastbound run since 2021 may not have the right paperwork pre-filed. The broker should confirm.
For the equivalent Riviera loop from Cannes, see the 7-day Cannes to Cap d'Antibes loop. For why Monaco is a pickup and not a base, Monaco charter base reality. For the August rate brief, Côte d'Azur August pricing truth. For Saint-Tropez anchorage permitting, the Saint-Tropez anchorage permit guide. For the June-vs-August calendar argument, June vs August on the Riviera.
The French Riviera charter pillar holds the inventory. The Italian Riviera charter is the pillar for the eastbound destinations. The Mediterranean charter cost guide covers the rate bands. For pre- and post-charter stays on shore, the Antibes hotels list covers the Belles Rives and Cap d'Antibes Beach Hotel; the Antibes restaurants list covers the dinners ashore on disembarkation night.
FAQ
What is IYCA and why does it matter? The International Yacht Club d'Antibes is the deep-water section of Port Vauban, with berths for yachts to 165m and the infrastructure (fuel barge, chandlery, provisioning) that makes Antibes the operational charter capital of the Mediterranean. It is a club berth, not a transient marina.
Can guests embark directly at IYCA? Yes, with the operator's pre-approval at the gate. The IYCA security checkpoint takes 5 to 10 minutes per arrival party. Larger groups should embark at the IYCA gate by 16:00 to avoid the late-afternoon queue.
Why depart east instead of west? Because the Cannes loop is already saturated by August. The eastward route through Cap-Ferrat, Monaco, and the Italian Riviera dei Fiori delivers quieter calas and the option to add Portofino on a 10-day variant.
What yacht size works for this route? 40m to 75m. Below 40m, the long transit days compress the week. Above 75m, the Portofino anchorage swing room and the Cinque Terre cala access become limiting.
Can the disembarkation happen in Italy instead of Antibes? Yes. The one-way Antibes-to-Lavagna or Antibes-to-Genoa charter is straightforward. The captain repositions the yacht back to IYCA empty after disembarkation. The cost is approximately 1.1 to 1.2x the round-trip equivalent because of the repositioning leg.