French Riviera

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French Riviera 🇫🇷

May in the French Riviera - Cannes Film Festival & Monaco Grand Prix

In 2022, the world was opening up after the pandemic. Events and festivals had been shut down for years including the Cannes Film Festival and Monaco Grand Prix. The city of Nice is centrally located in the French Riviera. It’s only 45 minutes from Cannes and 30 minutes to Monaco by train. Nice is a great launch spot to experience the region.

Cannes Film Festival

Though I didn’t have event tickets, I booked walking tours on the days the Film Festival and Grand Prix were taking place. Visiting Cannes and Monaco during their respective famed events is a great a way to experience the energy of the city and perhaps see a celebrity. The train to Cannes was packed full of glamorous people. French are known as chic and stylish so this is generally true any day of the year. It was an entirely different level that day and maybe heading to events and parties on rooftop hotels, villas, and yachts.

I recommend city tours wholeheartedly during the first day of any city trip. Tours that are organized through a certified local guide are a great introduction to the city. You learn the history of the city to appreciate details you may have missed otherwise. It’s also a great way to explore the city layout which helps orient yourself to areas, neighborhoods, and restaurants you might like to revisit later in your trip. The tour was about two hours and took us through the farmers market, old town, luxury shop district, and the iconic red carpet draped over the stairs. It was fun to learn this was also a decoy for the crowds. A second red carpet further away was the actual entrance for celebrities to pose for professional photographers.

Booking a walking tour during the Cannes Film Festival was a great way to experience the festival from the periphery. Giant film displays were created throughout the city, including a 15 foot high jet fighter helmet. There was also a parade of classic Volkswagen bugs and vans winding through the city and decorated in movie themes. Only one other person had booked the tour and it was like a private tour where we could set our own pace. The tour ended on the Croisette, Cannes’ seaside promenade, and saw the outdoor theater set up on the beach for that evening. The Croisette is a beautiful place for a stroll. You can see the Lérins Islands off the shore, lavish beach clubs, and luxury shops like Hermes, Balenciaga, and Chanel. For those looking to stay in Cannes, you can find luxury hotels like Hôtel Barrière Le Majestic and the Carlton Cannes.

Monaco Grand Prix

The walking tour in Monaco actually departed from Nice and was scheduled to meet outside the Nice train station. I had never even seen lines outside the station but that day there was a mob of people crowding outside the doors. Booking the walking tour turned out to be a much better idea than exploring on my own. Our group was able to bypass hundreds of people through a back gate to get on the next train so the tour would start in Monaco on time. Being at the front of the line didn’t matter once we boarded the train. The train was full to maximum capacity and I would recommend scheduling a private tour and finding a driver or ride ahead of time due to the high demand.

It was fun seeing Monaco during the Grand Prix! I don’t know much about racing but was caught in the excitement with the city literally buzzing from the sound of the race car engines. We walked through the gardens, old town, and by the castle where the royal family lives. This walking tour group was very large and I met a young Dutch couple who had also visited Cannes and actually saw Morgan Freeman on the street while there. The tour guide did his best to manage the group of about 20 but it was hard to keep our attention with passing views of the cars and racetrack. At one point, we heard a loud crash. Minutes later we read about it on our phones and German Haas driver Mick Schumacher was fortunately not harmed. I actually somehow caught the sound of the crash while I was filming the short video of the gardens below.

The tour had a lunch break at The Condamine Market and I decided to join a line for an outside stand with delicious sandwiches. I heard someone ask a person behind me, “Are you Max Verstappen?” When I sat down I searched my phone for his name and realized this was one of the F1 drivers! I did see a celebrity after all. After the walking tour ended, we were free to explore and return on our own as the tour included the roundtrip ticket back at any time. When the day was done, I returned on a train with more bearable capacity for a beautiful sunset ride along the turquoise shores of the Cote D'azur.

For a special experience, book a few nights at the Hotel de Paris Monte-Carlo or Hotel Hermitage Monte-Carlo to experience the luxurious life of the Monegasque. Monaco is located only 10 miles from the Italian border near the Ligurian Riviera.