THE BUYER’S LOGBOOK · MOORING ·
Mooring on the Riviera:
the waiting lists.
The berth is the hardest part of the purchase. Start there.
Buy the berth,
then the boat.
Ask any owner between Menton and Saint-Tropez what surprised them most, and the answer is rarely the yacht. It is the mooring. Berths on the Côte d’Azur are scarce, patiently traded and quietly decisive — here is how the system really works.
1. Understand that berths are allocated, not advertised.
Most Riviera marinas are municipally owned. Places are granted by the harbour office, often as renewable concessions rather than ownership. The prime spots — inside Port Vauban, near Port Hercule — rarely reach any public list.
2. Register early, in more than one port.
Waiting lists are real, and they reward patience. Register your interest with the capitainerie of every port you would genuinely consider — Antibes, Cannes, Golfe-Juan, Beaulieu, Menton — and keep your file alive with a yearly confirmation.
3. Match the berth to the yacht you will actually buy.
Lists are organised by length and beam. A place for a 14-metre yacht and a place for a 24-metre yacht are different worlds, with different waits. Define your brief first; it decides which queue you join. Our article on how to buy a yacht on the French Riviera explains how to build that brief before browsing.
4. Consider the quieter harbours.
Everyone asks for Monaco and Antibes. Meanwhile Saint-Laurent-du-Var, Marina Baie des Anges and the ports west of Cannes often have shorter lists, honest pricing and an easy run to the same anchorages.
5. Budget the berth as a running cost, not a footnote.
Annual fees vary enormously by port, position and length. Add visitor nights, winter haul-out and utilities. Our Mooring & Marinas directory lists the harbour offices and what to ask each of them. Use the Finance & Ownership guide to include berthing in your annual budget.
6. Let your search and your berth application run together.
The buyers who fare best treat the mooring as part of the acquisition, not an afterthought. In our buyer-side acquisition journey, we open the berth conversation at the same time as the yacht search — so the day you complete, your yacht has somewhere to go home to.
A yacht without a berth is a beautiful problem. Secure the place on the quay, and everything else follows.
Your mooring.
Our local knowledge.
Tell us the yacht you are considering. We will help you find the berth that fits it — and the life around it.
Start your brief