Cannes means many things to many people, depending on when and why you go. To some it’s the Film Festival, creaking with superstars and glamorous as all hell. Others attend the Cannes Lion creativity awards, where the advertising industry goes to debauch. And MIPIM, the property and construction gathering, which is similar though entirely men-in-suits. But for the rest of the year comparatively normal service is resumed and Cannes is more easily recognisable as Côte d’Azure. Big enough, small enough, this is a proper town with its own year-round community.
OK, let’s do this properly. And that means no 6am flights, no irritatingly distant airports, just the to-it-and-through-it of London City. It is admittedly more expensive but as the first step of a holiday it sets you up with a smile.
Arriving in Nice, you can either catch a taxi (35 mins door to door) or take the train from Terminal 1, which takes around 50 mins.
It is ten years since I last visited and very little has changed. The yachts in the harbour seem a few feet longer and the Palais des Festivals a smidge shinier, but the honey-coloured terraces and squares remain as Riviera as ever.
There was a scene in the film ‘Ronin’ where Robert De Niro spies on some gangsters in the foyer of Hotel Barrière Le Majestic that left me yearning to experience this grande damme of the Croisette. Located opposite the Palais des Festivals, it is an absolute favourite of film stars due to its proximity to the main event, and the corridor walls are covered with photos of their illustrious clientèle.
The great thing about Barrière hotels is that they are owner-run, affording a service that is exceptionally warm and personal. Our room (5th floor, sea view) was gorgeous. Rather than paper or paint, the walls are clad in stretched grey fabric over a wool insulation, which affords a visual and acoustic lux. Recently refurbished, it was pretty much perfect, with furniture that reflected its art deco roots.
Bags dumped, it was time for lunch across the road at the hotel’s beach club, Ciro’s. It too has just been completely refurbished and, boy-oh-boy, what a meal. Nothing moves too fast down there, so we settled in for a ‘lost afternoon’. It’s a Mediterranean menu par excellence, very colourful and just beautifully cooked and presented. Honestly one of the best lunches ever, rinsed down with a bottle of local blush. Lobster Linguine was the standout dish, the bisque with cream enhanced with a dash of cognac.
Dinner at the hotel was at Fouquet’s, kicked off by a couple of mixologist Emanuele Balestra’s signature cocktails, featuring a spray of essential oils from herbs grown and distilled in Cannes. The menu is classic Mediterranean Bistro, served elegantly and without hurry. A rare treat, my Sole meunière was utterly sublime.
There’s plenty to do in Cannes to fill a long weekend, so much so that we didn’t even find enough time for the beach. Catch a ferry out to the Lérins islands and visit the fort that once held the Man in the Iron Mask. Explore the old town, with its narrow streets, markets and café culture. Climb the hill up to visit Église Notre-Dame d’Espérance and enjoy the view of the harbour. A great venue for early evening aperitif is La Maison, bathed in the sun as it descends westward. And day-trips are easy by train to the likes of Monaco, Antibes and St. Tropez.
As for price, you have to expect it to be expensive in high season – perhaps reassuringly so as the advertisement used to say. But I also found rooms for as little as 261 euros in low season. So both expensive and a bargain!
We left with the certainty this is a place to which we will return. And the same goes for Le Majestic.
Hotel Barrière Le Majestic Cannes
10 Boulevard de la Croisette, 06400 Cannes, France