Cannes

Planning a trip to Cannes

If Nice sounds to citified for your tastes, you cannes sample the French Riviera proper in Cannes—just as overdeveloped, but along a much stricter resort vacation destination theme of hotels, chic boutiques, classy restaurants, and other upscale seaside accoutrements.

Cannes is more than just a famous film festival. It's also Hollywood starlets sunbathing topless on the beach! Actually, I'm kidding. Most starlets save toplessness for private yachts (ask any paparazzi; they're easy to spot, since their cameras are attached to telephoto lenses that put the Hubble Space Telescope to shame).

Amongst the thousands of sun-sizzling folk splayed out on the umbrellaed lounge chairs that march down the beach from the luxury hotels and the waterline, those who do choose nude tend to be anonymous. Not that there isn't a decent chance you'll spot a People magazine couple-of-the-month—in proper, if revealing, bathing attire—bronzing their limbs and sipping cocktails.

Aside from people-watching, window shopping, and sun-worshipping, there's little in the way of sightseeing to occupy your time between a late, leisurely breakfast and the usual evening of fine dining, casino, and club-hopping.

Exploring the Îles de Lérins

You must, however, take a ferry out to the Îles de Lérins across the bay. Stop at least at the Île St-Honorate, with its functioning monastery (founded in 410, but the current buildings are only about 100 years old), medieval fortress, pine groves, and beaches; and the Île Ste-Marguerite, home to a Musée de la Mer of ancient and Arab-era artifacts and, more thrillingly, the Fort Ste-Marguerite. The dungeons of this castle, built by Carindal Richelieu, in 1698 hosted a mysterious man in an iron mask. Alexandre Dumas picked up on the dusty old rumor that this had been, in fact, a brother of Louis XIV, wrote his Three Musketeers into the story, and it became legend. The tour takes you to see the poor faceless prisoner's graffiti-scrawled supposed cell.

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