How to Spend a Day in Cannes (From Cruise Port)

The city of Cannes is nestled along the French Riviera and boasts charming alleyways, seaside views, and all things luxury. It oozes wealth and fashion, making it the perfect playground for the rich and famous.

When most people hear 'Cannes', they immediately think of the star studded Cannes Film Festival. And while that is rightfully a huge draw, the city of Cannes has so much more to offer than an event that only happens once a year. Here is how we spent one full day in Cannes on our recent Meditteranean cruise with NCL.

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When arriving by large cruise ship, you'll have to take a tender boat to get into Cannes. On NCL, they have easy to use touch screen kiosks located on every floor by the staircases, and throughout the ship where you can sign up for a tender time. They're completely free, and when you book it, it is automatically added onto your stateroom key card (no physical ticket). They do this to manage foot traffic so not everyone is getting off at the same. That would be chaos. Note that the tickets for prime times to disembark do go quickly, so I recommend getting them asap. In my opinion, it is better to reserve an earlier tender ticket time cause if you don't make that exact time, you can still get off anytime after your tender time. That way you waste no time waiting around.

With the wind in our hair, we tendered our way through the yacht dotted waters to our drop off point in Vieux Port. It was a great location and only a short walk right into the city center. If you don't want to explore on your own, or if you want to continue your day on the water, there are plenty of excursions offered. I normally check out Viator first for excursions, then Shore Excursions Group, which offers almost identical excursions to the cruise ship, but smaller groups and at a lower cost.

We, however, decided to continue on our own by starting our day with the trek (okay..not really.. it's just a little hill and some stairs.. I'm dramatic) up to Le Suquet, which is the charming old town. It takes about 10 min. The winding, cobblestone streets are like something out of a fairytale. It's giving Beauty and the Beast.

As we made our way up to the Church of Notre Dame d'Esperance, we enjoyed panoramic views along the way of the bay below.

Following this we headed towards Marche' Forville, which is a local market with dozen of stalls. It has everything from flowers and soaps, to paella and cheese. It is open in the mornings until 1pm everyday except Monday.

After exploring the market, we made the short walk to Rue d'Antibes, the most popular shopping street in Cannes. We went in and out of stores and ended up finding a bakery for a delicious crossiant. When in France...

We headed in the direction of the water to La Croisette, a beautiful palm tree lined street full of luxury shops, hotels, and waterfront restaurants. You could easily do some damage to the ole credit card if you wanted to. But if you're like me and working on a budget, it's also a window shoppers paradise.

Just on the other side of the street, you'll see plenty of people frolicking in the sand on the public beach and climbing on the playground. If it's a nice day, you could easily wear your bathing suit under your clothes and lay out or take a dip.

Last thing, and a classic "must" move when in Cannes, is to check out the Cannes Palais des festivals, where the Cannes Film Festival takes place. Pose on the red carpet and snap a pic before heading back to Vieux Port to catch the tender back to the ship.

Here is an overall map of our walking path if I have any visual learners out there like myself: