Below the Red Carpet: Marcus Chen's Guide to the Real Cannes

I will admit it: I did not expect to find wilderness in Cannes. I came for a film festival assignment, expecting champagne flutes and velvet ropes. Instead, I found an 80-hectare forest rising behind the city, islands where monks have made wine for fifteen centuries, and a coastline where the Mediterranean crashes against limestone cliffs that nobody photographs. Cannes is not just a red carpet. It is a shoreline, a hill town, and two islands that feel like someone forgot to tell them they are supposed to be glamorous.

Here is what I learned after five visits: the best thing you can do in Cannes is leave the Croisette behind.

Meet the Author

Marcus Chen is an adventure travel specialist and certified wilderness guide who has led expeditions across six continents, from Patagonian ice fields to the Himalayas. A former National Geographic Young Explorer with a background in environmental science, Marcus does not do beach clubs. He does coastal trails, island circumnavigations, and the kind of swimming holes that require a hike first. His philosophy is simple: every famous destination has a back door. You just have to be willing to walk a little further than the tour buses.

Follow: @marcuschenwild on Instagram for real-time trail conditions and off-path discoveries.

The Lérins Islands: Where Monks Outlast the Movie Stars

If Cannes has a soul, it is not on the mainland. It is fifteen minutes offshore, on two islands that most festival-goers never visit.

Île Sainte-Marguerite: Forest, Fortress, and Silence

The larger island stretches 3.2 km end to end, cloaked in pine and eucalyptus that smell like resin and salt. I have walked the coastal path here at dawn, before the first ferry arrives, and the only sounds are cicadas and waves slapping against the limestone.

Fort Royal dominates the eastern end, a seventeenth-century fortress that once held the Man in the Iron Mask. The Musée de la Mer now occupies the fort, and while the maritime artifacts are fine, the real draw is the view from the ramparts: Cannes shrinking to a white line across the water, the Estérel mountains burning red in the afternoon sun.

Address: Fort Royal, Île Sainte-Marguerite
Hours: Daily 10:30–13:15, 14:15–17:45 (summer); reduced hours winter
Admission: €6 (€3 reduced). Free first Sunday of each month.
Best approach: Hike the coastal path clockwise from the ferry dock, reaching the fort in about 45 minutes. The eastern cliffs here are the island's wildest stretch.

Hiking the coastal loop: The full circuit is 7 km and takes roughly two hours. I recommend doing it counter-clockwise: start with the forested interior, save the southern coves for swimming breaks. The trail is well-marked but uneven—trail shoes, not flip-flops.

Swimming: The southern shore at Crique de la Convention has the clearest water I have measured in France: visibility to six meters on calm days. There are no facilities, no snack bars, just rock shelves and the open sea. Bring water and reef-safe sunscreen. The rocks are sharp—water shoes help.

** picnicking:** There is one restaurant near the ferry dock, and it charges festival prices. Pack a baguette, cheese, and fruit from Marché Forville in Cannes. Eat at the western tip, where the pines overhang the water and you can watch sailboats tack toward Antibes.

Île Saint-Honorat: The Monks' Wine

The smaller island has been a Cistercian monastery since the fifth century. Twenty monks still live here, which means the island closes at dusk and certain areas are permanently off-limits. Respect that. This is not a theme park.

The Abbey and Vineyards: The monks produce seven wines, the most famous being Saint-Pierre, a white made from grapes grown in sandy soil between the pines and the sea. I have tasted it at the abbey's small shop, standing under a stone archway while a monk explained—in French, slowly—that the salt air gives the wine a minerality you cannot replicate inland.

Abbey hours: Daily 10:00–18:00 (summer), 10:00–17:00 (winter)
Admission: Free (donations appreciated)
Guided tours: €8, available in French and English
Wine shop: Bottles run €25–80 depending on vintage. The Saint-Pierre is €32 and worth every cent. They also sell a liqueur made from island herbs that tastes like concentrated Provence.

The island trail: A single path circles the island in about 45 minutes. The eastern shore is rocky and dramatic; the western side has small beaches where you can swim if the monks are not in prayer. There are benches facing the sea. Sit on one. Watch a cargo ship pass on the horizon. Remember that this island has been here since before Cannes existed.

