www.saintjeancapferrat-tourisme.fr. There are few views from the road that leads around the Cap Ferrat peninsula since the exclusive shoreline villas are concealed from prying eyes by thick barriers of foliage. However, one splendid villa does open its doors and grounds to the public.

The Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild – Musée Ile de France (well signposted off the N98/D25; closed Mon, Nov) was built by Baroness de Rothschild between 1905 and 1912. A gracious Italianate villa, it houses remarkable collections of paintings (Bouchard, Fragonard, Monet, Renoir), Louis XV and Louis XVI furnishings, Sevres china, tapestries and a marvellous Far Eastern gallery. Whole rooms were specifically designed to display carpets, ceiling frescoes or the contents of churches bought up lock, stock and barrel. The estate was named for the Baroness’s yacht, and the villa is set in magnificent palm-fringed gardens, shaped like a boat, laid out in a range of styles from Florentine and Spanish influenced designs to English and Japanese.