Cannes Lions week: what to book, where to stay, and what the town is like

For one week in June, Cannes stops being a beach town and becomes the head office of the global advertising industry. The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity brings around thirteen thousand delegates onto a seafront built for holidaymakers, takes over every beach club on La Croisette, and prices the town like a capital city. If you are attending, this guide is about surviving the logistics. If you are simply in Cannes that week for a holiday, it is about knowing what you have walked into.

When is Cannes Lions, and what happens?

The festival runs for five days in mid to late June, centred on the Palais des Festivals, the same building the film festival uses in May. Inside are the talks, the awards and the delegate programme, all behind a badge whose Classic pass ran to 4 465 € excluding tax in 2026. Outside is the part that changes the town: the beach clubs along La Croisette are taken over one by one by the large technology and media companies, each running its own programme of panels, breakfasts and parties for the week. That is where most of the business actually happens, and most of those spaces are invitation only.

Beach club allocations change every year and are announced in the weeks before the festival. Verified August 2026.

Where do you stay, and when do you book?

Book by January, or stay outside Cannes. That is the whole answer. Hotel rates on the Croisette during Lions week run several times their normal June price and sell out early, and the apartment market goes the same way. The alternative that works is staying along the coastal train line, in Juan-les-Pins, Antibes or Nice, and commuting in. The train runs along the water, takes eight to thirteen minutes from Antibes and around thirty from Nice, and beats driving into Cannes on any morning of that week.

If you are hosting rather than attending, the constraint is different: the beach clubs and hotel terraces are contracted a year ahead by the large players, and what is left for everyone else is villas in the hills behind Cannes and Mougins. Those work well, they photograph well, and they solve the noise problem that the seafront does not.

What can you do in Cannes that week without a badge?

More than you would think, because the festival is concentrated on one kilometre of seafront and the rest of the town carries on. Le Suquet, the old town on the hill, is ten minutes from the Palais and feels like a different decade. The Marché Forville runs every morning except Monday from September to June, and every single morning in July and August. On Mondays out of season it turns into a brocante instead. The Îles de Lérins are fifteen minutes by boat from the old port and are the thing to do in Cannes if you only have half a day, festival or not: Sainte-Marguerite has a fort, a swimming coast and no cars. And the beaches west of the Palais, past the port, are public and largely free of the festival entirely.

The one thing worth doing precisely because of the festival is walking the Croisette at around seven in the evening. Every terrace is full, the whole industry is outdoors at once, and it is a spectacle in its own right, free and open to anyone on the pavement.

Why is this the busiest photography week of the year in Cannes?

Because thousands of companies are spending a large budget on a temporary space and want proof of it. In practice the demand splits into event coverage, meaning a brand's panel, breakfast or party photographed and delivered the same night so it can be posted while the festival is still running, and portraits, meaning executives, speakers and teams shot properly against the sea while everyone is in one place for the only time all year. The second is the one people forget to plan and then scramble for on the Tuesday.

The practical constraint is delivery speed rather than shooting. Content posted on the Thursday of Lions week is worth several times the same content posted the following Monday, so we work to a same-evening selection during that week rather than the usual 48 hours. Our Cannes private event photography page covers how we staff those days, and the Cannes editorial photography page covers portraits and brand work.

Frequently asked questions

When is Cannes Lions and where is it held?

The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity runs for five days in mid to late June at the Palais des Festivals in Cannes, the same building used by the film festival in May. The programme inside the Palais requires a delegate badge. The parallel programme, which is where most of the business happens, takes place in the beach clubs and hotel terraces along La Croisette and is generally invitation only.

Can you attend Cannes Lions without a badge?

Not the Palais programme or the award shows, and most beach club events are invitation or company guest list. What is open to everyone is the seafront itself: walking La Croisette at around seven in the evening during the festival, when every terrace is full at once, is a spectacle in its own right and costs nothing. The old town, the market and the Îles de Lérins carry on entirely as normal.

Where should you stay during Cannes Lions week?

Book Cannes by January or stay along the coastal train line instead. Hotel rates on the Croisette during Lions week run several times their normal June price and sell out months ahead. Antibes is eight to thirteen minutes by train, Nice around thirty, and both are faster than driving into Cannes each morning. Villas in the hills behind Cannes and Mougins are the practical option for anyone hosting.

What is there to do in Cannes that week outside the festival?

The festival occupies about one kilometre of seafront and the rest of the town is unaffected. Le Suquet, the old town on the hill, is ten minutes from the Palais. The Marché Forville runs every morning except Monday out of season, and daily in July and August. The Îles de Lérins are fifteen minutes by boat from the old port, and Sainte-Marguerite has a fort, a swimming coast and no cars at all.

More reading: the Cannes Film Festival, a private photographer's guide, the top photographers on the French Riviera, and what a private photographer costs here.