It is located on a peninsula next to Beaulieu-sur-Mer and to Villefranche-sur-Mer and extends out to Cap Ferrat. Its tranquillity and warm climate make it a favourite holiday destination amongst European aristocracy and international millionaires. There is a pleasant footpath around the peninsula.

The whole peninsula offers a great network of trails from which exquisite vistas of the coast can be admired, from Nice and the Baie des Anges to the West to Cap d'Ail and Italy to the East. The little village of Saint-Jean is nested around a cove on the eastern side of the peninsula where an expansive marina built in the 1970's shelters some of the most luxurious yachts in the Mediterranean. Another path from the center of the village circles the promontory of Saint-Hospice, which forms the eastern arm of the peninsula. From the top the hill, a monumental (38 ft high) bronze Madonna near a rustic 17th Century oratory overlooks the Bay of Beaulieu. What was the artificial lake of King Leopold is now a modern zoo open year round featuring panthers and exotic birds.

Some of the estates on Cap-Ferrat have hosted a plethora of celebrities among others: King Leopold II of Belgium, Baroness de Rothschild, Charlie Chaplin, Rainier III, David Niven, Somerset Maugham, Jean Cocteau, Isadora Duncan, Winston Churchill, French Prime Ministers Maurice Rouvier and Raymond Barre and many more.