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The 7-day Riviera loop out of Cannes covers 165 nautical miles, eight named anchorages, three harbors, and the only stretch of Mediterranean charter water where every yacht over 50m has been before and the captain knows where to put it without thinking. A 50m motor yacht this loop in July 2025 ran €420,000 to €520,000 per week plus 30 percent APA plus VAT. The same yacht Sardinia in the same week ran €380,000 to €460,000. The Riviera premium is real and the loop is the reason: the yacht earns its rate by hitting three high-value harbors and four high-value anchorages in seven days, without any single transit longer than 35 nautical miles.
This is the week. The route, the anchorages with their depths, the bookings the chief stew needs to make on Monday for Thursday, and what we would change.
Why this loop and not a one-way charter
A one-way charter Nice-to-Genoa, Cannes-to-Saint-Tropez, or Saint-Tropez-to-Monaco generates two repositioning days, two airport transfers at opposite ends, and a guest brief that has to absorb the disembarkation logistics on day seven instead of using day seven for the yacht. The loop avoids all three.
It also lets the captain hold a stable charter base in Cannes or Antibes. Provisioning and fuel happen at the base. Crew rotations happen at the base. The yacht does not have to position itself at the disembarkation end on Friday night with one tank of fuel and a half-empty galley. The week stays operational from Saturday afternoon to Saturday morning.
For charter clients who want a one-way feel, the right answer is to run the loop and disembark in Saint-Tropez on the way back, with the captain repositioning the yacht to Cannes empty after disembarkation. This delivers the perception of a Cannes-to-Saint-Tropez week with the operational advantages of a loop. The cost is one repositioning leg, usually absorbed in the APA.
The 7-day loop
Embarkation in Cannes Vieux Port, typically alongside the Quai Saint-Pierre for yachts to 45m or the Quai Albert Edouard for yachts to 65m. We assume a Saturday 16:00 embarkation. Yachts over 65m anchor south of Île Sainte-Marguerite and tender guests in.
Day 1, Saturday: Cannes to Île Sainte-Marguerite anchorage. 2 nautical miles. The shortest first leg of any Med week. The captain runs the yacht out of the port at 17:00, anchors on the south side of Sainte-Marguerite in 8m to 12m sand, captain's-table dinner aboard. Île Saint-Honorat (the smaller, monastic island) is the morning swim on day two.
Day 2, Sunday: Lerins Islands to Cap d'Antibes anchorage off Plage de la Garoupe. 8 nautical miles. Lerins lunch, then transit east around Cap d'Antibes. The Plage de la Garoupe anchorage holds sand in 6m to 12m, the swim is the cleanest water of the Riviera, the Eden Roc terrace is the lunch booking on Monday. Overnight off the Garoupe in any wind under 15 knots from the south.
Day 3, Monday: Cap d'Antibes to Cap-Ferrat anchorage off Plage de Passable. 14 nautical miles. Morning at Antibes Port Vauban for guests who want the town, or the captain takes the yacht to Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat directly. The Passable anchorage on the west side of Cap-Ferrat holds in 5m to 10m off the small beach, with the Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild on the headland and the Plage de Passable restaurant on the beach (lunch booking required). Overnight at Passable or move to the east side of Cap-Ferrat off Paloma beach for the morning sun.
Day 4, Tuesday: Cap-Ferrat to Monaco for dinner, returning Beaulieu. 5 nautical miles each way. The Monaco day. Anchor outside Port Hercule in 18m to 25m off the Larvotto bathing area, or take a paid alongside berth on the T-quay for the night if the brief requires it (€4,200 to €4,800 plus VAT). Lunch at the Plage du Larvotto by tender, afternoon at the Casino or the Hôtel de Paris terrace, dinner ashore at Le Louis XV or Yacht Club de Monaco. Return to Beaulieu or Villefranche for the overnight on the hook (€280 to €420 per night on the Villefranche buoys). See our piece on why Monaco is a pickup port, not a charter base for the reasoning.
Day 5, Wednesday: Beaulieu to Esterel coast (Anthéor or Agay). 32 nautical miles, the longest transit of the week. Run west past Cannes by mid-afternoon, anchor off Cap Roux or the Anthéor inlet for the late-afternoon swim. The Esterel red-rock coast holds in 8m to 14m sand and gravel, the holding is moderate, the swell exposure is south. Overnight in a settled forecast, or run on to Saint-Tropez and arrive late. A captain who knows the loop will assess wind at 14:00 and decide.