Getting to the Islands

Ferry from Cannes Vieux Port:

To Sainte-Marguerite: €15 round-trip. Departures every hour 09:00–17:00. Journey: 15 minutes.
To Saint-Honorat: €18 round-trip. Departures every 90 minutes 10:00–16:00. Journey: 20 minutes.
Tickets: Purchase at the ticket office on Quai Laubeuf, or book online at compagnie-iles-lerins.com to skip the queue in July.
My advice: Take the first ferry to Sainte-Marguerite (09:00), hike the loop, swim, eat lunch, then catch the 14:30 ferry to Saint-Honorat for the afternoon. The monks close the wine shop at 17:00 sharp.

Private charter: From €400 half-day for up to six people. If you are a group, this is worth it—you can anchor in coves the ferries do not reach.

Le Suquet: The Hill That Cannes Forgot

Before the film festival, before the yachts, before the red carpet, Cannes was a fishing village on a hill called Le Suquet. That village still exists, though most visitors look up at it from the port and never climb.

I make the climb every time I am in Cannes. It takes twelve minutes from Rue Saint-Antoine, up cobblestones worn smooth by centuries. The buildings lean together like old friends. Laundry hangs from iron balconies. A cat watches you from a windowsill. This is not the Cannes of Instagram. This is better.

Église Notre-Dame d'Espérance crowns the summit, a seventeenth-century church with a square that opens onto the entire Bay of Cannes. I have sat here at sunset and watched the light move from gold to rose to deep blue, while the city below turned on its evening lamps. There is no entrance fee. There is no line. Just a bench and a view that the Croisette hotels charge €500 a night to approximate.

GPS: 43.5497°N, 7.0097°E
Best time: Just before sunset. Bring a jacket—the wind picks up after 19:00 even in summer.

Musée de la Castre sits beside the church in a medieval monastery with a crenellated tower. The collection of Mediterranean antiquities is modest, but the tower climb is not. From the top, you can see the full curve of the coast from Cap d'Antibes to the Estérel.

Address: Place de la Castre, Le Suquet
Hours: Tuesday–Sunday 10:00–13:00, 14:00–17:00. Closed Mondays.
Admission: €6 (€3 reduced). Free first Sunday of each month.
Tower climb: 109 steps, spiral staircase. Not for the claustrophobic.

Croix des Gardes: The Wilderness Behind the Glamour

Here is what surprised me most about Cannes. Less than one kilometer from the Palais des Festivals, there is an 80-hectare natural park with no buildings, no beach clubs, and barely any signage. Parc de la Croix des Gardes rises to 162 meters, and from the summit cross you can see from Cap d'Antibes to the Estérel mountains.

The Smugglers' Path (Sentier des Contrebandiers): This is the best trail in the park, a 4.2 km loop that takes about 90 minutes. The name refers to the eighteenth-century salt and tobacco smugglers who used these hills to avoid customs agents on the coast. The trail is narrow, root-laced, and completely absent from most guidebooks. I have run it at sunrise and seen wild rabbits, kestrels, and once—a fox at the edge of the pines.

Trailhead: Avenue du Roi Albert I, near the intersection with Avenue du Petit Juas
Difficulty: Moderate. Some steep sections, loose gravel.
What to bring: Trail shoes, water, and a headlamp if starting before 07:00.

The summit cross: The Croix des Gardes itself is not architecturally significant. It is a landmark. Stand beneath it and look down at the city: the yachts in rows, the beach umbrellas like colored dots, the Palais des Festivals looking surprisingly small. This is the perspective Cannes needs. From up here, you remember that the city sits on a coastline that predates cinema by a hundred million years.

Hours: Dawn to dusk
Admission: Free
Best time: Early morning (07:00–09:00) for solitude and golden light.

La Croisette: How to Walk It Without Hating It

I am going to be honest: I do not love La Croisette. But it is undeniably the spine of Cannes, and there is a way to experience it that does not involve €50 beach clubs or window-shopping for handbags.

The morning walk: Start at the Palais des Festivals (1 Boulevard de la Croisette) at 07:30, before the heat and the crowds. Walk west toward Port Pierre Canto. The Belle Époque facades face the rising sun. The palm fronds cast striped shadows on the pavement. The beach clubs are still shuttered, their white umbrellas folded like sleeping birds. This is the only time La Croisette feels human.

