Cannes
The Croisette, the festival, the islands offshore.
A two-mile crescent of the French Riviera that has, since 1946, been the world capital of cinema for ten days a year and a slightly studied beach town the rest. Cannes is champagne, ambition, sunscreen and moral ambiguity in roughly equal measures, a Croisette to walk down at six, a Vieux Port to drink at eight, a hill town behind it to sleep in by midnight, and a coast that runs all the way to Monaco for whatever you didn’t finish on Tuesday.
- Where
- Alpes-Maritimes · Côte d’Azur, France
- When to go
- April to late October
- Established
- 1946
Cannes, in full.
Cannes gets photographed once a year and remembered as a backdrop. We file it under Euro Summer because in May, for ten days, the chapter has its highest concentration of cinematic light on earth, and the rest of the year, it is a quietly handsome French coastal town with a long beach, an old fortified hill, and a couple of islands worth a Sunday.
Ten days a year, two cities
Cannes is two cities. For ten days in mid-May, it is the unofficial cultural capital of Europe, the Festival de Cannes, founded in 1946 as a free-world response to Mussolini’s Venice, fills the Palais des Festivals, the Carlton, the Martinez and a hundred yachts in the bay with a global film and finance industry on simultaneous holiday. The other 355 days of the year, it is a Belle Époque French coastal town: Romanesque villas behind the Croisette, the old town climbing the hill, fishing boats tying up at the Vieux Port. Both Cannes are real. The richer trip is, surprisingly, the second.
Croisette, Suquet, Lérins, La Californie
The Croisette is the famous seafront, two kilometres of boulevard, fourteen private beach clubs, the Palais at the western end, the Pointe Croisette at the east. Le Suquet, the old town, climbs above it on a small fortified hill, the eleventh-century watchtower, narrow streets, and the only honest dinners in the city. The Lérins Islands, Sainte-Marguerite (the larger; pine forest, an old fort that imprisoned the Man in the Iron Mask) and Saint-Honorat (the smaller; the Cistercian monastery and the only wine made on a Mediterranean island by monks), are fifteen minutes south by public ferry. La Californie is the residential hill behind the Croisette, where the actual people of Cannes live; Le Cannet, the village above it, is where they eat on a Tuesday.
Beach club at 11, Suquet at 9
The proper Cannes day starts on the Croisette. Reserve a lounger at one of the beach clubs (Plage Royale, Bâoli, Vegaluna, Plage du Festival) for an 11am arrival. Lunch on the deck, salade niçoise, a half-bottle of Rosé d’Été, a swim between courses. Walk the Allée des Stars. Sleep through the heat. A 6pm aperitivo at La Petite Maison or the Carlton bar; dinner up in Le Suquet at La Pizza Cresci (the legendary Suquet pizza queue) or Aux Bons Enfants for the better dinner. By 11pm the Croisette is back in motion; you go home through Le Suquet and you can still hear the bay.
Mid-May, ten days, the global circus
The Festival de Cannes runs for ten days from the second Tuesday of May. Officially, it is invitation-only, a film industry pass (Marché du Film) is the working credential, a black-tie carpet ticket the social one. Unofficially, the city becomes a single large stage. Hotels triple their rates fifteen months out; the beach clubs convert to corporate brand activations; the bay fills with a thousand yachts. The right way to attend without an invitation is to sleep in Antibes or Mougins, train in for an evening on the Carlton terrace, watch the carpet from the press perimeter at the Palais, and dinner at L’Affable in the Suquet. The wrong way is to drive in on the Saturday and look for parking.
The Croisette, the islands and the festival in May.
A place, accounted for.
- 1946
- first Festival de Cannes
- Conceived in 1939, postponed by the war, finally launched in September 1946 in the converted Casino Municipal, the original Palais.
- 14
- private beach clubs on the Croisette
- From east to west: Plage Royale, Vegaluna, Plage du Festival, Carlton Beach, Bâoli, and ten more. Day-pass €60-€120.
- 2km
- of seafront promenade
- The Croisette runs from the Palais to the Pointe Croisette. Walk it twice a day; you’ll know the city.
- 500m
- to the Lérins Islands
- A fifteen-minute public ferry ride from the Quai Laubeuf. The other half of Cannes nobody visits.
- 1898
- Carlton built
- The Belle Époque sea-front grande dame. Fully renovated in 2023 after a four-year refit; the original 1898 façade unchanged.
Before the first weekend.
What separates the first weekend in a place from the second.
- 01
Get there
Train from Nice every 20m (€8). Train from Paris (5h 30m direct). Skip the drive into the centre during Festival week.
- 02
Reserve
La Palme d’Or, La Petite Maison, La Guérite, six weeks out. Carlton Beach loungers, by phone the morning of.
- 03
Visit
Croisette walk at six and at midnight; Suquet evening; ferry to Sainte-Marguerite for one Sunday; Marché Forville at nine.
- 04
Wear
Soft navy or pale-grey suiting; espadrilles; a panama for the beach. Black tie for any Festival evening; rented or hired in Cannes the morning of.
- 05
Eat first
Lunch at La Petite Maison or Carlton Beach; dinner at La Pizza Cresci or L’Affable in the Suquet; a Sunday at La Guérite.
- 06
Move
Walk the Croisette and Le Suquet; train to Antibes (15m) for the museum afternoon; bus 200 to Nice for a day-trip.
- 07
Drink
Aperitivo on the Carlton terrace at 6.30; a Bellini in the Bar Le Long; a Picpoul at Astoux & Brun; a Provence rosé at any beach club, never champagne.
- 08
Tip
A folded €20 to the maître d’ at any Festival-week restaurant; cash, with the reservation card, never the credit card.
What you will actually be doing.
- 01
A Sunday lunch at the Île Sainte-Marguerite, ferry at 10, lunch at La Guérite on Île Sainte-Marguerite at 1.30, a swim, a ferry home at 5.
- 02
A 6.30 aperitivo on the Carlton or Martinez terrace, in linen, watching the photographers drift back from the carpet.
- 03
A Suquet evening: drinks at La Chunga, dinner at La Pizza Cresci or L’Affable, a walk down the rue Saint-Antoine in the cool of midnight.
- 04
A morning at the Marché Forville under the Suquet, peaches, socca, cheeses, the sort of breakfast you eat on a bench.
- 05
A long lunch at La Guérite (Sainte-Marguerite Island), the legendary boat-only beach institution, paella at 2pm, a ferry home at 5.
- 06
A Croisette walk at 6.30am before the city wakes, the Allée des Stars, the empty Palais steps, the carpet either rolled out or rolled away.
The year here, month by month.
May
Mid-May is the global cinematic high. Hotel rates triple, every restaurant is reserved a year out, the Croisette is a working set. Either commit to the Festival or sleep elsewhere; nothing in between works.
Jun
June is the honest Cannes. The carpet is rolled away, the Croisette half-empty, the beach clubs reservable on the morning. The actual French Riviera summer begins.
Jul
High summer, full restaurants, MIDEM-week ghosts at the Palais, and the Festival International d’Art Pyrotechnique fireworks every Sunday and Wednesday in late July.
Aug
The peak crowd. The first three weeks are intense; the last week of August is the locals’ slow exit. Stay in Mougins or Le Cannet for the calm.
Sep
The first three weeks of September are the canonical Cannes. The Yachting Festival in mid-September is a quiet, civilised parallel Festival. The carpet is gone; the city remembers itself.
Oct
Cooler nights, sweater walks, a calmer Croisette, the Lérins ferries less full. The honest, end-of-season Cannes the locals quietly prefer.
Nov-Apr
A mid-sized French coastal city with a long beach and a good Sunday market. Half the beach clubs shut. The Carlton, Martinez, and Majestic stay open all year. A long November weekend works.
The villages, and which is which.
- 01
Croisette
The seafront, two kilometres of palm-lined boulevard with fourteen private beaches.
The Carlton at one end, the Martinez at the middle, the Palais at the west. Walk it twice, once at six in the morning, once at midnight.
- 02
Le Suquet
The old town on the hill, eleventh-century watchtower, the only honest dinners.
Stay above the Croisette for the cool air and the evening descent. La Pizza Cresci is a queue worth the queue.
- 03
Vieux Port
The old fishing harbour, between Le Suquet and the Palais.
A Tuesday and Friday flower market on the Allées; the Astoux & Brun oyster terrace at noon.
- 04
La Californie
The residential hill above the Croisette, Belle Époque villas, gardens, the locals.
The honest hill. Walk up to the Notre-Dame d’Espérance for the photograph; book a small hotel here in May to avoid the inflated Croisette rates.
- 05
Le Cannet
The hill town above La Californie, Bonnard country, the Tuesday-night dinner.
Pierre Bonnard lived here for thirty years; the Bonnard Museum is small and excellent. Bistrot des Anges, La Villa Archange.
- 06
Mougins
A perched village ten minutes inland, Picasso country, three Michelin-starred restaurants in a square mile.
Le Mas Candille for the hotel; Paloma for dinner; the village walls themselves for the photograph.
- 07
Île Sainte-Marguerite
The larger Lérins island, pine forest, fort, the swim, La Guérite.