Day 6, Thursday: Esterel to Pampelonne anchorage. 18 nautical miles. The Pampelonne beach line south of Saint-Tropez town. Anchor in the permit zones established under the 2024 regulation in 8m to 14m sand. The named beach clubs (Club 55, La Réserve, Loulou, Bagatelle) take tender drops by reservation. The afternoon and dinner play out at Pampelonne. Overnight on the hook in any wind under 15 knots from the east.
Day 7, Friday: Pampelonne to Saint-Tropez town day, then back to Cannes. 35 nautical miles back. Morning in Saint-Tropez town (anchor off the harbor entrance in 6m to 10m, tender into the Vieux Port for the market, the Place des Lices, and the lunch at Senequier or Le Girelier). Depart Saint-Tropez by 16:00 for the run back to Cannes. Arrive Cannes 19:00, final dinner aboard or ashore.
Day 8, Saturday: Disembark Cannes. Out by 11:00.
The total mileage is 165 nautical miles, the longest single transit is 35 nautical miles, the yacht visits Île Sainte-Marguerite, Cap d'Antibes, Cap-Ferrat, Monaco, the Esterel coast, Pampelonne, and Saint-Tropez town. None of the transits are blue-water and all are within Mediterranean shore protection. The captain's daily decisions are wind cutoff and anchorage choice, not navigation complexity.
The bookings the chief stew makes on Monday morning
The Riviera week works on bookings made early. The Monday-morning brief from chief stew to broker, after embarkation, should cover:
- Tuesday lunch at Eden Roc on Cap d'Antibes (terrace, 12:30, party size confirmed)
- Wednesday lunch at Plage de Passable on Cap-Ferrat (beach side, 13:00)
- Thursday dinner in Monaco at Le Louis XV or YCM (20:00 sitting, dress code confirmed)
- Friday lunch at one of the Pampelonne beach clubs (Club 55 if the brief is classical, Loulou if it leans contemporary)
- Saturday morning the captain's clearance with the Saint-Tropez port office for the tender drop window
A chief stew who fails to make these bookings by Monday 11:00 will not get the lunch reservation at Eden Roc, Passable, or Club 55 in August. The bookings are not difficult; they are time-sensitive.
The wind windows that matter
Three weather patterns drive the week.
The first is the mistral. Anything over 25 knots from the west or northwest in the Gulf of Lion translates to 18 to 28 knots at Cap d'Antibes by afternoon and makes the Pampelonne anchorage uncomfortable on a southerly-exposed shore. A captain plans the Saint-Tropez night for a settled forecast. If the mistral is filling on Wednesday afternoon, the right move is to invert the second half of the week: run Saint-Tropez on Tuesday and Wednesday, return to Cap-Ferrat for Thursday and Friday, and let the mistral pass while east of Cannes.
The second is the easterly Levante. Less common in July and August, more common in May and October. It pushes swell onto the east side of Cap-Ferrat and onto the Cannes anchorage. The fallback is the west side of Cap-Ferrat (Passable holds in any easterly) or the Lerins anchorage south of Sainte-Marguerite.
The third is the August afternoon thermal. By 14:00 on a settled August day, the onshore breeze hits 12 to 18 knots from the southeast, lifts a short chop on the anchorages along the coast, and drops by 19:00. This is the standard summer pattern. It does not move the route. It just means tender rides between 14:00 and 18:00 will be wetter than the morning.
What this loop costs in fuel and dockage
Fuel is the largest variable cost on the loop. The 165 nautical miles at 12 knots is 14 hours of running. A 50m motor yacht at 220 to 280 liters per hour consumes 3,100 to 3,920 liters of MGO. At €1.40 per liter the fuel pass-through is €4,300 to €5,500.
Dockage runs higher than that. Cannes Vieux Port for the embarkation Saturday at €1,400 to €1,800 plus VAT, plus the disembarkation Friday night at the same rate, plus optional Monaco night at €4,200 to €4,800, plus Villefranche or Beaulieu buoy at €280 to €420. A loop that takes the Monaco night runs €8,000 to €11,000 of dockage. A loop that anchors out of Monaco and takes Villefranche on the buoy runs €3,500 to €5,500. The Monaco night is a €4,500 to €7,500 line item that the broker should call out in the APA estimate.
Anchorage fees are zero in French waters outside the protected zones. The Cap-Ferrat west anchorage and the Pampelonne permit zone (post-2024) have a small administrative fee of €60 to €180 per night.
Passed on
We pass on the Lerins overnight in any south wind. The anchorages off the islands are open to the south swell and the holding is moderate. Lerins is a lunch and morning swim. The overnight goes to Cap d'Antibes.
