Cannes & Antibes Yacht Berthing Fees

The French Riviera sells the dream and then prices the parking. Berthing a yacht at Cannes or Antibes in high season is one of the most expensive pieces of real estate per metre in the world, and the figures are governed less by logic than by scarcity: there are only so many berths on the Côte d'Azur capable of taking a large yacht, and far more owners who want them. The result is a market where a transient summer night can run into four or five figures, an annual berth into six, and where the gap between paying by the night and holding a contract decides a meaningful slice of the running budget. This page sets out what each port actually charges, how length and season multiply the bill, and what genuinely drives the cost.

Two Ports, Several Marinas, One Scarcity

Cannes and Antibes are barely ten kilometres apart and together form the centre of gravity of Riviera yachting, but their berths are not interchangeable. Antibes is dominated by Port Vauban, the largest marina in the region and home to the famous International Yacht Club of Antibes (IYCA) — the "Quai des Milliardaires", the deep-water quay built for the largest yachts afloat. Cannes offers the historic Vieux Port beneath the old town and Port Pierre Canto at the eastern end of the Croisette, the more modern marina favoured for larger vessels.

What unites them is scarcity. The Côte d'Azur has a fixed and tightly regulated number of large berths, almost none of which are being added, against relentless demand through the summer and the autumn show season. That imbalance is the single fact that explains every figure that follows: you are not paying for water and a cleat, you are paying for access to one of the most sought-after stretches of coast in yachting, in the weeks everyone wants it.

Annual Berth Versus Transient: Two Different Markets

There are two ways to hold a berth on the Riviera, and they behave like separate economies. An annual berth — a year-round contract, or in some marinas a long-lease or purchased mooring — is the cheaper way to berth per night if the yacht is Riviera-based, but the entry cost is formidable and supply is almost nil. Prime large berths at Port Vauban's billionaires' quay or Port Canto rarely come free, and when they do they command sums that reflect their rarity; long leases on the best berths have historically changed hands for figures into the millions.

A transient berth — paid by the night or week — is how most visiting yachts berth, and it is where the eye-watering peak-season numbers live. The transient market is pure supply and demand: a 50-metre yacht seeking a Croisette berth for the festival fortnight pays a multiple of the shoulder-season rate, assuming a berth can be found at all. The practical reality for most owners is that the annual berth is unobtainable without patience and connections, so the transient rate is the one that governs the cruising budget — and it is the one to plan around.

Berthing Fees by Length: An Indicative Guide

The figures below are indicative high-season transient rates for the Cannes and Antibes marinas and will vary by port, exact dates, berth position and yacht beam. Larger yachts are also charged for beam and sometimes for the alongside berths they require, so a beamy vessel pays more than length alone suggests. Read the table as a planning frame, not a quotation.

The peak column is not hyperbole. During the Cannes Film Festival, the Monaco Grand Prix weekend and the Cannes and Monaco yacht shows, berths on the best quays are booked many months ahead at the highest rates of the year, and a large yacht can spend more on a fortnight's berthing than a smaller one spends on a season. The calendar, more than the marina, sets the worst of the bill.

What You Are Actually Paying For

The headline berth fee is the largest line but rarely the whole one, and understanding the components prevents the unwelcome supplement at checkout. A Riviera berth invoice typically gathers several charges.

• The berth itself, priced on length, beam and position — a stern-to berth on the prime quay costs more than an alongside berth at the back of the basin.
• Utilities: shore power, often metered and significant for a large yacht running air-conditioning, plus water and waste.
• Services: security, concierge, waste disposal and, on the premium quays, the cachet that is itself part of the price.
• Taxes and dues: French VAT and local port dues apply and should be confirmed as included or additional before booking.
• Position premium: a front-row berth visible from the Croisette or the ramparts commands a surcharge that is purely about being seen.

The position premium is the line owners most underestimate and most often pay without realising it. A berth one row back, or in the less fashionable basin, can cost materially less for water that is functionally identical. Whether the visibility is worth the surcharge is a personal judgement, but it should be a conscious one rather than a default.

The Forces That Move the Price

Beyond length and calendar, a handful of structural forces decide where in the range a given berth lands, and knowing them is what lets an owner plan rather than simply react.

The dominant force is events. The Riviera's summer is a procession of fixtures — the Film Festival in May, the Grand Prix, the autumn yacht shows at Cannes and Monaco — and each draws yachts from across the Mediterranean into the same few marinas at once. Around these dates, berth availability collapses and price climbs accordingly, with minimum-stay requirements and full prepayment common. The second force is size and scarcity: berths above 50 metres are genuinely rare, so the largest yachts face the steepest premiums and the longest lead times, sometimes booking a year ahead. The third is position and prestige, the surcharge for the famous quays. The fourth is simple timing: the same berth in June or late September can cost a third less than in the August peak. An owner whose dates carry any flexibility holds the most powerful lever on the Riviera, which is the calendar itself.

Berthing the Riviera Without Overpaying

The Riviera will always be expensive, but a disciplined owner pays the right premium rather than every premium. The approach that keeps the figure honest is consistent across vessels and seasons.

• Book the peak weeks far ahead, or accept that festival and show berths may be unobtainable at any price by spring.
• Shift flexible dates off the August peak into June or late September for a materially lower rate and quieter quays.
• Question the position premium: decide consciously whether the front-row visibility is worth its surcharge, or whether a berth one row back will do.
• Confirm what the rate includes — VAT, port dues, metered power and minimum-stay terms — in writing before committing.
• Use the surrounding ports as relief: Golfe-Juan, Villefranche, La Napoule and the wider Côte d'Azur can berth a yacht within tender range of Cannes for less.

Handled this way, the berth becomes a planned cost rather than a peak-season shock. The genuine luxury on the Riviera is not the front-row berth at any price; it is knowing exactly what each quay costs, booking the weeks that matter early, and declining to pay a visibility surcharge you never wanted in the first place.