# Cannes and Its Festival — The South of France > For eleven days each May the film world descends on a small Riviera town; for the other 354 it belongs to the people who live there. Cannes beyond the red carpet. *Source : https://the-south-of-france.com/en/french-riviera/cannes-film-festival/* --- By **The Editors** — _Cannes, Alpes-Maritimes_ Spring 20269 min read Share LinkMail For eleven days in May, Cannes is the most photographed town on earth. Then the cameras fold away, the red carpet is rolled up, and a working Riviera port goes back to selling fish and renting deckchairs. We came for the second Cannes as much as the first — the one that opens when the festival closes — and found a town that wears its fame lightly, the way only somewhere genuinely sure of itself can. ## I. The festival that made the name The **Festival de Cannes** has gathered here every May since 1946, and in three-quarters of a century it has turned a modest seaside resort into shorthand for cinema itself. The **Palais des Festivals** sits at the western end of the Croisette, unlovely up close and unmistakable on a screen; its red-carpeted steps — the _montée des marches_ — are climbed each evening by the people whose faces you already know. The prize at the top is the **Palme d’Or**, and a film that wins it is changed forever. “For eleven days the Croisette is the most photographed pavement on earth; for the other 354 it is simply a seafront.” From the notebook · May ## II. Beyond the red carpet The Palme is not the only crown handed out here. Since 2015 Cannes has also awarded **L’Œil d’or**, its prize for the best documentary across all the festival’s sections — a quiet acknowledgement that non-fiction belongs on these steps too. If the festival leaves you curious about where those films travel next, [Indian Point Film maps the documentary circuit](https://indianpointfilm.com/festivals-funding/documentary-film-festival-circuit/) that runs from Sundance to IDFA. ![A Riviera harbour in the golden hour](https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1554149082-75d460afced3?fm=jpg&q=74&w=1400&auto=format&fit=crop) The old port at dusk, once the festival crowds have gone. ## III. The town the other eleven months Climb away from the seafront into **Le Suquet**, the old town, and Cannes becomes a different place: stepped lanes, a square Romanesque tower, washing strung between shutters. The **Marché Forville** below it is where the restaurants buy, and where you should too. And a twenty-minute boat from the Vieux Port lie the **Îles de Lérins** — Sainte-Marguerite with its fort and the cell that held the Man in the Iron Mask, Saint-Honorat where monks have made wine for centuries and still do. By evening we were back on the Croisette with an ice cream and no premiere to attend, watching the light go pink over the Estérel. The famous town and the ordinary one are the same handful of streets; you just have to come in the right week to tell them apart. The Practical Carnet · Carnet pratique ### Plan the _visit_ Getting there On the coastal train: about 30 min from Nice, 50 min from the airport via the same line. The station is a five-minute walk from the Croisette. When to go May is the festival — magnificent, mobbed, and triple-priced; book months ahead or avoid it on purpose. September–October is warm, calm and the better visit. Don’t miss Le Suquet at golden hour, the Marché Forville in the morning, and the boat to **Sainte-Marguerite** for a swim off the fort. The table Lunch where the market traders eat, behind the Forville; book a terrace on the Croisette only for the view, and order simply. Read next The Riviera in three days · Antibes and the Picasso coast E About the Author · L’auteur #### Élise Marchand Travel Editor — based in Marseille Élise has been driving the back roads of the Midi for the journal since its first issue. She pays for her own rooms and her own lunches — and only writes about the places she would return to. [More by Élise Marchand — voir ses articles](https://the-south-of-france.com/en/journal/) Continue reading · À lire ensuite ### More from the _Riviera_ [ ![A village above the French Riviera](https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1503696967350-ad1874122058?fm=jpg&q=74&w=900&auto=format&fit=crop) Côte d’Azur #### The Riviera in three days, Nice to Menton ](https://the-south-of-france.com/en/french-riviera/)[ ![A harbour on the Mediterranean](https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1567720512899-3a71832bd46c?fm=jpg&q=74&w=900&auto=format&fit=crop) Things to Do #### Antibes and the coast that Picasso painted ](https://the-south-of-france.com/en/things-to-do/)[ ![A hillside village among trees](https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1582497475588-49b76871cf42?fm=jpg&q=74&w=900&auto=format&fit=crop) The Table #### Six tables worth the detour this spring ](https://the-south-of-france.com/en/the-table/)