Latest Local News in Cannes 2024
Read the latest news from Cannes in 2024
Tuesday 7 May
Reserve your free places for Museum Night at the Bonnard in Le Cannet. On 18 May there will be three sessions - 7pm, 8.15pm and 9.30pm with free entertainment. You will find yourself immersed in the universe of Toulouse Lautrec with dancing and cabaret and the art of the day. You are welcome to wear a Belle Epoque accessory such as a feather boa or necklace.
Info and reservations : telier@museebonnard.fr
Reserve your free places for Museum Night at the Bonnard in Le Cannet. On 18 May there will be three sessions - 7pm, 8.15pm and 9.30pm with free entertainment. You will find yourself immersed in the universe of Toulouse Lautrec with dancing and cabaret and the art of the day. You are welcome to wear a Belle Epoque accessory such as a feather boa or necklace.
Info and reservations : telier@museebonnard.fr
Monday 6 May
Booking subscriptions open today for the Palais des Festivals shows (Oct this year until June next year). Single tickets and Freedom cards can be booked from 13 May. You can take your pick from theatre, comedy, dance, classical music to musicals and concerts featuring stars from the French music scene. Pop into the tourist office near the Palais to book or go to palaisdesfestivals.com and cannesticket.com.
Booking subscriptions open today for the Palais des Festivals shows (Oct this year until June next year). Single tickets and Freedom cards can be booked from 13 May. You can take your pick from theatre, comedy, dance, classical music to musicals and concerts featuring stars from the French music scene. Pop into the tourist office near the Palais to book or go to palaisdesfestivals.com and cannesticket.com.
Friday 3 May
Meryl Streep is to receive an honorary Palme d'Or on the opening night of the Film Festival. It will be her first time on the red carpet since 1989. Also taking to the famous stairway is a plethora of stars this year including Kevin Costner, George Lucas, Francis Ford Coppola, Paul Schrader, Richard Gere and Uma Thurman.
Meryl Streep is to receive an honorary Palme d'Or on the opening night of the Film Festival. It will be her first time on the red carpet since 1989. Also taking to the famous stairway is a plethora of stars this year including Kevin Costner, George Lucas, Francis Ford Coppola, Paul Schrader, Richard Gere and Uma Thurman.
Thursday 2 May
Fourteen train stations in the Alpes Maritimes and Var closed their manned ticket offices permanently yesterday. Eight of the busier stations now have two SNCF agents with mobile payment terminals who can help with tickets or trains. The stations do have ticket machines and people can buy tickets and find out train information by using the SNCF smartphone app.
Not a clever move for a busy travel destination with visitors from around the world.
Fourteen train stations in the Alpes Maritimes and Var closed their manned ticket offices permanently yesterday. Eight of the busier stations now have two SNCF agents with mobile payment terminals who can help with tickets or trains. The stations do have ticket machines and people can buy tickets and find out train information by using the SNCF smartphone app.
Not a clever move for a busy travel destination with visitors from around the world.
Wednesday 1 May
Today is a national holiday in France. It is traditional to give Lily of the Valley to friends and family to bring good luck for the coming year. It is acceptable to send digital images as well.
Today is a national holiday in France. It is traditional to give Lily of the Valley to friends and family to bring good luck for the coming year. It is acceptable to send digital images as well.
April/March Highlights
Cannes is lacking 53 national police officers including 18 field agents and 35 investigators due, according to the town council, to the lack of government funding for the past decade. This has led to more work for the municipal police, paid by the residents, and an increase in delinquency. The mayor expects even less police this summer as they head to Paris for the Olympics.
Cannes is lacking 53 national police officers including 18 field agents and 35 investigators due, according to the town council, to the lack of government funding for the past decade. This has led to more work for the municipal police, paid by the residents, and an increase in delinquency. The mayor expects even less police this summer as they head to Paris for the Olympics.
The death toll on French roads is almost twice that in the UK so do take care when driving here. Tiredness is the cause of 23% of fatal accidents on motorways. Drink driving is the cause of 30% of all road fatalities despite French allowances 50% stricter than UK at 0.4g/l. Note, you are 1.5 times more likely to have a fatal crash on a rural road than in a town. There were 3,170 road deaths in France last year and 1,633 in the UK.