Fifteen minutes by public ferry from the Quai Laubeuf. Bring a book; the eucalyptus walk takes the day.
- 08
Île Saint-Honorat
The smaller Lérins, Cistercian monastery, vineyard, sea-cliff walks.
Twenty-five active monks. Buy the Saint-Honorat wine; lunch at La Tonnelle.
Where to eat, drink and sleep.
Eat
- La Palme d’Or (Hôtel Martinez)Croisette
Two Michelin stars on the Martinez seventh floor. The serious Cannes evening, chef Jean Imbert; floor-to-ceiling sea view; black tie not required.
- La Petite MaisonCannes centre
Niçoise cuisine in the Quartier des Anglais. The lunch the Festival agents take when they’re not on the Croisette. Reserve weeks out.
- Astoux & BrunVieux Port
A standing-and-sitting oyster bar near the port since 1953. Plateau de fruits de mer, a glass of Picpoul, lunch in twenty minutes.
- La GuériteÎle Sainte-Marguerite
A boat-only beach restaurant on Sainte-Marguerite. Mediterranean institution since 1969; paella, lobster, a ten-piece live band by 4pm.
- La Pizza CresciVieux Port
The institutional Cannes pizza since 1957. A queue down the Quai Saint-Pierre; the wood-fired pizza, by the half-metre, is the order.
- L’AffableCannes centre
A small modern French bistrot in the Carré d’Or. The dinner before a 9.30pm at the Palais. Reserve.
- Aux Bons EnfantsLe Suquet
A 1930s family bistrot at the foot of Le Suquet. No telephone, no website, no card payments, turn up at 7pm and wait. The proper Provençal dinner.
- Bistrot des AngesLe Cannet
Pierre Reboul’s neo-bistrot in the upper village. The Tuesday-night locals address; the cassoulet in October is the order.
- BâoliCroisette (Pointe)
A beach-club restaurant at the eastern end of the Croisette. Long lunches, a Saturday-night that turns into a dance floor by 1am.
- Carlton BeachCroisette
The Carlton’s private beach club. Salade niçoise, a swim, the Festival faces in May, a calmer summer in July. The proper Croisette lunch.
Drink
- Bar Le LongCroisette
The Carlton’s bar, wood-panelled, oak, a Bellini at six. The proper Festival aperitif.
- Le Bar du MartinezCroisette
The Martinez bar; long marble counter, jazz on Friday, the second-best aperitif on the Croisette and the right one if the Carlton is full.
Stay
- Hôtel CarltonCroisette
The 1911 grande dame, fully renovated 2023. Rouge-and-cream rooms, the original sea-facing terrace, the proper Cannes address.
- Hôtel MartinezCroisette
The 1929 art deco grande dame, with the seventh-floor La Palme d’Or. The Festival photographers’ choice; the sea-view rooftop pool.
- Hôtel Majestic BarrièreCroisette
The 1926 hotel directly opposite the Palais. Two pools, a private beach; the Festival reds-carpets at the door, in May.
- Le Mas CandilleMougins
A Provençal mas in the hill village. Twelve minutes from Cannes; gardens, a spa, an air-conditioned escape from the Croisette in July.
- Le CavendishCannes centre
A small Belle Époque hotel two streets behind the Croisette. Twenty-six rooms, family-run, breakfast in your room until noon. The honest, half-price option.
Swim
- Plage de la BoccaWest of centre
The free public beach west of the Croisette. Cleaner than the central beach; the locals’ swim. A 25-minute walk from the Palais.
See
- Île Sainte-Marguerite ferryVieux Port
Public ferry from the Quai Laubeuf, fifteen minutes, every thirty minutes in season. €17 return. The right Sunday.
- Fort RoyalÎle Sainte-Marguerite
A 16th-century fort that imprisoned the Man in the Iron Mask. Now a small maritime museum and an exceptional sea-cliff walk.
- Marché ForvilleLe Suquet (foot)
The covered Provençal market under Le Suquet. Open Tue-Sun; closed Mon. Lunch ingredients, a socca, a Bellet wine, a peach.
- Palais des FestivalsCroisette
The convention centre at the western end of the Croisette. Outside Festival week, an unspectacular building; the carpet is rolled away the rest of the year. Worth a photograph at 6am in May.
Dance
- Bâoli (after midnight)Croisette (Pointe)
The dance-floor side of the same restaurant. Rich, loud, very Festival, occasionally embarrassing, go once.
Walk
- Notre-Dame d’EspéranceLe Suquet
The 16th-century church at the top of Le Suquet. Climb the rampart; the photograph from the watchtower at sunset is the canonical Cannes one.
