We visit this for the occasion of the annual Rose festival held in May each year. Having flown to Nice it is a short train ride to By train: Beaulieu-sur-Mer station – www.ter-sncf.com/paca and then a short bus ride 5 minutes from the station via By bus: lines 81, "Plage du passage" stop.
We walked up to the villa and the view over the Mediterranean were magnificent, with the heady perfumes of frangipane, jasmine and many other beautiful plants growing nearby.
When reach the top we found the sugar pink villa perched on the top overlooking the sea on three sides and its magnificent gardens, nine in all – Italian Garden, Spanish Garden, Japanese Garden, French Garden, Rose Garden, Exotic Garden, Provencal Garden, Florentine Garden and Sevres Garden, each one with the most magnificent layout and collection of plants.
As you walk from one garden to the next you still have the magnificant views over the sea.
The house itself formerly built for the Rothschild family is splendid with wonderfully furnished and decorated rooms, and collections of china and silver.
There is a lovely cafe/restaurant where you can take lunch or a snack, and the Rose Festival has stalls with products related to roses etc. as well as rose plants for sale.
The gardens are spectacular and you can meander from one to another gaze at the views or sit in front of the house by the large pound that extends from the villa up to a rotunda near the Rose garden.
The house gives an insight to what it was like when the family lived there and there is a small souvenir shop.
Whether you go at Rose Festival time or any other time of the year it is beautiful villa, has fabulous gardens and is in a spectacular setting.
If you are visiting Nice it is well worth visiting this. You can also hop over the border in about half an hour from the station after you leave the villa for a nice cup of Italian coffee and visit the marvellous market and town of Ventimiglia.
