The port
The largest marina in Europe for superyachts, known for its "Billionaires' Quay" (Quai Camille Rayon), which can accommodate up to 19 superyachts from 70 to 165 metres.
Port Vauban is located in Antibes, in the Alpes-Maritimes department, at the foot of the old town and its ramparts, between Nice and Cannes on the Mediterranean coast of Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur. Sheltered by Fort Carre, it occupies a central position on the coastline, close to Cap d'Antibes.
The marina has 1501 berths and around 4200 linear metres of quays, making it one of the largest pleasure ports in the Mediterranean. Its best known section, the Quai Camille Rayon, nicknamed the "Billionaires' Quay", has accommodated up to 19 superyachts of 70 to 165 metres since 1986. This combination of overall capacity and a dedicated superyacht quay leads several specialised sources to regularly describe Port Vauban as one of the largest marinas in Europe for hosting superyachts.
Around the port, the old town of Antibes offers narrow streets, a covered Provencal market and ramparts that run along the seafront to the Picasso Museum, housed in the former Chateau Grimaldi. Restaurants, shops and waterfront terraces line the harbour, while Fort Carre, a 16th century military structure later reinforced under Vauban, overlooks the port entrance and is open to visitors.
The site has been in use since antiquity: the town was founded around 600 BC by Greek navigators from Massalia under the name Antipolis, and archaeological finds attest to early trade in the bay. From 1682, on the orders of Louis XIV, the military engineer Vauban had the fortifications strengthened and the basin and quays laid out, works that gave the port its current name. Its configuration as a modern large-scale marina dates from the 1970s.
