Treasures of Traveling in Cannes
The south of France is known for its many beaches along the French Riviera and Cannes is just one of the many cities that stand out. It’s a great place to visit because of the beautiful beaches where you can relax and enjoy the blue water of the Mediterranean Sea. It also has many cultural attractions like the international Cannes Film Festival that takes place once a year in May. Since it is located along the Mediterranean sea, it has a mild climate year round and perfect for relaxing on the beach from May to October. The boulevards are lined with palm trees and tropical flowers giving visitors the perspective of being in paradise. Cannes has a reputation of glamour with the number of famous and wealthy people who frequently visit the city. From private beaches to luxury yachts, along with expensive hotels and great tasting restaurants, Cannes is just one of the many treasures of traveling throughout the French Riviera.
Map of Walking Tour of Cannes
Below is a map of the Cannes walking tour. The map lists 16 locations throughout Cannes that you shouldn’t miss. If you follow this walking tour along the Boulevard de la Croisette completing a full loop around the city back to the same boulevard. It is only 3.66 miles (5.9 km) in total distance. If you just walk and don’t stop it will take you around one hour and twenty minutes to walk the total distance. I would give yourself at least a full day to walk along the path and stop and visit many of the locations from the Palais des Festivals et des Congres de Cannes to the Notre Dame Church or enjoy the sun, sand and waves at either the private or public beaches and don’t forget to visit the local market filled with fresh fruit, vegetables and flowers. Cannes can be visited in one day, but keep in mind that this is a beach town along the Mediterranean Sea so you might just want to spend some time relaxing on the beach and exploring the town on a more leisurely schedule.
Boulevard de La Croisette
La Croisette Boulevard is one of the many iconic streets in France. It stretches the length of the seafront for a minimum of a mile and is the place to be seen. This palm lined boulevard is the first stop for many tourists in Cannes. This is where you will find many of the most luxurious hotels on one side of the boulevard, while their private beaches, where you can pay for a sun lounge chair and enjoy the service of food and drinks along the beach, are on the opposite side of the boulevard. This beachfront promenade has wonderful views of the bay and the Lerins Islands in the distance of the Mediterranean Sea. A beach boardwalk runs alongside the Boulevard de La Croisette where you can see many locals jogging or walking their dogs and just hanging out with friends on the benches underneath the palm trees. There are many upscale and expensive boutiques along the boulevard that you might find interesting if shopping is one of your hobbies.
Martinez Beach and Macé Beach
Martinez Beach and Macé Beach, better known in French as Plage Martinez and Plage Macé are two beaches that run along the Boulevard de La Croisette. This is just a reminder that the majority of beaches that run between these two public beaches are private. If you decide to enjoy one of the private beaches, everything will be catered to you from fancy drinks and delicious food at their restaurants. Even if you don’t rent an umbrella or chair at the private beaches, you can still walk along the beach between either of these two public beaches. Just remember to bring your towel. It’s a great place to enjoy the sand, surf and sun and most days you will even see beautiful sand art created by artists.
Palais des Festivals et des Congres and the Cannes Film Festival
The Palais des Festivals et des Congres is filled with famous celebrities when the Cannes Film Festival takes place every May. It is a red-carpet affair when movie stars and filmmakers from around the world, along with journalists and huge crowds of fans descend upon the city. The Cannes Film Festival is one of the most exciting things to occur along the French Riviera so if you are a huge movie buff, this might be an experience you wouldn’t want to miss. Throughout the rest of the year the building is used for conferences, events and other types of festivals from music to television and even the G20 Summit, as it is a convention and cultural center. The complex of buildings was built in 1982 and is continuously updated with state of the art sound and lighting systems. The majority of people visit this facility just to take a selfie in front of the red carpet! When the festival is taking place in Cannes, the movies are shown all throughout the entire city at all the local cinemas, not just this facility. While you’re exploring the outside of the convention center make sure to look down at the ground and notice the handprints and signatures of famous movie stars in what can be compared to the Hollywood Walk of Fame. It is interesting to see all the handprints of the different film stars and you can even try to see if your hands fit into their prints. It’s definitely probably more of an activity for someone who is interested in movies and movie history, but it is fun to see all the handprints.
Le Vieux Port
The Le Vieux Port, also known as Port Cannes, is a nice place to walk around and look at all the luxury yachts that you probably could never afford and see the expensive play toys of the wealthy. Besides seeing so much wealth in one place, it actually is a nice place to relax and enjoy a drink at one of the many bars and restaurants along the terrace. The port also has sailboats and a few fishing boats because there has to be fresh seafood in a port town. If you love boating then you might want to visit Cannes during September when the yearly Cannes Yachting Festival occurs. It’s actually one of the biggest boat shows in Europe.
Port de Cannes Lighthouse
While you are visiting Port Cannes, you might as well visit or at least see the two lighthouses helping to guide both fishing boats and the luxury yachts into the port.
