In the run up to the Cannes film festival – that started on May 15^th and will continue until May 26^th – I decided to reminisce about my time spent in summer school in Cannes as a teenager. It was truly "La Vie en Bleu": blue sky, blue sea and a blazing sun. Apart from school, the rest of the time was spent lazing around on the beach.

Today Cannes is synonymous with its famed film festival, evoking images of movie stars, fashion, star-studded parties and casinos, but there is more to it. Cannes is situated in the heart of the French Riviera, which has the second largest concentration of museums after Paris. It is a stone’s throw away from cities such as Nice, Antibes, Saint-Paul de Vence, and Menton, who throw a series of carnivals adding up to the Winter Festival that takes place in February every year.

This year, I decided to brave the cold weather and spent my Chinese New Year at the French Riviera, and my first stop was Cannes. Unlike the crowded, paparazzi-packed image that Cannes projects in the month of May, Cannes is a relaxing quaint little town in February.

The exterior of the Cannes Train Station is under renovation. In order to make it more bearable for passers-by, they add art on the scaffolding.


Inside the Cannes Train Station.  Art lines the walls.

We stayed at the Majestic Barrière Hotel (otherwise known as the "Majestic"), a luxurious artsy hotel that decorates its walls with photos of stars who have graced the Cannes Film Festival, as well as rotating artworks by local regional artists in order to promote them. The Majestic is a landmark in Cannes which contributes significantly to its star-studded image and lives up to its status as a byword for celebrity and exclusivity.  

Traveling in style: We were traveling around town in a vintage ‘Citroën Traction Avant’. Everywhere we went, people called out “C’est beau!”, and “C’est magnifique!”

The Christian Dior Penthouse stays true to the Dior style. This is where, a few hours before mounting the red carpet, the stars come to choose their evening dress.

And the suite comes with a butler!

The Dior Bedroom comes with embroidered Dior linens

At the Rooftop of the Dior Suite is a private Jacuzzi where it looks out to the Majestic Private Beach

I particularly love the curtains that can partition the living room of the Majestic Suite

The suite comes with a private chef

The rooms and suites at the Majestic are lavishly decorated.  Among which, the Dior and Majestic Suites are the gems of the hotel.  When Cannes is off-festival season, the suites provide an immense calmness and serenity.  But during the Cannes Festival in May, the hotel is transformed into a glittering frenzy. I imagine it to be like the mansion of Jay Gatsby in the opening movie of the Cannes Festival directed by Baz Luhrmann.

Apart from the luxurious hotels and casinos that the Majestic group owns all over France, on a personal level, the family members are passionate about the arts and culture and have founded the Diane and Lucien Barrière Foundation to support artists.

In the same year that they established the foundation in 1999, the mother company of the hotel, the Lucien Barrière Group, acquired the world-renowned Fouquet's, in order to add to its art and cultural image. Paul Bett, a Financial Times correspondent who was stationed in Paris for 17 years, thinks that Fouquet's "considers itself a bit like the Cannes film festival but the whole year round" since it hosts parties for the winners of a series of film and theatrical awards. The Fouquet's on Champs Elysées has a wall filled with autographed photographs of famous stars. It is said that none of the photos can be removed nor rearranged unless the board unanimously agree on it.

Watch out for my next travelogue, as I head to the Nice Carnival.

Acknowledgements:

Hotel: Hôtel Majestic Barrière, 10, La Croisette, 06407 Cannes, France

Transportation: Rail Europe www.raileurope.hk