After two days in Nice, I took a train to Cannes for three nights. I stayed in the most beautiful Villa opposite the beach, Villa Belle Rive. The villa is also right beside the train stop which is always a plus when you are carrying a backpack. There are two train stops in Cannes, (I got off at the wrong station so I had to walk 20 minutes to the hostel instead of 5 minutes) so if you are going to Cannes be sure to get off at the stop closest to your accommodation!
Day one: Cannes
Similar to day one in Nice, I spent the first day in Cannes at the beach, people watching and wandering around the city. The beach in Cannes is much nicer than Nice, mainly because there is sand. In Nice the beaches are all stones, so beware of this if you are trying to pick between the two places.
The walk from the hostel to the centre of Cannes was along the Promenade de la Croisette so I was lucky to do this walk without even realising (which I saw after online is on of the main things to do in Cannes). I would definitely recommend doing this walk, especially at sunset – unfortunately I left my camera in my room for this so I only have one picture from my phone but definitely check out my South of France Instagram highlight for more pictures and videos (here) – it was one of the best sunsets of the trip for sure!
After sunset I headed to the red carpet at the Cannes film festival (when in Cannes eh?!). This area is where all the fancy hotels and restaurants are. It is definitely worth spending an hour or two wandering around here. I preferred this at night as the lights around the hotels make them look extra ‘la de da’– check out my instagram highlights for more images (here).
Just some famous person on the red carpet…
Day two: Cannes
I headed for beautiful, blue St. Tropez. Due to my own lack of research it took me a lot longer to get to St. Tropez than I anticipated so be sure to check up the route before you go. The closest train station to St. Tropez is Saint Raphael and you can get here easily from Cannes. My mistake was that I had not checked the times of the buses from St Raphael to St. Tropez so I ended up waiting there for two hours. Life is all about the journey, right, not the destination?! St Raphael turned out to be a really cool place (see picture below). I walked down to the waterfront and chilled out for the two hours, so if you do end up there or anywhere for that matter waiting for a bus do not just wait in the station, take a look around!
St. Tropez is exactly what you would expect: blue sea, blue skies, fancy yachts everywhere, and the buzz around the small town is just amazing! When I got there I did a 60-minute boat trip which went around the coast of the town and out to where the rich and famous have houses (one house cost 100,000 Euros per week to rent!!), this trip was only 11 Euros and well worth it if you want to see the place on a budget.
For the rest of the evening I wandered around the town, did a nice scenic walkway along the coast, had a picnic and read my book overlooking the blue sea!
In my opinion you cannot go interrailing in the South of France without visiting St. Tropez! I timed my return journey back to Cannes so that I was in St Raphael for sunset and not on the bus. I was not disappointed and very happy I found this hidden gem, as I arrived back there the whole sky was turning pink so I decided to stay and have dinner!
Day 3: Cannes
On my final day in Cannes, I headed to Antibes on the train. For me Antibes was the nicest place I visited in the south of France (yes even nicer than St. Tropez – so it is a definite definite must, if I was going back I would look into staying in a hostel here for a night). Antibes is a really laid back, picturesque coastal town. There is a beautiful beach there and the walk to the beach from the main part of Antibes alone makes the visit worth it!
I was there on a Sunday so I went to the local food market and picked up some dried fruits and snacks for lunch – you can’t beat a good Sunday market when your away!
I also found an English book store here literally called ‘The English Bookstore’, so if you need some reading material be sure to pop in – I bought Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (because that was just the mood I was in at the time!).
I took my new book, my lunch and myself to the beautiful white sandy beach for the evening.
(*disclaimer I did not build these sandcastles)
After three nights in Cannes I took the train to Genoa, Italy.
Be sure to see my next post and my ‘Italy’ highlight on my Instagram (here) for the details.
Merci,
Christine
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