Anchorage

Rade de Cannes

Shelter: NW, N, NE, E
Seabed: sand
Anchoring: Allowed

Open roadstead off the Croisette at Cannes, Alpes-Maritimes, between the seafront and the Îles de Lérins 1 NM south. Anchoring is regulated and banned from 1 June to 31 August.

Pontoon
Beach

Guide

Approach and anchoring

Clear water approach from the south between the mainland and Île Sainte-Marguerite. Anchoring is prohibited from 1 June to 31 August and the police enforce an unmarked seaward limit, though yellow buoys mark the beach edge. The bottom is largely weed with little sand, so find a sand patch near the yellow buoys, holding fair; a stern anchor helps. Sheltered from NW through NE, but any direction other than north sends swell wrapping into the bay, and the wash of superyachts and the tourist speedboats towing rings and parachutes from morning to sunset keeps it rolly by day. Keep clear of the September Yachting Festival zone and the tender and ferry lanes to the Lérins.

Practical

Anchor in 4 to 12 m. Landing is awkward: the beaches are private and the pontoons in front are reserved for watersports, so tenders must use a harbour, and the offices sometimes turn tenders away or charge a passenger drop-off fee of around 112 to 119 euros at the port of Cannes. Port Canto is 0.4 NM east and the IGY Vieux-Port de Cannes 0.5 NM NW, both with fuel, water and berths for visitors depending on season, with a large Carrefour 300 m from the Vieux-Port.

Ashore

La Croisette runs along the beach, its bars and clubs playing music late into the night. The Festival d'Art Pyrotechnique lights up the bay on summer evenings in July and August and can be watched from the anchorage. The Palais des Festivals hosts the Cannes Film Festival each May. Rue d'Antibes, 400 m inland, concentrates shops and supermarkets. Ferries from the Vieux-Port serve Île Sainte-Marguerite in 15 minutes, where the Fort Royal holds the cell of the Man in the Iron Mask.

History

Cannes grew from a fishing village on the Suquet hill after Lord Brougham was stranded here in 1834 by a cholera quarantine and built a villa, drawing British and Russian aristocracy to the bay.