Duration: 45–60 minutes at a leisurely pace
Distance: 2 km one way
GPS start: 43.5509°N, 7.0194°E

The Walk of Fame: The esplanade at the Palais features handprints of film legends set in the pavement. Look for Meryl Streep and Sylvester Stallone, yes, but also find the less obvious ones: Gong Li, whose handprints remind you that this festival has not always been Western-centric. The best angle for photographs is from the marina side, early morning, when the light rakes across the pavement.

If you must do a beach club: I have tried three. Here is the honest breakdown:

Z Plage (Hôtel Martinez) – €50/day. The crowd is fashion-industry people on expense accounts. The rosé is cold. The music is too loud by 14:00.
Carlton Beach Club – €45/day. Older crowd, quieter, better service. The best option if you genuinely want to relax.
Majestic Beach – €40/day. Families with children. The most accessible.
My recommendation: Skip them. Walk to Plage du Midi, five minutes west of the port, where the beach is public, the water is the same temperature, and a beer from the snack bar costs €4 instead of €14.

Vieux Port: Where the Real Boats Live

Cannes' Old Port sits at the foot of Le Suquet, and it is the most honest place in the city. The fishing boats come in before dawn. The mega-yachts berth at the eastern end. The contrast is deliberately absurd: a rusting trawler moored beside a 60-meter Feadship that costs more than a hospital.

The fish market: Every morning except Monday, fishermen sell their overnight catch directly from their boats along Quai Saint-Pierre. Arrive before 09:00 for the best selection: red mullet, sea bream, octopus, the occasional langoustine. I have bought fish here and cooked it that evening in a rented apartment. It cost €12 for enough to feed three people. That is the real Cannes.

Boat tours that are worth it:

Croisières Cannes runs a one-hour bay cruise for €22. Departures at 11:00, 14:00, and 16:00 daily. The commentary is in French and English, but the real value is the perspective: Cannes from the water, with the hills behind it, looks like a different city entirely.
Cannes Yachting offers half-day sailing trips for €85. They depart at 10:00 and 14:00. I did this once in October, when the wind was steady and the water was warm enough to swim without a wetsuit. The skipper let me take the helm for twenty minutes. That is worth more than any beach club.

Seasonal Activities: When to Chase What

Summer (June–August)

Fireworks Festival: An international competition on Tuesday nights in July and August. The displays are launched from barges offshore, and the best free viewing is from the public beaches at Plage du Midi or from Le Suquet hill. Bring a picnic. Arrive 90 minutes early for a spot. The grand finale in mid-August is genuinely spectacular— fifteen minutes of continuous firing that lights up the entire bay.

Nuits Musicales du Suquet: Classical music concerts inside Église Notre-Dame d'Espérance. July only. The acoustics of that stone church are remarkable, and the programming leans into Baroque and early music.

Tickets: €20–35
Booking: Essential. Search "Nuits Musicales du Suquet" and book through the tourist office website.

Winter (December–February)

Christmas Market: The Allées de la Liberté host a Provençal Christmas market with crafts, an ice rink, and hot wine. It runs late November to early January. I visited in December 2023 and found it quieter than expected, genuinely charming, and full of locals rather than tourists. The ice rink is small and often crowded with children. The mulled wine is excellent.

Spring and Autumn (The Shoulders)

These are my preferred seasons. April–June and September–October offer ideal hiking weather, empty islands, and water temperatures warm enough for swimming through mid-October. The Film Festival in May is avoidable: prices triple, restaurants book out, and the city loses its rhythm. I have been during the festival once. Never again.

What to Skip

The Palais des Festivals guided tour. €15 for 90 minutes of walking through empty conference halls and being told where celebrities stand for photos. You can walk the red carpet steps for free when the festival is not running. Save your money for the ferry to the Lérins Islands.

La Croisette cafés after 11:00. The coffee is mediocre, the prices are insulting (€8 for an espresso), and the seats are designed to make you leave quickly so they can seat the next customer. Walk five minutes inland to Rue d'Antibes and find a real café.

The Cannes City Pass. €25/day sounds reasonable until you realize it includes museum entries that are already free on the first Sunday of each month, and ferry discounts that amount to €2. If you are staying three days and visiting multiple museums, do the math. Usually, it does not add up.

