Nearby Attractions
Here’s a short list of the best attractions within a walking distance to experience in Cannes.
As well as enjoying nice walks to wander the old neibourhood of Le Suquet, taste the delicacies of Marché Forville, window shopping on Rue d'Antibes or hike to the top of La Croix-des-Gardes Park can all be enjoyed for free ... See more
Situated on the island of Saint Honorat off the coast of Cannes, the Notre Dame de Lérins Abbey is a Cistercian monastery.
The abbey was founded around 410AD when Saint Honorat came here with the intention of living as a hermit but was soon joined by his disciples. Together they formed a community that became “an immense monastery” around the year 427. According to legend, Saint Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, studied here in the 5th century.
The present-day monastery dates from 1073. Following incursions by the Saracens and the Spanish, a fortified monastery was built between the 11th and 14th centuries. At that time, the community adhered to the Clunaic Reforms.
In the Middle Ages, the abbey became an important pilgrimage site. But in the 17th and 18th centuries the attacks by the Spanish and the Genoese continued and only four monks remained before its dissolution in 1787. The French state, landowner since the Revolution, sold the island to a rich actress, Mademoiselle de Sainval, who lived there for 20 years.
In 1859, the bishop of Fréjus acquired the island and ten years later a Cistercian monastery was founded and has been active since.
Today, open or guided tours are offered. The visitor can discover the fortified monastery with the main church dedicated to Saint Honorat in its centre and the Sainte-Marie church to the north. Also the 11th/12th century cloisters that border the common rooms such as the chapter room and refectory. The chapels, numbering seven, are distributed over the island. Finally, the hot shot furnaces remind us that the island and even the monastery had the role of defending the French coast.
The Castre Museum is located on the Suquet hill, dominating the city of Cannes. From the top of the medieval tower the views across the bay and the Lerins islands are fantastic and not to be missed!
Inside the castle and the nearby chapel is a brilliant collection of paintings, art and archaeological artefacts. The Castre Museum is home to a wide collection of antiquities, particularly from the Mediterranean and the Middle East.
The 11th-century Saint Anne Chapel houses a remarkable collection of musical instruments from Asia, Africa, America and Oceania. A few rooms dedicated to 19th-century Provencal paintings of Riviera landscapes open out onto the courtyard and a square tower displaying spectacular views.
It is surrounded by a beautiful Mediterranean garden with pine trees.
Replacing the old chapel Sainte-Anne, the Eglise Notre-Dame de l'Esperance was completed in 1627, after more than a century of work.
Created in a late Gothic style, it stands out for its Renaissance porch and its square Romanesque bell tower separated by an archway. The adjoining square offers an exceptional view of the entire city. It has been classified as an historical monument since July 1937.
Baroness Dowager Betty de Rothschild (1805-1886), widow of James de Rothschild, had rented the villa Victoria built by Thomas Robinson Woolfield during the winter of 1880. She liked it, and in 1881 she decided to build a villa in Cannes. In order to do this, she bought land which, in total, had a surface area of more than 3 hectares, reaching the sea, on which were already five villas. She retained two of them to house her servants and had the others destroyed. She asked the architect of Marseilles origin Charles Baron to build a villa to him where she could receive his guests for the receptions that she organized regularly.
The villa is built in neo-classical style in a rectangular plan, with a central body with two and three levels and two lateral wings. It consisted of 40 rooms including 28 rooms. A rotunda terrace supported by eight columns of pink marble, to the south of the villa, with two lateral staircases allows to admire the park. A semi-circular winter garden extends the building to the east. The main access is on the north side with two ramps for cars arriving on a porch to house the entrance. On the pediment you can see the arms of the Rothschilds.
The park, planted with tall trees, is rich in many exotic species, blue cedar, ginkgo biloba, magnolia, palm. Four gardeners kept it up. In 1884, Baroness de Rothschild ordered a 12-meter-high araucaria which required a special car from 32 horses to transport her from Golfe-Juan.
At the origin of the designation of this prestigious walk, is a Provençal name, “Crouseto” which means “little cross”. An oratory placed at the far end of the cape reminds visitors of the history of the pilgrims who embarked from this point for the island St. Honorat, attracted by the reputation for holiness of the monks of Lérins who lived there.
La Croisette is a piece of land that has taken on the sea. At the beginning, it was little more than a dirt road, swept away by waves and storms, and surrounded by reeds and swamps. Sand dunes, some of which were more than 15m high, punctuated this landscape up to what is now Rue des Etats-Unis. After this point, up to the cape of the Palm Beach, it was seen as the world’s end, often named “the little Siberia” by the local fishermen.
In 1850, to satisfy the rich clients who came here for the winter season, the city had to install a decent promenade along the shore. Thus, the construction of the famous Croisette was launched.
In 1874 the Boulevard opened up for traffic up to Rue Zamenhoff. However, it was not until after 1890 that it was finally extended to the end of the cape.
In 1960, the Croisette promenade had remained more or less identical in construcion to when it was first built, during the second empire. In order to install a double lane for the traffic while preserving neerby green spaces and the sandy beaches, some artificial beaches were created.
Those beaches were later enlarged and, with the help of corbelled construction, provided 10 meters more for the creation of a true walkable promenade that included restaurants along the shore.
Today, at more than 3km long, the Croisette presents a diversified sidewalk where mythic hotels meet Casinos, stores of well-known brands, sandy beaches, a rose garden, the new harbor, Pierre Canto and tree-shaded gardens.