Visitors to the EU, including France, beware. You will be turned away if your passport is more than 10 years old from its start date and does not have three months left on it from your French departure date. This applies to tourists and second homeowners.
From 16 April the Forville market will be split over two sites to allow the modernisation work to continue. Local producers and fish stalls will move to a temporary site on the Allees opposite the music stand. All other stalls will remain at the usual Forville site. When completed in spring 2026, the market hall will return to its former glory with a roof garden and kiosk available to the public.
The ticket office of this year's Jazz a Juan is now open. It opens 8 - 18 July. Running alongside it is the free Jammin a Jazz for new talent. The Jazz Club is open 11pm to 1am at the Ambassadeur Hotel. Artists with any jazz themed work can apply to be part of the art exhibition. Jazz lovers can also enjoy looking at the 62 (so far) handprints of famous jazz musicians. Full details and tickets: www.jazzajuan.com
Location, location! Cannes comes in second place after Paris for the highest property prices. It is also bucking the trend with property up 3.4% on the year. The average Cannes price is 6,127 euros per sq/m. Certain streets surpass some prestigious districts of Paris. Top prices are for the Croisette (12,410 euros) and bd Eugene Gazagnaire (10,878). In third place is Antibes.
Deadline for tax returns in the Alpes Maritimes is 23 May. This applies also to second homeowners who have to declare any income on letting their French property in the calendar year 2023. You can do this online.
From this Friday you must not prune trees, bushes or hedgerows until after 31 July. This is so as not to disrupt nesting birds. You can be heavily fined if you do.
The latest exhibition at the Bonnard Museum in Le Cannet celebrates 150 years of Impressionism and opens this Saturday. It includes 80 prints from a private collection and two iconic paintings on loan from the Musee d'Orsay. Learn about the connection between Toulouse Lautrec and Bonnard. Visit the Paris of the Belle-Epoch and its nightlife. Further info: museebonnard.fr
A new wall fresco has been unveiled in Cannes celebrating Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893), one of France's greatest writers and journalists. It can be found at 28 rue Louis Blanche opposite Le Chalet de l'Isere where he lived. This 95m2 mural is the first in the ave de Grasse locality.
Google Maps has disappeared from Google searches due to the European Digital Markets Act which came into effect yesterday. It aims to improve competition. Now, however, you have to search directly for Google Maps. The Connexion has set out how to authorise automatic Google maps: Open your Google account (Gmail for example)
- Click on ‘Manage your Google account’ (top-right on Gmail)
- Click on ‘Data and privacy’
- Scroll down to ‘Linked Google services’ and click ‘Manage linked services’
- Tick the boxes next to ‘Search’ and ‘Google Maps’
- Click ‘Confirm’ then ‘Done’ NB The change may not come into effect immediately
Easyjet has announced new destinations from Nice Airport: Alicante, from April; Athens, May; Malaga, Malta and Kefalonia, June; Agadir, September; Prague, October; and Rabat, November.
Easyjet has been serving Nice Airport for 28 year and has had a hub here for 10 years. It carried four million passengers, 80% of which are for leisure.
Easyjet has been serving Nice Airport for 28 year and has had a hub here for 10 years. It carried four million passengers, 80% of which are for leisure.
February Highlights
The 15th edition of the Etoiles de Mougins gastronomic festival takes place this year 14-15 September. The guest of honour will be the former Elysee Palace chef, Guillaume Gomez. He spent 25 years as chef to French presidents from Jacques Chirac to Macron, who appointed him ambassador of French gastronomy.
The 15th edition of the Etoiles de Mougins gastronomic festival takes place this year 14-15 September. The guest of honour will be the former Elysee Palace chef, Guillaume Gomez. He spent 25 years as chef to French presidents from Jacques Chirac to Macron, who appointed him ambassador of French gastronomy.
The French railways have brought in rules for luggage size and fines if you get it wrong. The new rules apply to intercity, TGV Inoui and TGV Ouigo. To make it yet more cumbersome there are different regulations for the type of train. So take care especially if taking a train after flying in.
Grasse famous for its perfume industry is shaping a new future for itself from this September. This is when the European Sculpture Institute will open its doors to students who will be trained in the art of statuary sculpture, inherited from classical and medieval traditions. It's unique in France. Grasse is twinned with Carrara in Italy famed for its white marble... that's the link.
