Day trip to Cannes
With everything in such close proximity to the train station, Cannes is an easy day trip from Nice. Besides the Cannes Film Festival mystique, Cannes also boasts sandy beaches, great shopping, a tiny arty old town, and a plethora of restaurants.
Oh, and by the way, Cannes is pronounced ‘can’ (like ‘yes, I can!’), not ‘cans’ or ‘khon‘. You’re welcome.
What to See in Cannes (map at bottom)
When you exit the Cannes train station, go straight. The first street that you cross is a good for little restaurants, and the second (lined with giant metal balls) is rue d’Antibes, known for its shopping. A minute later you will be at the famous Cannes seaside, and the Cannes tourist office is just to the right tucked in between the two main stairways, for maps and info.
Yes, those are the famous steps of the Cannes Film Festival red carpet! It may look puny now, but just imagine it filled with stars, and lined with crowds and paparazzi…
(If you are going to Cannes during the Film Festival in May, don’t miss my indispensable insider’s guide to How to do the Cannes Film Festival without a badge…)
Take a stroll down the Croisette with the grand hotels on one side (with the most amazing cars parked out front, rivaling Monaco), and gorgeous sandy beaches (as opposed to the stones in Nice!) on the other. Cannes is the place for world-class people watching… it’s a magnet for eccentrics, so you never know what or whom you are going to see.
In summer, hit the beach. The first beach, Plage Mace (pictured), is one of only two free public beaches, one on each end. In-between, all the beaches are private, but may be worth the hefty price to have a comfy lounge bed and parasol, sip Champagne and have a memorable beachside lunch, not to mention sunning with the jet set and swimming with the social sharks.
Or, better yet, get the best of both: walk all the way to the end (15 scenic minutes) to Plage Zamenhof, a municipal beach with many of the amenities of a private beach, but for a pittance! You get a reclining beach chairs, a shared table and parasol, changing rooms, bathrooms, showers… for pocket change: just 6.50€ for a half-day, or 9€ for a full day (plus a nominal fee for the shared parasol), and that includes the priceless Instagram photos! And you can bring in snacks, so this is a super way to do a Cannes “private beach” on a budget. Note that they only rent the chairs in pairs, so if you are on your own you still have to rent two chairs, and you must bring your own towel. Online reservations open up 3-days in advance, and you’ll need to jump on it first thing in the morning as the front rows get reserved fast. Open June-mid September.
The other side of the boulevard is lined with designer boutiques, flashy cars, and the grand hotels that embody years of film lore. Here is a fun article from Entertainment Weekly with just some of the stories just from one hotel, the Carlton…
Take a little pause at the Malmaison Contemporary Art Museum right next to the J.W. Marriott) in a converted belle epoch villa, where they have 3 floors featuring a single temporary exhibit. It’s small but worth the stop (and they have a rooftop cafe/bar). Tickets are 6.50€.
Back at the red carpet, if you head right, towards the Port, you might see an antique market (Saturdays and Sundays) or a flower market, and the local denizens playing boules in the afternoon.
Two streets inland from the Port is a lovely walking street rue Meynadier lined with bargain shops and wonderful food stores (especially if you want inspiration for a picnic…). At the end of this walking street and to the right you will find the lovely Marche Forville covered food market (mornings only, Tues-Sat, then antiques all day on Mondays).
If you go to the far corner of the Port and head up the hill you will find yourself in Le Suquet, Cannes’ tiny but exquisitely charming and arty old town (just one steep street!) with great restaurants, fun shopping, and topped by the Cathedral with a panoramic view of the bay of Cannes.
See those islands out there? One holds a fascinating museum and the other is a working monastery and vineyard, and they are easy to visit with a 15-minute speedboat ride from the Cannes Port. Here is my page on visiting those islands from Cannes.
FREE Walking Tours
GuruWalks does daily FREE walking tours of Cannes in English. It starts at 10:30am lasts 2 hours, and you can tip your guide at the end if you enjoyed it (you will!), but there is no set fee. Reservations a must via their site.
The Cannes Tourist Office also offers FREE tours in English with volunteer greeters, locals that are not professional guides, but possess a passion for Cannes that they want to share. Each Greeter has been vetted for quality by the tourist office, and offers a specialized tour based on his/her interest/expertise, so the tours can range from history, shopping, urban hiking, cinema and celebrities, architecture, photography, gardens, to themed walks on virtually every subject, and whereas the facts might be a little fuzzy, the passion is clear and the price is definitely right!
Island Adventures
See those two islands out there? One holds the prison where the Man in the Iron Mask was held, and the other is a 2,000-year-old working monastery and vineyard tended by the monks. You can get there with a quick and inexpensive boat trip from the far side of the Cannes Port, but each island is serviced by a different boat company, so you have to choose! (See the island day trip page for more info and ideas).
Best way to get to Cannes
The best way to get from Nice to Cannes is to take the train, which costs around 8€, leaves every half-hour, and just know that every train going in that direction (Grasse, Draguignan, Saint Raphael, Marseilles) makes a stop in Cannes. It will cost 19.80€ round trip (unless you have a day-pass or discount card) and take 20-40 minutes depending on the train.
Don’t be tempted by the 2.50€ bus to Cannes as it takes for-ev-er and you will arrive exhausted.
Getting back at night
If you are going to make an evening of it, know that the last train back from Cannes to Nice is around 10pm on weeknights, and 11:30pm on Friday/Saturday.
The Nice-Cannes Bus #620 stops running its regular route at around 8:30pm. The exception is Friday and Saturdays when there is a special #621 Night Bus leaving from the Cannes bus station/train station at 11pm, 12:30am and 3:45am. Even then this night bus will only take you as far as the Grand Arenas tram stop/bus station (near the Nice airport), and since the Nice tramway doesn’t run at that hour, from there you can easily do the last little bit with an Uber.
Taking a taxi back from Cannes to Nice will set you back around 100€, so better to take an Uber which will only cost around 50€. First-time Uber users can click here and save 10€ on each of your first 5 rides…
…Or, better yet, just roll with it and find a casino, an all-night restaurant, or dance ’til dawn (Bisous Bisous or Disco 7) until the trains and buses start running again…
- Back up to Main Day Trip Page
Photo credit: Cannes by Rita Molnar, Croisette by Bledard92, Masses on Red Carpet by Tangi Bertin, all licensed under Creative Commons.