This resort, on the world-famous Côte d'Azur, is the perennial favourite of wealthy scions and the shop-til-you-drop set.

During the International Film Festival in May, Cannes is crammed with more money, more champagne, more mobile phones and more cleavage than anywhere else in the world. Apart from posturing boutiques, hotels and restaurants, it also has beaches with the equivalent of room service, which the sallow studiously avoid.

If you're not in town discussing the grim phenomena of John Travolta's resurrection or puckering up to the paparazzi, then you're here to people-watch. Every possible specimen is on promenade along the famous Boulevard de la Croisette: yesteryear starlets in string bikinis; vacationing Frenchmen carrying purses; wide Americans with Coppertone skins who wear their jewellery in the pool; and side-whiskered peasants in rough waistcoats and country boots wondering what all the fuss is about. After a walk, settle back at one of the many cafes and restaurants - overflowing with gold-carded patrons - which light up the area with splashy neon signs.

Just offshore is the eucalyptus and pine-covered Île Sainte Marguerite, which was exploited so effectively by Alexander Dumas in his classic novel The Man in the Iron Mask. This small island is vectored by trails and paths while its beaches are considerably less crowded than those on the mainland. Even smaller is the nearby Île Saint Honorat, once the site of a renowned and powerful monastery founded in the 5th century, and today the home of a Cistercian monastic order. Ferries run to both islands.

DMC Companies

(the links below will open a new window and bring you to another website)

• Creative French Events
• Glaude Travel incentives
• Novatours DMC
• Stage one international
• Sunazur International
• Terre Events

Summary|Biarritz|Cannes|Chamonix
Paris|Culture|History