Cannes

Cannes is synonymous with the film festival that bears its name — two weeks every May when the Palais des Festivals on the Croisette hosts the world's most glamorous and important cinema event. But the French Riviera city is an excellent destination year-round, combining a beautiful seafront boulevard, excellent beaches, superb restaurants and the charming hilltop village of Le Suquet above the old port. La Croisette, the broad palm-lined seafront boulevard, is Cannes' great promenade — lined with luxury hotels (the Carlton, the Majestic, the JW Marriott), designer boutiques and private beach clubs with imported sand. The Palais des Festivals, where the festival red carpet descends, offers guided tours in the off-season. The old port (Vieux Port) and the Marché Forville covered market — one of the Riviera's finest — are excellent in the morning. The Suquet hilltop (the original medieval fishing village) offers fine views and contains the Musée de la Castre with an eclectic collection of antiquities. The Îles de Lérins — Sainte-Marguerite (where the mysterious Man in the Iron Mask was imprisoned) and Saint-Honorat (an active Cistercian monastery producing excellent wine) — are 15 minutes by ferry. Mougins, a beautiful hilltop village 8km away, was Picasso's final home and has exceptional restaurants. Outside festival weeks, Cannes is relaxed and very pleasant.