The Cannes Travel Guide

Most people picture Cannes as a streetscape of flashbulbs, designer sunglasses, and red carpet. The film festival makes for good television, but it paints a one note portrait of a town that has more going on than a few days in May. I have spent plenty of time here between festivals, and the Cannes I keep coming back to is quieter, older, and far less glossy than the one on the nightly news. Give it three or four days and you can see it properly.

Why Cannes is worth more than the festival

Cannes started as a fishing village perched on a hill, and for centuries that is all it was. The transformation only began in the 1800s, when the British who wintered on the Riviera started building mansions and the railway followed in 1863. The festival arrived in 1946 and turned a small seaside town into a global name. The lasting surprise is how much of the old Cannes survives underneath the glamour. The waterfront boulevard, the yachts, and the hotels are all real, but so are the packed lanes of Le Suquet and the quiet squares just a block back from the sea.

Le Suquet and the old town

Start on the Rue d’Antibes if you want shopping, but for the soul of the town climb into Le Suquet, the medieval quarter that sits on the hill above the port. The lanes are steep, narrow, and lined with laundry hung between buildings. At the top you get the Tour du Mont Chevalier, a round tower that has guarded the town since the 1300s, and the church of Notre Dame de l’Espérance. The view from the top is the best in Cannes, stretching from the Lerins Islands out to the bay with the red hills of the Estérel beyond. Grab a table at one of the tiny restaurants that crowd these streets after sunset, when the festival crowds have gone home.

The Croisette and the beaches

The Boulevard de la Croisette is the famous strip, a wide seafront promenade lined with palms and the grand hotels. The walk from the old port to the far end at the Palm Beach casino takes about half an hour and is worth doing at a slow pace. Public beaches are thin on the ground in this stretch, and many of the best stretches are private, run by restaurants where you rent a sun lounger for the day. If you want the classic experience without a wallet full of cash, the public Plage du Midi at the western end of the bay is sandier and far cheaper, with the Lerins Islands sitting right in front of you.

Taking the boat to the islands

One of the best half day trips starts at the old port, where ferries run across the water to the two Lerins Islands. Sainte Marguerite is the bigger one, famous for the fortress where the Man in the Iron Mask is said to have been held. Its pine forests and quiet coves feel a world away from the promenade crowds. The smaller Saint Honorat is still run by Cistercian monks, who make wine, raise olives, and run a small distillery. The wine and the quiet are reason enough to go, and the crossing is short enough that you can do one island and be back for dinner.

Day trips to consider

Cannes works well as a base because so much of the Riviera is close. Antibes with its Picasso museum and busy market is a twenty minute train ride away. The perched villages of the interior, like Gourdon and Mougins, are reachable in under an hour by car and give you a proper taste of inland Provence. If you have a full day to spare, the train up to Grasse, the perfume capital, is scenic and ends in a town that smells far better than Cannes on a busy festival night. Book coastal hotels well ahead, because summer reservations in Cannes are essential.

When to visit and practical notes

The late spring and early autumn are the sweet spot. Late May brings the festival, which doubles prices and fills every room, so avoid it unless that is the whole point of your trip. June and September give you beach weather without the crush. In winter the town slows down, the air stays mild, and you often find the promenade nearly to yourself. The nearest airport is Nice, about half an hour away, and a train service runs right along the coast, which makes getting here easier than driving and parking in the town center.

What to skip

Skip the guided bus tour, which spends more time gridlocked than sightseeing. Skip the overpriced cafés directly on the Croisette if you want a real coffee with your pastry. And time your festival visit carefully, because the crowds can be brutal. But skip nothing in Le Suquet, and never pass up a boat ride out to the islands. The Cannes most visitors miss, the quiet one with the old stone and the sea lapping at its edges, is the one I actually recommend. You just have to walk a few blocks inland and stay past the festival to find it.