These are the celebrity-approved Cannes hotels
The French Riviera is one of the most glamorous places on the planet and things come to a peak every May, when half of Hollywood decamps to Cannes – and if you’re hoping to join them, these are the best Cannes hotels.
La Croisette is among France’s most famous streets, curving along the coast with grand hotels and equally upscale shops. Fittingly, Cannes has its own version of the Hollywood Walk of Fame, which of course sounds better in French: the Allée des Etoiles.
To be in with a shot of spying a celebrity (needless to say, the odds are increased every May), book a stay at Hôtel Martinez by Hyatt, set in an art deco building that’s been a presence in the region for more than a century.
Equally starry is Hôtel Barrière Le Majestic, also on La Croisette, with its own beach, plus a branch of the legendary Parisian brasserie Fouquet’s and treatments at the spa that will have you ready for the red carpet in no time.
A short drive north in mediaeval Mougins, Les Rosées is a 400-year-old guesthouse with olive trees in its peaceful grounds that are even older.
For a stylish stay in the South of France this summer or for somewhere to camp out and keep watch for film stars, these are the chic Cannes hotels to book…
Hôtel Martinez by Hyatt
One of the most famous Cannes hotels, Hôtel Martinez by Hyatt is said to be the A-list’s preferred destination when they’re in town for the festival – and not just for its prime Croisette location.
The dazzling art deco building has been a hotel since the 1920s, welcoming guests including Rihanna, Bruce Willis and Robert Pattinson over the years. We’re guessing they approved of the hotel’s incredible Bay of Cannes views. There are striped yellow sunloungers set up along the wooden jetty, the ideal location for super-yacht spying.
Unsurprisingly, Hôtel Martinez is home to one of the biggest penthouses in Europe. The rooms and suites feature white lacquer furnishings, with blue or yellow accents forming the perfect palette for a French Riviera summer.
Hôtel Barrière Le Majestic
Another film-star favourite is Hôtel Barrière Le Majestic, which also has an exclusive Croisette address. The hotel has its own beach and Clefs d’Or concierge, ready to dispense insider knowledge on the celebrity-approved places to eat and drink.
A fine place to start is Fouquet’s, a southern edition of the famous Parisian brasserie, which has been one of the capital’s most sought-after restaurants for more than a century. The menu was created by the acclaimed chef Pierre Gagnaire.
Equally fit for Hollywood royalty are the treatments by leading brands Biologique Recherche and Ligne St Barth at the spa, which has a gym, hammam and hair salon to ensure you're red-carpet ready. Fashion fans can check in to the Suite Christian Dior, which has all of the style of its namesake, along with two bedrooms and its own dining room.
Mondrian Cannes
Mondrian made its debut in Cannes last season, set in what was once Le Grand and reviving the heritage building, which was home to the city’s original luxury hotel, on La Croisette. It's minutes from the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès.
There are 75 rooms across 11 floors. Spectacular sea views are on show from the terrace at the bar, or you can enjoy the Med from a closer vantage point down at the hotel’s private beach. It also has a huge private garden, and suites with hot tubs and teak decks overlooking the shore.
At Mr Nakamoto, guests can dine on seafood dishes and American grill classics, with a Japanese flavour. Or stay put down by the water on a stylish blue sunlounger at Hyde Beach.
Belle Plage
As the name suggests, Belle Plage sits next to a beautiful beach in Cannes’ Suquet neighbourhood. The restaurant is one of the most spectacular spots in the hotel, with a wall of windows framing the Med. Guests can breakfast with a view of the bay up on the rooftop and enjoy lunch dishes selected from a deliberately succinct menu, which has a focus on vegetables sourced from local producers.
If you fancy starting your very own Grand Tour and lingering a while in the French Riviera (and let’s face it, who wouldn’t?), book one of the eight apartments, or the 110-square-metre, three-bedroom penthouse. Each of these suites have kitchens and living rooms. Some rooms have their own sea-facing terrace, too.
Les Rosées
If you're hoping to see more of Provence away from the glitz and glamour of the Riviera, head inland to the charming village of Mougins. Just a short drive north, Les Rosées is a Francophile’s dream: a traditional four-century-old Provençal mas (or guesthouse) with a beautiful and historic backdrop, where breakfasts consist of organic, local produce and home-made jams, and the grounds are dotted with 800-year-old olive trees and a rose garden.
