Cannes is the magnet, but Cannes is also where the bill arrives. Smart cruisers learn to use the two big marinas that bracket it: Port La Napoule at Mandelieu on the western side, and Port Camille Rayon at Golfe-Juan on the eastern side. Both are large, well-equipped harbours that take visiting boats, both sit a short hop from Cannes itself, and both will berth a normal cruiser without the eye-watering rates of the Cannes old port. I have used the pair as cheaper bases for the central Riviera for years.
Port La Napoule: the western anchor
La Napoule sits at the mouth of the Siagne river, on the western edge of the bay of Cannes, with the turreted Chateau de la Napoule standing right by the entrance: you cannot miss your landmark. It is a substantial marina, around 914 berths in total, split into roughly 216 public places and 698 private, taking boats from 6 metres up to the 50-metre class. There is a welcome dock right in front of the capitainerie, staffed 24 hours a day, where passing boats up to 35 metres can tie up on arrival.
The harbour works on VHF channel 9. Depths are generous, with 5 to 7 metres at the yacht pier and in the outer harbour, and 2 to 6 metres on the inner docks, so a deep-keeled cruiser has plenty of water provided you are not pushed onto a shallow inner berth. There is no tidal gate, this being the Mediterranean, so arrival is purely about wind and traffic. Call on channel 9, give your length, beam and draught, and take the welcome dock or the berth you are allocated.
La Napoule's appeal for me is the combination of space, depth and a town that is pleasant rather than frantic. Mandelieu is the mimosa capital of the coast and a real residential town, so provisioning is easy and prices ashore are sane. From here Cannes is a 20-minute motor across the bay, and the Iles de Lerins are within easy reach.
Port Camille Rayon: the eastern anchor
On the far side of Cannes, at Golfe-Juan in the commune of Vallauris, Port Camille Rayon is the other big workhorse. It holds around 841 berths from 6 to 75 metres, of which roughly 80 are kept for visitors, and it is well sheltered, screened in the east by the Cap d'Antibes and in the west by the hills of Vallauris. It works on VHF channel 9 and runs round-the-clock security.
Depths run to about 5.5 metres in the front-port, with the basins at 2 to 5 metres and the outer pier 4 to 5 metres, so again there is good water for a cruising boat. The marina has a fuel berth, a boatyard and the usual services, which makes it a practical place to deal with anything that needs fixing. Golfe-Juan is where Napoleon landed in 1815 on his return from Elba, a fact the town will not let you forget, and it sits within an easy day sail of Antibes, Cannes and the Lerins.
Berthing and the technique
Both harbours use Mediterranean mooring, stern-to or bow-to on a lazy line. The welcome docks at both let you tie up alongside first, sort yourself out and get your allocation before attempting the manoeuvre, which I always appreciate after a long passage. If the technique is new, my full guide to med mooring with lazy lines covers the crosswind problem that undoes most first-timers. The outer berths at both marinas feel the wind, so brief the crew and rig your lines before you commit.
The money case
The reason to use these two over Cannes is cost. Both are firmly Riviera-priced in July and August, but both consistently undercut the Cannes old port and the Antibes superyacht harbour for an equivalent boat, while leaving you within a short sail of all the same places. The seasonal swing is steep, with shoulder-month rates a fraction of the August peak. Where this coast stings visitors and where it merely charges a fair Riviera rate is something I have mapped out in my breakdown of cote-azur marina fees, and both La Napoule and Camille Rayon land in the sensible band.
Using them as a base
The whole point of these harbours is what they put within reach. From either you can sail to the lerins islands anchorage cannes, the wooded pair of Sainte-Marguerite and Saint-Honorat off Cannes, which offer the best anchoring near a major town anywhere on the coast. East of Camille Rayon you are quickly at antibes port vauban guide, Europe's largest marina, which despite its reputation keeps real berths for real boats and has the best technical support on the Riviera.
If you are planning a longer cruise rather than a single stop, my french riviera sailing guide sets out how this central stretch links west to the Esterel and the Saint-Tropez gulf and east towards Nice and the Italian border.
Weather to watch
The bay of Cannes is open to the south and east, and an onshore wind from that quarter sends swell into both marinas; it is uncomfortable rather than dangerous at the berth but makes departures lively. The regional hazard is the mistral, the cold north-westerly off the Rhone valley, which loses some punch this far east but still kicks up a short steep sea across the bay. Summer thunderstorms build fast over the hills behind Vallauris and arrive with little warning, so check the afternoon forecast before any passage. The Mediterranean is far less predictable than the flat morning suggests.
A working week between the two
In practice I bounce between these harbours and the Lerins. A typical pattern: berth a night at La Napoule to provision and fuel, motor out to anchor off Sainte-Marguerite for a couple of nights of free swimming and quiet, then cross to Camille Rayon for a night when the lockers need filling again or the weather turns. The two marinas sit close enough that you are never more than a short sail from a secure berth if the forecast goes bad, which is the real comfort of basing yourself here rather than committing to a single expensive harbour. Cannes itself becomes a place you visit for a long lunch and a wander, arriving by tender or on a short day sail, rather than somewhere you pay to sleep.
Practical notes
A few things worth knowing about the pair. Both have proper boatyards and lift-out facilities, which makes this a sensible stretch to deal with anything structural before pushing east into the pricier harbours. La Napoule's entrance off the Siagne can carry a little river-borne murk after heavy rain, but the channel is well marked and the depths hold up. Golfe-Juan's anchorage off the town is a popular free spot in settled weather, useful as an overflow when Camille Rayon is full, though it is open to the south and you would not want to sit it out in an onshore blow. Both towns have railway stations on the coastal line, which makes crew changes painless: someone can step off the train and be aboard within the hour. For a cruiser working the central Riviera over a week or two, that combination of yards, anchorages and easy transport is hard to beat.
My take
Neither La Napoule nor Golfe-Juan is glamorous, and neither pretends to be. What they offer is space, good depth, 24-hour welcome docks, fair Riviera prices and a position either side of Cannes that puts the whole central coast within a day's reach. I use them as working bases: come in, fuel up, fill the lockers, fix what needs fixing, then go back out to the Lerins to anchor for free. For a cruiser who would rather spend the money on the cruise than the berth, the two harbours bracketing Cannes are the answer.