Dining on the islands. The restaurants on both Lérins Islands cater to day-trippers and charge accordingly. A simple lunch runs €25–35. Pack a picnic. The rule of thumb I use: if a place has a view this good, the food is probably compensating.

Boat charters in July and August without advance booking. The good skippers book up weeks ahead. Last-minute charters in peak season get you inexperienced operators, inflated prices, or both. If you want a sailing day, plan it before you arrive.

Practical Logistics: How to Move Through Cannes

Budget Framework

Cannes can drain a wallet, but it does not have to.

Budget day (€35–50): Public beach, picnic from Marché Forville, hike Croix des Gardes, ferry to one island, self-catered dinner.
Mid-range day (€80–120): Beach club half-day or sailing trip, bistro lunch, museum entry, evening wine.
High-end day (€200+): Private boat charter, Michelin-recommended dinner, luxury hotel bar for sunset.

Getting Around

Walking: Cannes is compact. Most of what matters is within twenty minutes on foot. The exception is Croix des Gardes, which requires a short bus ride or a 30-minute uphill walk from the center.

Bus: The Palm Bus network covers the city and surrounding coast.

Single ticket: €1.50
Day pass: €7
Route 1 runs along La Croisette. Route 2 goes to Croix des Gardes.
Buy tickets on the bus (exact change) or via the Palm Bus app.

Train: The TER coastal line is efficient and scenic.

Cannes to Nice: 30 minutes, €6.20
Cannes to Antibes: 10 minutes, €3.80
Cannes to Monaco: 1 hour, €11.50
Tip: Buy tickets from the machines at the station. The SNCF Connect app works too. Avoid peak morning hours (08:00–09:30) when commuters crowd the trains.

Bicycle: Cannes has a bike-sharing system, but the stations are sparse and the hills are steep. I do not recommend it for serious exploring. For a flat coastal ride, rent from Holiday Bikes near the train station (from €15/day) and ride the bike path toward Antibes.

Best Times to Visit

April–June: Ideal weather, few crowds, open islands, blooming jasmine in Le Suquet.
September–October: Warm sea, empty trails, harvest season in the nearby vineyards.
May: Film Festival. If that excites you, go. If it does not, avoid the second week of May entirely. Hotel prices triple. Restaurants require reservations a month ahead.
July–August: Peak season. Book ferries and restaurants in advance. Hike early to beat the heat.
November–March: Quiet, some restaurant closures, but the islands remain accessible and the trails are empty. Water temperatures drop to 13–15°C—bracing, but I have swum in December and lived.

Where to Stay (Adventurer's Perspective)

For trail access: The Petit Juas neighborhood, inland from the train station, puts you within walking distance of Croix des Gardes and Le Suquet while being far enough from the Croisette to sleep quietly. Apartments here rent for roughly 30% less than waterfront equivalents.

For island mornings: Anywhere near Vieux Port lets you catch the first ferry without a rush. I have stayed at a basic apartment on Rue du Suquet that had no view but was three minutes from the ferry dock. That convenience mattered more than a balcony.

Avoid: The blocks immediately behind the Palais des Festivals. They are noisy, overpriced, and filled with temporary festival infrastructure that makes walking unpleasant.

The Verdict: What Cannes Actually Is

Cannes is a city with two faces. One is the face the world knows: the red carpet, the yachts, the beach clubs, the film festival circus. That face is real. It is just not the whole story.

The other face is older. It is the hill town of Le Suquet, where fishermen have lived since before the Greeks arrived. It is the Lérins Islands, where monks make wine in silence while the mainland parties. It is the forest of Croix des Gardes, where you can stand on a limestone ridge and watch the sun set over a coastline that has not changed in millennia.

I have stood on that ridge at dusk, sweating from the climb, and watched the city below turn on its lights. From up there, Cannes is not glamorous. It is just beautiful. And that, I think, is the better compliment.

Don't worry. Even if the world forgets the islands, I'll remember for you.

About this guide: Written by Marcus Chen, updated May 2026. All prices verified in person or by direct contact with venues. Hours and ferry schedules change seasonally—confirm before visiting. If you find an error or a trail closure, tag @marcuschenwild and I will update.