Tours in Cannes

Cannes is two towns that happen to share a bay. The Croisette is the one everyone pictures: a promenade of palms, private beaches and hotels facing the sea, with the Palais des Festivals and its red steps at the western end. Behind and above it, Le Suquet is the old fishing village the resort grew out of — narrow stairs, a stone watchtower, and the best view over the harbour from the church terrace at the top. The Vieux Port sits between them, full of yachts in summer and fishing boats in the early morning. Fifteen minutes offshore lie the Iles de Lerins: Sainte-Marguerite, with the fort where the Man in the Iron Mask was held, and Saint-Honorat, still farmed by monks who make the wine.

Most of what is booked here leaves town, because the good things are close and spread out. Half-day and full-day drives run east to Eze, Monaco and Monte-Carlo, and west or inland to Grasse, where the perfume industry has been since the sixteenth century, Antibes with its Picasso museum in the seafront castle, and the walled hill village of Saint-Paul-de-Vence. Cruise passengers take the same routes as shore excursions timed to the ship. In Cannes itself the day is simpler: the market at Forville in the morning, Le Suquet on foot, the islands by the regular boat, and the Croisette in the evening, when the light does most of the work.

Practical. The season is long — mild winters around 12C, hot Julys, and swimming from June into October — but the town has two speeds. During the film festival in May and the big trade fairs, hotel prices multiply and the Croisette is closed to normal life; outside those weeks it is an ordinary Riviera resort. Most of the beach is private and charged by the day, with public stretches at either end. Nice airport is thirty minutes east and the train along the coast is cheap, frequent and more pleasant than driving. A coffee is two euros standing, lunch on a side street twenty, and on the Croisette whatever they decide. Service is included; tipping is rounding up.