Luxury Villa Rental on the French Riviera — Where to Stay, Who to Trust

The French Riviera villa market splits cleanly. There are public rentals — listed on the major platforms, photographed publicly, available with twenty-four hours' notice — and there are private rentals — not photographed publicly, not listed, available only through a small group of agents and managers. The villas the office works with are almost all in the second category. For UHNW clients with privacy expectations, the public market doesn't function.

The five zones

Saint-Tropez and Ramatuelle

The most-asked zone. Three sub-zones: Les Parcs de Saint-Tropez (the gated estate immediately south of the town), La Capilla (between Saint-Tropez and Ramatuelle), and the Ramatuelle hills above Pampelonne. Villas range from 5-bedroom (€80,000–€140,000/week in August) up to 10-bedroom estates (€220,000–€450,000/week). The Les Parcs estates are gated; access is by security card; the office handles the staff and the gate code.

Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat

The most exclusive of the five zones. The Cap itself is a peninsula east of Nice, with roughly 100 private estates, most family-held for two or three generations. Annual rentals are rare; weekly rentals exist but the market is referral-based. The office holds standing relationships with three or four managers. Villas here run €100,000–€500,000/week depending on size and view.

La Croix-Valmer and Gigaro

Twenty minutes south of Saint-Tropez. The quieter alternative — wooded, family-oriented, with private beach access at Gigaro and Cap Lardier. Villas are smaller (5–7 bedrooms typically) and rent at €60,000–€140,000/week in August. The office's recommendation for families who want the Saint-Tropez area without the Pampelonne density.

Mougins and Valbonne (inland)

Twenty minutes inland from Cannes. The Provençal alternative — old stone mas, olive groves, cypress lines. The villa stock is older (15th–18th century in some cases) but the tennis courts and helipads are new. For a buyer who wants the inland Provence experience with a 30-minute reach to Cannes or LFMN, this is the zone.

Cap d'Antibes

The peninsula west of Antibes — Eden-Roc, La Garoupe, Pinède. A small number of grand-format estates (8–14 bedrooms) on the cap itself; the rest of the cap is more residential. The villas here tend to be older, larger and held by long-established families.

What's included in a private rental

• Housekeeping daily (two to four staff depending on villa size)
• Private chef (some villas include, some are pay-per-meal)
• Gardener and pool maintenance
• Driver and car (often included on the larger estates; sometimes separate)
• Security — the higher-end villas operate 24-hour discreet security
• Concierge — restaurant reservations, day trips, special requests

What's separate

• Food and beverage provisioning (typically billed at cost, transparent invoicing)
• Restaurant reservations (cost on the day)
• Yacht charter to combine — see our Saint-Tropez yacht week guide
• Private aviation in and out
• Spa and wellness (in-villa massage, personal trainer, yoga instructor)

The booking timeline

August villas on the Cap Ferrat or Les Parcs estates: eight to twelve months ahead for first choice. The estate calendar opens in December the year before; the office holds priority relationships with the managers and places clients into first-look windows. Late booking (inside three months) is possible only for smaller villas or off-peak weeks.

The contract

Private villa rental contracts are not standardised. Each estate runs its own contract — typically eight to fifteen pages — covering deposit, damage policy, included staff, food provisioning, security access, photography restrictions and termination. The office reviews each contract before signing on behalf of the client. The damage deposit on a large villa is typically 10–15% of the rental — held in escrow, released within thirty days of departure.

The yacht-villa combination — the office's default

For a Riviera week, the office's most-suggested format is a villa as the land base plus a 25–35m yacht for three or four days of the week. The villa carries the dinners, the breakfasts, the long pool afternoons; the yacht carries the Pampelonne day, the Cap Ferrat swim, the Lerins lunch. The office coordinates both; the staff at the villa knows when the yacht is leaving and the chef aboard knows when the villa is hosting dinner.

How a brief reaches the office

For Riviera villa rentals, the office prefers a longer brief than for yacht charter: where on the coast, how many bedrooms, what staff is required, whether the brief includes a parallel yacht charter, and the specific dates. We respond within twenty-four hours with three to five villa options and a draft week structure.