We pass on the suggestion that the loop adds Sanremo or Genoa as the final disembarkation. The Italian leg is 60 to 90 nautical miles east of Cannes and adds a transit day for the gain of a different VAT regime and a small Italian dinner. If the client wants a Liguria week, charter Liguria from Genoa. Do not bolt it onto a Riviera week.
We pass on the "Cap d'Antibes overnight at the IYCA berth" option as a default. IYCA is a refit and base port, not a guest experience. If the yacht needs a Wednesday-night tie-up for crew rotation or provisioning, IYCA is correct. If the brief is the guest week, anchor off the Garoupe or Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat.
We pass on the Pampelonne anchorage in any forecast that shows a Mistral filling within 18 hours. The anchorage is exposed to the east-southeast and the swell built by a mistral wrapping around Cap Camarat makes the night uncomfortable.
The right yacht for this loop
The loop works on yachts from 30m to 90m. Below 30m, the dockage and crew complement compress the week and the Riviera rate falls off the optimal band. Above 90m, the anchorage geometry at Plage de la Garoupe, the Cap-Ferrat west, and inside the Cannes Vieux Port becomes a planning constraint, though it remains workable.
The sweet spot is the 45m to 65m motor yacht, 10 to 12 guests, 12 to 16 crew, at-anchor stabilizers (the August thermal is small but persistent), tender garage with at least one fast tender and one beach tender, and a beach club. A yacht in this class running the loop in peak August 2025 took €480,000 to €620,000 per week plus 30 percent APA plus VAT.
How to ask the broker
The clarifying questions for this route are simple. Ask the broker which captains in the fleet have done this loop in both directions (clockwise and counter-clockwise), which yachts in the fleet have a beach tender that lands cleanly at the Plage de Passable and the Pampelonne beach clubs, and which yachts can take the Cannes Vieux Port alongside or need to anchor.
Ask the broker for the APA breakout of Monaco-night dockage. A broker who has run the loop will give you a number. A broker who has not will tell you Monaco is expensive.
For the alternative week starting from Antibes (the IYCA pickup), see the Antibes week itinerary. For the August pricing reality on the Riviera, the Côte d'Azur August pricing truth is the rate brief. For why Monaco does not work as the charter base, see Monaco pickup port reality. For the Saint-Tropez anchorage permit regime that drives the Pampelonne plan, see the Saint-Tropez anchorage permit guide. For the June-versus-August calculus, June versus August on the Riviera lays out the trade-offs.
The French Riviera charter pillar holds the inventory. The best Mediterranean charter yachts in 2026 ranks the boats that work this loop. The Mediterranean charter cost guide covers the rate bands.
For dinner reservations the chief stew will want to confirm before Monday, the Cannes restaurants list covers Cannes-side. For pre- or post-charter villa stays, the Cap d'Antibes hotels list covers Eden Roc and Belles Rives.
FAQ
Can a 60m yacht use Cannes Vieux Port? Yes, on the Quai Saint-Pierre or the Quai Albert Edouard with advance booking. The harbor takes yachts to 65m alongside. Above 65m, anchor in the Cannes anchorage south of Île Sainte-Marguerite.
What does the Saint-Tropez round trip cost in fuel? Cannes to Saint-Tropez is 35 nautical miles each way. At 12 knots a 50m yacht burns 220 to 280 liters per hour, so the round trip runs 6 hours and 1,320 to 1,680 liters of MGO. At €1.40 per liter, that is €1,850 to €2,350 of fuel pass-through, charged to APA.
Where does a 50m yacht overnight in the second half of the week? Pampelonne anchorage holds in 8m to 14m sand within the 2024 permit zones for vessels over 24m. The harbor of Saint-Tropez itself only takes yachts up to 35m alongside, so a 50m boat anchors and tenders in.
Is the loop better clockwise or counter-clockwise? Counter-clockwise (Cannes east first, then west to Saint-Tropez, then back) is the standard because it puts the high-pressure bookings (Eden Roc, Monaco dinner) in the first half of the week and gives the captain wind-forecast latitude on the Pampelonne night. Clockwise (Saint-Tropez first) works for weather patterns where the mistral has just passed.
Can the loop be done in 4 or 5 days? At a cost. A 4-day version covers Cannes, Cap d'Antibes, Cap-Ferrat, and a brief Monaco visit, then returns. A 5-day version adds the Esterel coast. The full Saint-Tropez return requires the seventh day.