A Day Trip to Cannes, France

girl standing in street in suquet cannes france

view from Eglise Notre Dame d’Esperance cannes

two girls standing in street in cannes france

girl drinking smoothie on street in cannes

We visited Cannes for a day on our Virgin Voyages cruise and thought it was the perfect city in the French Riviera for a day trip! It’s small enough that you can feasibly see everything in one day, but also big enough that you can do a bunch of different stuff while you’re there.

Cannes is famous for the Cannes Film Festival that happens there every year. One of the biggest attractions is the mini “Hollywood Walk of Fame” that has handprints of all the celebrities that have visited for the festival. But there is also great food, beautiful beaches, and amazing shopping in Cannes as well.

How to Get Around Cannes

The best way to get around Cannes is by walking! The city is very walkable and can easily be done on foot. Uber does work in Cannes if you are not able to walk or get tired haha. We wouldn’t recommend renting a car because the streets are narrow and there isn’t a lot of parking.

Best Things to Do in Cannes on a Day Trip

The Palace of Festivals and Congresses cannes — *The Palace of Festivals and Congresses*

*view from Eglise Notre Dame d’Esperance*

two girls sitting by view from Eglise Notre Dame d’Esperance — *view from Eglise Notre Dame d’Esperance*

Chemin Des Etoiles cannes — *Chemin Des Etoiles*

Walk up the hill to Suquet - the cute, old town neighborhood! This was our favorite area of Cannes. If you walk all the way up to the top there is a church called Eglise Notre Dame d’Esperance with an amazing overlook of the whole city.
Check out The Palace of Festivals and Congresses - The Palace is where the Cannes Film Festival is held every year. It’s a big attraction even when the film festival is not happening. I think you can pay to enter, but we just looked at it from the outside. It’s pretty tourist-y, there’s like cardboard cutouts of celebrities and the Chemin Des Etoiles (the “Hollywood Walk of Fame”) with the handprints of the celebrities who’ve visited for the festival
Do some shopping on Rue d’Antibes - This is the famous shopping street in Cannes. There are luxury brand stores as well as little boutiques on this street. It’s also really nice to just walk around if you don’t want to actually buy anything haha.
Go to the Beach - There are a few beaches nearby to Cannes, but we went to Plage du Midi, which I believe is the closest beach to the city. We visited in the summer so this beach was really crowded, but the water was really clear and blue!
Walk around Promenade de la Croisette - This is the promenade along the waterfront with lots of shops, restaurants, and markets.