The Best Things To Do In Cannes (Besides The Film Festival), According To Reviews

While Cannes, France, might be one of the best vacation spots for film lovers outside of Hollywood, there's more to do in this fishing-village-turned-resort-city on the French Riviera than watch movies and spot celebrities. We scoured thousands of reviews of the most popular activities in Cannes from sites like Tripadvisor and Google Reviews, uncovering the very best, must-see places around the city. 

You're sure to find something in Cannes that suits your tastes. You can stroll along the beachy Promenade de la Croisette, try the best food Cannes has to offer at the Marché Forville, or visit the Musée des Explorations du Monde, a medieval building packed with ancient art and artifacts). For those who want a city or nature trail, you can explore the verdant forest of the Croix des Gardes park or take a walk through film history and see film-focused murals. When planning your trip, you may want to avoid visiting during July, as this is when travel expert Rick Steves claims the French Riviera is overrated and not worth visiting.

If there's one iconic image of Cannes, it features the waves of the Mediterranean lapping up against the beach lined with palm trees and towering resorts. This is the Promenade de la Croisette, where you can walk under the shade of palms while shopping for luxury handbags and designer clothes. Tourists flock to this spot year-round, and judging by its thousands of good reviews, most aren't leaving disappointed. Users give this site a 4.5 rating on Tripadvisor and 4.7 stars on Google Reviews. As one reviewer on Tripadvisor enthuses, "The weather, the pace of life, the glitzy lifestyle... It all created a lovely vibe about the place."

The Promenade de la Croisette is one of the city's main attractions, so you should have no difficulty finding it — it's the place with all the people. This is a perfect place to bask in the sun, and you'll even find little blue chairs all along the beach so you can look at the yachts dotting the waves. This place is particularly popular at night when it comes alive with street musicians, festival attendees, and revelers of all kinds. 

As convenient as staying the night in one of the decadent hotels like Le Canberra Hotel or the Intercontinental Carlton Cannes Hotel may be, you should expect to spend upwards of $500 to $1,400 for a single July summer night. The Penthouse Suite at Hotel Martinez is even considered one of the most expensive hotel rooms in the world.

If you love browsing for fresh produce at your local farmer's market, you're going to be obsessed with the Marché Forville. Only a 15-minute walk from the Promenade de la Croisette, the Marché Forville is a stunning open-air market full of flowers, locally grown produce, freshly caught seafood, and delicious olive oil, meats, and cheeses that are so good you might want to book a place with a kitchen so you can cook up the best meal you've ever made. The price varies from stall to stall, so it's best to shop around rather than simply buy the first thing that catches your eye.

Locals and travelers alike shop at Marché Forville, and most leave with full, satisfied stomachs. It is highly rated on Yelp, Google Reviews, and Tripadvisor. This market is open all year, but expect fewer vendors in the winter, and on Mondays, you'll find antiques instead of snacks. If you want the absolute best of everything, visit on a warm Sunday morning right as the market opens at around 7 a.m.

The Musée des Explorations du Monde, previously known as the Castre Museum, would be worth a visit even if it was empty. It's only about 15 minutes away from the Promenade de la Croisette on foot, and you won't have a hard time finding it — it's the impressive medieval fortress on a hill looking out over the rest of the city. This site was once a watchtower, and although you don't need to keep an eye out for enemies from inside its thick stone walls, the views from the museum are phenomenal. You can gaze out on the city and the bay from above.

Once, it was a monastery, but since the late 1800s, it has housed a vast collection of artifacts from around the world, with an emphasis on the Mediterranean area. Don't miss the collection of festival masks from the Himalayas. These painted pieces, some of which look like distorted human faces or animals, are fascinating and beautiful. This remarkable historical collection has excellent reviews, with an average of 4.4 stars on Google, and you won't have to blow your budget to experience it for yourself. In a city surrounded by opulent glitz and glamor, entry to the Musée des Explorations du Monde costs less than $10.

If the glimmering lights of luxury stores and the sounds of the city seem overwhelming, you're going to love taking a break from the hustle and bustle to explore La Croix des Gardes. As surprising as it may seem, it is one of the top things to do in the busy and beautiful Cannes. A little outside the city center lies this almost 200-acre forest crisscrossed by pleasant hiking trails. The higher you go, the better the views get. You can admire the natural beauty of the garden, especially when the brilliant gold mimosa trees are in bloom, and look down at the surrounding city, sea, and mountain landscapes.

This park is far from many of the other attractions in Cannes, so if you want to visit, you may want to book a taxi from the city center to the highest point in the park and then walk back. The 1.9-mile La Croix des Gardes loop is an easy route that takes less than an hour to complete, perfect for exploring with family and friends or on your first solo hike. For the best experience, many reviewers advise coming in the morning or evening, as it can get hot in the summer.

One of the best ways to get to know a city is by simply walking around its streets and taking in whatever sights they have to show you. If that's a little too aimless for you, consider embarking on a scavenger hunt for street art around the city, starting with Les Murs Peints. This highly praised attraction has an average rating of 4.5 from Tripadvisor reviewers. However, you'll find enormous murals that are homages to famous films all around the city.

From crowded streets to tiny alleyways, there are plenty of painted walls to look at. You can certainly wander and stumble upon them, but if you'd rather have a guide, you can see a map of where the artworks are on the Cannes Office de Tourisme website. If you only have time for one, head to the bus station across the street from Hotel de Ville [pictured]. Painted on the walls of the facade are colorful windows that seem almost real. Standing on little balconies are famous movie figures like Mickey Mouse, Jessica Rabbit, Harold Lloyd, and the moon from Georges Méliès' 1902 film, "A Trip To The Moon."

To find the best activities to do in the gorgeous city of Cannes besides the famous annual film festival, we looked at all of the most popular attractions listed on review sites, posts from local bloggers and travel writers, and recommendations from the Cannes Office de Tourisme. We took that long list of activities and attractions and looked at how actual travelers reviewed them on online platforms like Google Reviews, Yelp, Tripadvisor, and AllTrails to narrow down the top selections. Although some highly recommended activities were very niche, we only selected spots that were rated across at least two platforms and had many positive reviews to ensure quality.

While these activities didn't make it into our top five, if you have any extra space in your itinerary, you may also want to consider a few of our runner-ups, all of which had excellent reviews from travelers and locals alike. If you want to pick up some particularly nice souvenirs, head to the pricey, high-end shopping street Rue d'Antibes. If you can't resist getting out on those blue waves, for only around $20 a person, you can take a quick boat ride to the beautiful Sainte Marguerite Island and visit the 1600s Fort Royal. Inside, you'll find the Musée de la Mer, which has all kinds of artifacts relating to the sea, including some Ancient Roman frescos.