Every way in, compared.
| Route | Time | From | Line | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TER train from Nice | 25m | €8 | Nice-Ville → Cannes | Every twenty minutes. The civilised commute. A €5 day-pass covers the whole Côte d’Azur train line. |
| TGV from Paris | 5h 30m | €100-€200 | Paris Gare de Lyon → Cannes | Three direct trains a day. Avoid the connecting service via Marseille if you can; the direct is barely longer. |
| 210 Express bus from Nice | 50m | €22 | Nice (NCE) → Cannes Hôtel de Ville | The cheap, dependable airport shuttle. Twice an hour; quick check-in. |
| Helicopter (Heli Air / Monacair) | 8m | From €240 single | Nice (NCE) → Cannes Mandelieu | The right call for a Festival weekend. Lands at the Mandelieu airport, ten minutes by car from the Croisette. |
| Drive on the A8 | 40m-2h | Tolls + soul | Nice → A8 → Cannes | Theoretical. Real-world driving in May or August on the Côte d’Azur is the most consistently disappointing experience on the coast. |
| Public ferry to the Lérins Islands | 15m | €17 return | Quai Laubeuf → Sainte-Marguerite | Every 30 minutes in season. Don’t skip; the islands are the second city of Cannes. |
The rules the regulars keep.
- 01
Festival or never-Festival
Pick one. Festival week is a different city; July, June and September are the actual Cannes.
- 02
Black tie when asked
Any Festival evening at the Palais means black tie, no exceptions. Hire one in Cannes the morning of; do not buy.
- 03
Sleep above the Croisette
La Californie or Le Suquet for the air, the cool and the half-price rates. The seafront is for walking, not sleeping.
- 04
Reserve the islands by 9am
La Guérite, La Tonnelle, book the morning of, ferry at 11.30, lunch at 1.30, ferry home at 5.
- 05
Train, never drive
TER from Nice every twenty minutes. Driving into Cannes between 5 and 9pm is a category mistake.
A short, polite list.
- 01
Don’t book a hotel for Festival without a confirmation email, most "rooms" on Booking.com that week are unauthorised resells.
- 02
Don’t arrive at the Palais without a credential. The carpet is invitation-only; the perimeter is the public’s spot.
- 03
Don’t expect quiet on the Croisette in July. Walk west of the Palais if you want the calm seafront; everyone is east of it.
- 04
Don’t skip the Lérins Islands. The trip people most regret missing is the 25-minute ferry to Sainte-Marguerite.
- 05
Don’t order champagne at the beach unless the moment earns it. A pichet of Provence rosé costs a tenth and reads better.
Practical, briefly.
When is the Cannes Film Festival?
The Festival de Cannes runs for ten days from the second Tuesday of May. Hotels open their books eighteen months out and triple their rates; the city is a single industry conference for the duration. The right way to attend without a credential is to sleep in Antibes or Mougins and train in for evenings.
How do I get to Cannes from Nice or Paris?
From Nice (NCE): TER train 25 minutes, every 20 minutes, €8. Or the 210 Express bus, 50 minutes, €22. From Paris: TGV from Gare de Lyon to Cannes, 5h 30m direct, €100-€200. Fly only if you can land at Nice; Mandelieu airport (Cannes-side) is private only.
Where should I stay in Cannes?
On the Croisette: the Carlton (the photograph) or the Martinez (La Palme d’Or) for the proper splurge. Two streets behind the Croisette: Le Cavendish or the Mondrian for half the price and most of the location. Above the city: Le Mas Candille in Mougins, twelve minutes inland, for cooler air and a working kitchen garden.
Is Cannes worth visiting outside the Festival?
Yes, June, September, and the first two weeks of October are arguably the better Cannes weeks. The Croisette is half-empty, the beach clubs cost less, the islands are reservable, the city is a quiet French coastal town with a good market and a serious dinner culture. Avoid mid-July (MIDEM ghosts) and the second half of August (heat, crowds, prices).
How does Cannes compare to Nice or Saint-Tropez?
Nice is the city, bigger, working, year-round, with the airport and the museums. Cannes is the resort, smaller, more polished, a permanent sense of being half-prepared for cinema. Saint-Tropez is the village, slower, more eccentric, harder to reach. A long weekend can do all three; a serious holiday picks one.
How do I book the Lérins Islands?
Public ferries leave from the Quai Laubeuf every thirty minutes (Trans Côte d’Azur, Lérins Express, Riviera Lines). €17 return for Sainte-Marguerite, €18 for Saint-Honorat. La Guérite restaurant on Sainte-Marguerite must be reserved (May-October) the morning of, by phone, before 9.30am.