Plage Du Midi
Midi Beach is another public beach on the other side of Cannes, away from Boulevard de La Croisette with nice sandy beaches and spectacular views of the mountains in the distance! There are now a few private beaches popping up along this strip of sand, but in general along parts of this beach, there are no chairs or umbrellas to rent so make sure you bring your own towel and lay it out wherever you can find a spot amongst all the locals. Just remember to watch out for your valuables or better yet, just leave them in the hotel or hostel. If you get hungry and didn’t bring any snacks to the beach with you, don’t fear, as there are many restaurants and ice cream stands to cool you off and help you quench your thirst. This is also a fantastic place to view the sunset every evening as you can watch the sun descend behind the mountains!
Le Suquet (Old Town)
Le Suquet is the oldest neighborhood of Cannes. It has cobblestone streets big enough only for people and few cars so it’s a nice area of Cannes to wander through and get yourself lost along the winding streets. Many of the streets are actually narrow staircases only. It was originally a Roman settlement located above the city on Mont Chevalier and it overlooked the bay. While walking through the neighborhood you will get a feel for what Cannes was like in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Musée de la Castre
The Musée de la Castre is located on Mont Chevalier within the Le Suquet Old Town neighborhood. The museum is actually within a medieval castle that was once home to the monks of Lérins. This previous monastery, now listed as a national monument, has now been turned into the Castre Museum with a collection of paintings, pre-Columbian art, Mediterranean artefacts and musical instruments from around the world. One of the best things you can do is to climb the 100 plus stairs to the top of the buildings 12th century tower to take in the spectacular panoramic views of Cannes and it’s bay.
Notre-Dame D’Espérance
Notre-Dame D’Espérance was built on the summit of Le Suquet so it has wonderful views of the city, port and bay of Cannes below. The church was built in the 14th, 15th and 16th century with a Gothic style. This church also has an old cemetery located next to it that you can visit. You can attend a religious service on Sunday, as the church is still open today. The church also has a clock tower that you can always look to if you lose track of time while visiting the Le Suquet neighborhood.
Rue Panisse
Rue Panisse is one of the many winding streets of Le Suquent, one of the oldest neighborhoods of Cannes. This particular street is not technically a street and is just a narrow staircase and ends on one of the many cobblestone streets with small stores and family restaurantes with delicious food. There is even an old fountain at the end of the road where you can fill up your water bottle.
Les Murs Peints – Cinéma Cannes
Les Murs Peints is one of the many painted murals located throughout the city of Cannes. This one focuses on the history of cinema in Cannes. Many of the other walls throughout the city also pay tribute to cinema and showcase famous movie scenes along with actors and actresses. This mural is located on top of the bus station Gare Autobus. Take a day while you are visiting Cannes and see if you can find the other murals located throughout the city.
Mairie de Cannes
Mairie de Cannes is Cannes Town Hall built in 1877 so it showcases 19th century architecture. It is located right in front of the port so while you are visiting the port you can also visit the Town Hall. It is a very busy building as local French residents will come to take care of business and register everything required by the city.
Marché Gambetta
Marché Gambetta is one of the local covered open air markets of Cannes. You can purchase fresh fruit and vegetables, along with seafood, clothing and flowers. It’s a great place for local farmers to sell their produce. In the mornings it can be very hectic and if you come too late it will be completely empty as the farmers have sold their goods and left.
Rue d’Antibes
Rue d’Antibes runs parallel to Boulevard de la Croisette, but just a few blocks inland into the city of Cannes. It is not quite as upscale as the stores on Boulevard de la Croisette, but is the largest shopping district of Cannes and is a place where you can find probably anything you might be looking for. There are still many expensive stores located on this street, but you can also find well known stores like Zara. Along this road you will also find a couple of the other theaters and cinemas where movies are shown. Even if shopping is not something you enjoy, you still should take a stroll down this street to view the architecture and even take a break, sit down, get a bite to eat and people watch others shopping for jewelry, shoes, cosmetics and fashion.
InterContinental Carlton Hotel
There are many beautiful hotels throughout Cannes, but one of the most famous and impressive is the InterContinental aon Hotel. It was built in the 20th century during the Belle Epoque architectural period and even if you don’t stay there, it still is a wonderful place to visit to view the beautiful architecture.
Visiting Neighboring Nice
There are many neighboring cities and small villages to visit that are close to Cannes and very easy to visit as they are accessible by using public transportation. The city of Nice is a great city to visit along the French Riviera as well. It’s just a short train or bus ride away from Cannes. Take a look at the 10 things to experience in Nice, France.
Treasures of Traveling in Cannes
There are many treasures of traveling to visit in the city of Cannes, along the French Riviera, as you can see on this map of the walking tour. Cannes has many things to offer any tourist and is filled with a few of the interesting treasures that France has to offer. There are also many other wonderful French cities like Nice to discover along the Mediterranean coastline.
— Luke Keeler
Check out the map below to see where Cannes is located!
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