Transavia, Air France's budget airline, will fly Nice to Faro in Portugal from 42 euros each way from 17 July. From the same date you will also be able to fly to Beirut, Lebanon, from 157 euros.
Cannes' town council has approved the 2024 budget noting it has reduced its debt by 71.55m euros since 2014. It is reducing its operating expenses by 1.51% to accommodate inflation and is investing 80m euros this year.
The battle between David Lisnard, mayor of Cannes, rages on with the town's restaurant owners. They are refusing to sign a new charter banning enclosed terraces. When it rains or gets cold in Cannes the open, unheated terraces stay empty. Many restaurants do not have enough inside space to make them financially viable. Mayor Lisnard, however, refuses to budge on the issue.
Work has finally started on the Star cinema in the rue d'Antibes - eight years after it closed. This art house cinema opened in 1913. When work is completed at the end of next year, it will have four screens seating a total of 539 film buffs.
EasyJet this year will be adding three new destinations from Nice Airport.
- Nice to Alicante from 5 May, Malaga 2 June and Cephalonia, Greece, from 30 June.
Motorway tolls rise by an average 2.7% in the Alpes Maritimes and Var. Electricity prices are also going up, by 9.8%. And all tobacco products will rise from between 10c and one euro a packet. Welcome to February in France!
January Highlights
The new law giving British second-home owners an ‘automatic long-stay visa’ has been rejected by France’s Conseil Constitutionnel despite being passed by both houses of Parliament. It was rejected, however, on a technicality: that it was not directly linked to the immigration bill as first presented. Les Republicans party and many other parliamentarians have vowed to bring it back before Parliament as soon as possible. So watch this space.
The new law giving British second-home owners an ‘automatic long-stay visa’ has been rejected by France’s Conseil Constitutionnel despite being passed by both houses of Parliament. It was rejected, however, on a technicality: that it was not directly linked to the immigration bill as first presented. Les Republicans party and many other parliamentarians have vowed to bring it back before Parliament as soon as possible. So watch this space.
The Croix des Gardes, a stainless steel cross by sculptor Jean-Yves Lechevallier symbolising heritage and sprituality, has fallen down. After 34 years surviving the vagaries of the weather, the 12m high and 8m wide cross finally succumbed to high winds overnight last Thursday. It did not cause any damage and will be rebuilt and restored to its original position by this summer.i
A bouquet of mimosa flowers from Pegomas was placed on the new frame of the choir of Notre Dame de Paris cathedral. It is a tradition to mark the completion of major works.
France's oldest tree can be found along the coast at Roquebrune, Cap Martin. It is an olive tree and is more than 2,200 years old. It stands 15m tall and has a circumference of 23.5m. It won the Coup de Coeur prize this week in the competition to find France's most beautiful trees.
The mouth of the river Var and its surrounding region has now been designated a red flood area and no more building permits will be allowed. This area includes France's second largest airport, Nice, and the department's largest shopping centre, CAP 3000. Existing permits can go ahead including the airport extensions and new bus station, for example. The flood threat is described as once in a thousand years.
All British expats, no matter how long they have lived abroad, can now register to vote in British general elections and referendums. You will need to hand your passport, NI number and postcode of the last place you lived in UK. You then register online at www.gov.uk/register-to-vote. After registration you can apply online for a postal or proxy vote.
You can now buy Cannes Honey produced from hives on top of the Juliana Hotel, rue de Madrid. It is packaged and marketed like a bottle of perfume - beautiful and expensive: from €9 for 45g up to a black velvet box with 400g at 58 euros. It is on sale at the hotel, cheese maker Ceneri, rue Meynadier, and at the La Corbeille grocery store rue Pasteur. See mieldecannes.com for online sales.
The population of Cannes on 1 January this year is 73,990 up 831 since last year. It has 51.3% main homes, 46.6% second homes and just 2.1% vacant homes. It remains the Alpes Maritimes' third largest city after Nice (pop. 348,085) and Antibes (76,147).
The 20th cinematic wall mural has been unveiled. It is the famous kiss from the 1966 Palme d'Or winner Un Homme et Une Femme starring Anouk Aimee and Jean Louis Trintignant. It can be found on the facade of a school on Ave Michel-Jourdan, Cannes. It was painted by Patrick Commecy, covers 80 sq m and cost 35,200 euros.
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