Cannes is easy to reduce to the Croisette and the red carpet. The town the regulars know is quieter and more rewarding: an old quarter on its hill, a morning market, two islands a short crossing from the port, and a calendar that changes the town’s character from month to month.
What follows is a guide to Cannes for those who return, or intend to: what to do, when to be there, and how to arrange it so the town works around you rather than the other way round. For where to stay, see our guide to Cannes neighbourhoods and our Cannes villa collection.
La Croisette, early or late
The Boulevard de la Croisette runs the length of the bay, from the Palais des Festivals to the Pointe Croisette, lined with the great hotels on one side and private beaches on the other. At midday it belongs to everyone. Walked at eight in the morning, or after dinner when the palaces are lit, it is the most elegant promenade on the coast. The private beaches in front of the hotels are where the town takes its long lunches; the best of them are reserved well ahead in season, and the right table matters more than the right beach. Our selection of the best beach clubs on the Riviera covers the addresses worth knowing.
Le Suquet and the Forville market
Above the Old Port, Le Suquet is where Cannes began: a fishing village of steep lanes climbing to the medieval tower and the Musée de la Castre, whose terrace gives the finest view over the bay and the Lérins Islands. Come down through the lanes to the Marché Forville, the covered market where the town’s cooks and private chefs buy their fish, vegetables and flowers each morning. It is the best introduction to how Cannes actually eats, and the natural start of a day planned around a long lunch.
The Lérins Islands
A fifteen-minute crossing from the port, the Lérins Islands are the counterpoint to the town. Sainte-Marguerite, the larger, is pine forest, coves and the Fort Royal, where the Man in the Iron Mask was held. Saint-Honorat is smaller and quieter still: a working monastery whose monks tend the vineyards and make wines served on the finest tables of the coast. Reached by private tender or on a day cruise, the islands are Cannes at its most serene — and the setting for one of our favourite evenings, a private chef’s dinner on the islands.
On the water
Cannes is one of the great yachting harbours of the Mediterranean, and the bay is best understood from the sea. A day on board can take in the Lérins Islands, the red rocks of the Esterel to the west, or the Cap d’Antibes to the east, with lunch at anchor and a swim in water that the beaches never quite reach. For a week at sea, Cannes is the natural port of departure for Saint-Tropez, Monaco and beyond. See our yacht charter in Cannes for the fleet and the itineraries.
The hills: Mougins, Grasse and the golf courses
Behind the coast, the hills offer a different Riviera. Mougins, a perched village fifteen minutes inland, has long drawn artists and gastronomes. Further up, Grasse is the world capital of perfume: the fields of jasmine and May rose, the historic houses, and the possibility of composing a fragrance of your own — see our day in Grasse. Between the two, some of the finest golf courses in France are within half an hour of the Croisette; our guide to golf on the Riviera lists them.
The calendar
Cannes changes character with its events, and planning a stay around them — or away from them — is the first decision to make. MIPIM brings the property world in March. The Cannes Film Festival in May is the most sought-after fortnight on the coast, when villas, tables and moorings are booked months in advance. Cannes Lions follows in June — see our note on villa and apartment rental for Cannes Lions. July and August are high summer. September brings the Cannes Yachting Festival, and the golden weeks that follow are, for many regulars, the best time of all to be here.
Arriving well, and where to stay
Nice Côte d’Azur airport is a short drive along the coast, or a few minutes by helicopter; private aviation lands at Cannes-Mandelieu, closer still. In town, the choice is between the hotels of the Croisette and a private villa on the hills of La Californie, Super-Cannes or the Croix des Gardes, where the view takes in the whole bay. For a longer stay, or with family and friends, the villa is the more private and more comfortable answer. Our Cannes concierge arranges the rest: transfers, tables, beach reservations, tenders to the islands and access during the Festival.