We are fast approaching May. Arguably, the best place to go in Europe would be the South of France. In the month of May the Riviera hosts the Cannes film festival. So where does one stay considering everything is sold out a year in advance? The objective for most people is to attempt to get a sneak view of their favourite celebrities – but how does one find them?
We looked into the situation and have come to an interesting conclusion: don’t bother running around Cannes during the festival! On the one hand, you can queue up outside the red carpet entrance during evening competition screenings at the Palais. The film’s director and some stars will normally turn up, but your chances of getting close is slim: you will have to fight with the paparazzi! Alternatively, you can try to get access to cafes and hotel bars, but you will be fighting with another 200,000 people who come just for that purpose.
When looking in the news we always see that Nicole Kidman, Antonio Banderas or Pia Zadora stay at Hotel du Cap Eden-Roc. We https://youtube.com/channel/UC5zgCLpojUaU8ZryX9s6CFQ have also known for years that Bill Cosby usually vacations on the French Riviera with his wife Camille. The list could go on almost forever as this year the Cannes Film Festival expects to attract well over 30,000 ‘professionals’. But when we examined the official site, there are only 10 exclusive residences and 19 four star hotels – surely not enough to provide accommodation for every star. After calls to the Cannes tourist office and a number of the private agencies arranging trips for the celebrities, we got the answer: Most of the stars rent a vacation villa in or around Cannes.
Our conclusion is that if you really want to have a chance at getting close up, you do what the media shy stars do: they rent a holiday villa. The good news is that while the vacation rentals directly inside Cannes may be sold out or too expensive, lots of stars go for the houses just outside Cannes and then commute.
One thing is catching a glimpse of a star on the red carpet but imagine having them as your neighbour for a week! Additionally, you could find yourself driving into Cannes just behind their limo! When driving about look out for the ‘specially authorised vehicles’ that ferry the celebrities about. They have distinctive red flags on the front bump.
alexjames