Cannes

Why go

A festival that redefined cinema — twelve days each May when the industry moves here entirely. The Croisette — a promenade built for the English winter colony and never surrendered. The Îles de Lérins — a monastery island and a fortress island, twenty minutes offshore and another world. Le Suquet — the fishing village the resort grew around, still stacked above the old port.

The character

Cannes was a fishing village until Lord Brougham, prevented by a cholera quarantine from reaching Nice in 1834, stayed, built a villa and told his friends. The English winter colony followed, then the Russians, and by 1900 the Croisette was lined with hotels built for people who came for the season rather than the week. The festival arrived in 1946, conceived before the war as a democratic answer to Mussolini's Venice, and gave the town its second identity.

The two functions still divide the year. For eleven and a half months Cannes is a comfortable, slightly staid Riviera resort with a serious market and a good fishing port. For twelve days in May it becomes the centre of the film business: forty thousand accredited professionals, hotel rooms at ten times the price, and deals done on terraces in place of in cinemas. Understanding which Cannes you are visiting is the single most useful piece of planning, because they are almost different towns.

Places of character

Marché Forville — the covered market behind the old port, where the restaurants buy; go before ten. Le Suquet — the old quarter climbing to the watchtower, with the best view back over the bay. Île Saint-Honorat — Cistercian monks have lived here since 410; they make the wine and sell it at the abbey. Île Sainte-Marguerite — the fort where the Man in the Iron Mask was held, and a eucalyptus forest with quiet coves. Palais des Festivals steps — outside festival season, empty and unremarkable, which is its own kind of pleasure. Rue d'Antibes — the shopping street locals actually use, one block behind the Croisette.

The way to do it

Stay off the Croisette and above it: le Suquet and the streets behind Rue d'Antibes are cheaper, quieter and better placed. Take the boat to the islands on any clear day. Shop at Forville ahead of eating on the seafront. And if you are not attending the festival, avoid mid-May entirely — the town belongs to accreditation badges.

One perfect day

Coffee and the market at Forville while the restaurateurs are still arguing over fish. Climb Le Suquet to the watchtower and the small museum for the bay from above. Ferry at eleven to Saint-Honorat: walk the perimeter of the monks' island in an hour, taste the wine at the abbey shop, swim off the rocks on the far side where nobody goes. Back for a late lunch of grilled fish at the old port. Afternoon on the Croisette for the promenade and one indulgent hour on a beach club lounger. Aperitif in Le Suquet as the light goes, then dinner in a small place on Rue Saint-Antoine, and a last walk down to the port where the yachts have their lights on.

Grand hotels

Hôtel Martinez — the 1929 Art Deco landmark on the Croisette, and the festival's unofficial headquarters. Carlton Cannes — 1913, with the two cupolas said to be modelled on a courtesan's silhouette; restored and reopened in 2023.

When to go

Best expression: June and September, warm sea, working town, festival crowds gone. Consider: the film festival itself in May, if you have business or enjoy the spectacle from outside. Avoid if possible: mid-May without accreditation, and August, when the coast road is solid traffic.

The frame

Ideal stay 2 nights · Minimum 1 night · Best arrival the coastal train from Nice, 30 minutes · Airport NCE, 27 km · Walkability flat along the front, steep in Le Suquet · Best without a car yes