The farmhouse is peaceful at any given time of day, but it’s particularly serene at nightfall, when candles and lights illuminate the grounds. A daily dinner menu is served to guests, based on what the chef has found at the market that day or picked from the kitchen garden.
The hotel is also close to Grasse, an especially sweet-smelling destination and a must-visit for fragrance lovers – it's the epicentre of perfume production and home to some of the world's best 'noses'.
Hôtel Belles Rives
If you want to experience the timeless glamour of the French Riviera, book a stay at this hotel just outside of Cannes. Along the coast in Juan-les-Pins and near Cap d’Antibes, Hôtel Belles Rives is perfectly positioned between Cannes and Nice’s airport.
Fitting touches include a bar named in honour of F Scott Fitzgerald and wallpaper by Hermès. Its Michelin-starred restaurant La Passagère has a spectacular sea-facing terrace and colonnaded interiors, with dazzling chandeliers, art from the 1930s and colourful hand-blown glass made in nearby Biot.
The hotel also has a beach club, a Valmont spa and its own jetty, perfect for especially glamorous arrivals. If you've always wanted to learn how to water-ski, this is the place to do it, since the hotel has a club dedicated to the sport.
Five Seas Hotel
There’s nothing discreet about the flashy French Riviera (although even the flashiness here is done in an effortlessly stylish Gallic way) and Five Seas Hotel is a case in point. The hotel is set in what was once the Cannes post office. These days, the communal spaces double up as an art gallery, with works on display by the Cannes artist David David.
The hotel, which is just steps from La Croissette, has a spa on hand to get guests primed for red-carpet appearances with Phytomer and Vie Collection treatments. And the infinity pool on the top floor is where to head for a cooling dip with a view of the surrounding terracotta rooftops.
Tiara Yaktsa
With decor that’s more Moroccan than French, Tiara Yaktsa is a little further along the coast from the tiny town of Théoule-sur-Mer. To the centre of Cannes, the drive north-east should take around 40 minutes and, as with most journeys in this part of the world, it’s a spectacular one.
The terracotta building is on the edge of the water, with an impressive view of the curving coastline. Days can be spent secluded in a cabana, down on the deck above the sea or strolling the peaceful gardens, before a delicious Michelin-starred dinner out on the restaurant’s romantic sea-facing terrace. There's another eatery a short stroll away at the property's sister hotel, Tiara Miramar.
The Carlton Cannes, a Regent Hotel
As with many hotels in this glamorous part of the world, the Carlton Cannes has a starry history, having been the setting for the very first Cannes Film Festival back in 1946. For over a century, it has been one of the French Riviera’s finest places to stay, with an impressive filmography of its own – it appeared in Alfred Hitchcock’s To Catch A Thief, starring Grace Kelly and Cary Grant, and the video for the Elton John song I’m Still Standing.
Other famous faces to grace its lobby over the years include Clint Eastwood, Sharon Stone and Naomi Campbell.
Then there’s Brad Pitt, who visited last year and debuted his new gin brand at the hotel’s decadent Bar 58, with the help of the in-house mixologists, of course. The Carlton Beach Club will host various movie stars and film executives for the inaugural Vanity Fair event during this year’s festival. The hotel is part of the Regent collection, which also recently made a comeback in Hong Kong, reviving one of the city’s most famous hotels.
Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc
A 30-minute drive along the Côte d’Azur coast from Cannes in Antibes, Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc is nonetheless popular with movie stars during the film festival, and it’s not hard to see why. Anyone in search of old-school glamour will find a happy temporary home here – even in such an unabashedly glitzy region, it stands out for its sheer opulence. It has been welcoming guests ever since Hippolyte de Villemessant, the founder of the newspaper Le Figaro, opened a seaside writers’ retreat here at Cap d’Antibes in 1870, becoming a hotel in January of 1889, courtesy of a visionary young Italian hotelier named Antoine Sella.
Its iconic saltwater pool, which is carved out of the cliffs, arrived in 1914. Perhaps most famously, it was the inspiration for Hôtel des Etrangers in F Scott Fitzgerald’s novel Tender is the Night.
As with the coastline’s other grand hotels, the Hotel du Cap has an illustrious guest list, signatories to which include Robert Redford, Marlene Dietrich, Pablo Picasso, who designed the restaurant menu in 1955, and the Duke of Windsor, who spent time here seeking privacy shortly after his abdication from the throne in 1936. It’s part of the Oetker Collection, which carries the tagline ‘Masterpiece Hotels’ – and they’re not wrong.
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