10 boulevard de la Croisette, Alpes-Maritimes
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Every day in Cannes, a few visitors climb the twenty-four steps of the Palais des Festivals and turn at the top to smile for a photograph. There are no photographers, of course, and after a moment they walk back down into the crowd. Next door, the Barrière Le Majestic offers the same dream, except that here it lasts until checkout.
It is something the hotel has practised for a long time. The Majestic, a white Art Deco building on the Croisette, has been the film world's headquarters during the festival for decades, and its bar is where the fortnight seems to meet. All those years of famous arrivals have given the staff a rare calm, and a family on holiday now gets the welcome once kept for a film crew. Even the children's club is called Petit VIP.
From the rooms, the festival stays in view. Many have the sea in front of them, and from the upper floors the eye travels from the Palais across the bay to the Lérins islands. The designer Isabelle Stanislas has recently dressed them in sea blue and sand orange, borrowed from the beach outside, without losing the Art Deco lines. The most theatrical suite has the roof to itself, with a terrace and a plunge pool.
The days are slower than the festival ever allows. They begin by the heated pool, under palms and red parasols, and drift across the Croisette to the hotel's beach for lunch at Ciro's, a dining room done up like an old yacht. From the port next door, a boat makes the short crossing to the island of Sainte-Marguerite and an hour in the shade of its pines. Back at the hotel, the spa is waiting before dinner.
At night the Croisette dresses up, and the Majestic stands at its starting point. A drink at the bar can turn into dinner at Ciro's, with live music late in the week, or a climb into the old lanes of Le Suquet. On the way back, the steps of the Palais lie empty under the lights. Those sleeping next door pass them without a second look. They no longer need the photograph.
Being the centre of attention has its drawbacks. This is a big hotel, with nearly three hundred and fifty rooms, and it lives by the calendar of the Palais: when a festival or a congress is on, the lobby fills up with lanyards and the calm of the rest of the year is gone. Not every corridor has been renovated yet. The Majestic will please anyone who wants Cannes at its most classic and most central, with a partner or with children. Three nights are plenty, best in spring or autumn, between the big events.
On the steps of the Palais, the dream lasts as long as a photograph. At the Majestic it runs for days, and nobody misses the photographers.
The name on the beach
Ciro's, the restaurant on the Majestic's beach, takes its name from a Deauville address that has been a meeting place of the resort's society since 1920.
The sea-view rooms look out over the palms of the Croisette to the Mediterranean through tall arched windows, some with a small balcony. Full sea views start with the Prestige Sea View Room, 377 sq ft for up to three people, which can be connected to the room next door. Lower categories face the town or, partly, the pool.
The Majestic Suite occupies the roof. Its terrace holds a private heated pool facing the bay of Cannes, sofas and a dining table, and inside are two bedrooms with their own bathrooms, a home cinema, a mahogany dining room and a private fitness and treatment space. A butler comes with the suite, and a Junior Suite can be connected to it.
Ciro's Cannes runs the hotel's beach across the Croisette: tables on the sand under scalloped parasols, and a jetty of teak loungers reaching over the water. The kitchen cooks from the sea, with bouillabaisse, raw fish and grilled gambas, and holds a seafood brunch on Sundays. Live music plays from Thursday to Saturday evening; loungers are reserved and charged separately.
The bar is an indoor room of low lounge chairs, small red lamps, a lit counter and gilded beams under rows of chandeliers. It serves signature and classic cocktails, sweet things and finger food in continuous service from morning into the night, and it is air-conditioned. The pool has its own bar, La Terrasse Piscine, for drinks and snacks in the sun.
At a glance
Where
10 Boulevard de la Croisette, 06400 Cannes; across from the Palais des Festivals, at the start of the Croisette; Cannes station a five-minute walk; Nice Côte d'Azur airport about 25 minutes by car
Why this one
The Croisette starts at the door.
Heated, outdoors, under palms.
A kids' club for ages 4 to 12.
The Edit Notes
The hotel stands across from the Palais des Festivals, and its rhythm follows the building's programme of festivals and congresses. Ciro's private beach closes during congresses and special events, and it is announced closed from 18 to 26 June 2027 and from 8 February to 21 March 2027. The hotel also runs fourteen meeting rooms of its own. Before choosing dates for a quiet stay, check what the Palais is hosting that week; the essay's spring and autumn advice depends on it.
The Superior Room, the Deluxe City View Room, the plain Junior Suite and the Superior Suite all look over the town. The Deluxe Partial Sea View Room may face the sea or the pool. A full view of the Mediterranean begins with the Prestige Sea View Room, and terraces facing the sea come with the Junior Prestige Suite with Sea View Terrace and the Prestige Suite with Sea View Terrace. Booking by category name is the only way to be sure of the view.
A Prestige Sea View Room takes at most three adults, or two adults and a child under twelve. The Deluxe City View, Deluxe Partial Sea View and Prestige Sea View rooms can be connected to the room next door, which the booking team arranges on request; the Double Deluxe Sea View Suite is the family suite. Extra beds and cots go only in rooms for three or more and are included for children under twelve. The kids' club takes ages four to twelve, by reservation.
Ciro's Cannes lies on the sand across the Croisette, with a long jetty of teak loungers over the water. Access is reserved for hotel guests and restaurant customers, and loungers are booked and charged separately; where a package includes the beach, they must be reserved by the day before. Lunch is served daily, and Thursday to Saturday evenings bring live music. For a day split between pool and sea, book the lounger first, then the table.
The price question
The money buys position: a room a few steps from the Palais steps and the Croisette, a pool heated all year and a beach across the road, in a hotel equipped for families. It does not buy calm on every date or a view in every category. Many rooms look over the town, beach loungers are extra, and when the Palais is busy the hotel is busy too.
Book it for three nights in spring or autumn, outside the Palais's big events, in a Prestige Sea View Room or higher, with a lounger at Ciro's reserved ahead. It works for families who want a pool, a beach and a kids' club within a few steps. A guest looking for seclusion is better placed elsewhere, or on another date.
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The Extra Edit
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