What’s on
What is worth your time around Cannes this month. Including an eclipse.
August 2026, on your doorstep
Tap a category to filter. Dates are for this month and we refresh the list as the season moves on.
The eclipse
The Moon covers about ninety five per cent of the Sun over Cannes, the deepest eclipse seen from the south of France since August 1999. First contact is around 19h25, maximum near 20h25, and by then the Sun sits barely two degrees above the sea. Totality itself falls on northern Spain, so certified eclipse glasses stay on the whole time, with no safe moment to look without them. You want an open western horizon and, ideally, a little height.
Beach party
Copal opens its beds to the eclipse from seven, with certified glasses handed out on arrival so you can watch lying down with the bay in front of you. The kitchen is Juan Arbelaez, South American by way of the Mediterranean, and the bar runs late. Ten minutes east along the Croisette from the apartment.
Concert
Two evenings of jazz in the Miró Labyrinth at Saint-Paul de Vence, the third year Gilles Peterson has curated here and the first given over entirely to newer artists. Thursday brings the Tara Clerkin Trio, Moses Boyd, Tereza and Peterson himself closing under the sculptures. Standing, open seating, with the Ellsworth Kelly rooms open to walk through beforehand. Forty minutes inland.
Festival
Three days of electronic music on the sand below the Palais, one stage literally at the water’s edge. The twentieth edition, with DJ Snake closing on the Sunday, plus Amelie Lens, Marshmello and Mosimann across the weekend. Sixty thousand people over the three days, so the Croisette is busy. A five minute walk.
Classical
The last week of Menton’s festival, played on the parvis in front of the basilica with the sea below and the old town stacked behind. Chamber music and piano recitals, some concerts free on the Esplanade des Sablettes. An hour and a quarter along the coast, and worth the drive for the setting alone.
Fireworks
The last three nights of the competition, six countries firing from barges out in the bay and the whole thing free. The Croisette fills early; the Quai Saint-Pierre and the Plage du Midi are quieter and the view is much the same. Anywhere along the water works.
Street party
Thursday evenings in the old town, brass bands and street musicians along Rue du Pré, tables out and families everywhere. Unpolished and very Cannois. Walk up through Le Suquet afterwards for the view over the port.
Fête
Grasse celebrates the jasmine harvest for the eightieth time, with flower floats, brass and a great deal of scent through the old town. Thirty five minutes up into the hills, and a good excuse to see the perfume houses while you are there.
Exhibition
A survey of Di Rosa, founder of the figuration libre movement, whose colour and comic-book appetite sit oddly and rather well against a Riviera summer. Cool rooms on a hot afternoon.
Exhibition
Up in the fort on the island, fifteen minutes across from Quai Laubeuf. Make a morning of it: the exhibition, then the swim.
Art & Galleries
A small contemporary space in what is left of the old Grand Hôtel, right on the Croisette. Two or three rooms, twenty minutes, and free air conditioning.
Art & Galleries
The former morgue, now studios and exhibition rooms for local artists, halfway up the old town. Worth the climb and usually empty.
Art
Take the morning ferry from Quai Laubeuf, fifteen minutes across, and walk to Sainte-Marguerite’s south shore. A few metres down in glass-clear water wait six monumental sculpted faces. Bring a mask and fins; it costs nothing but the crossing.
Market
Twenty five minutes along the coast, Antibes’ covered market fills each morning with produce, flowers, spices and hot socca. Go before eleven, then wander the old town with a coffee.
Nothing in this category just now. Try another.
Where to eat, drink and wander, written from the doorstep by Olivier and Martha.
Stay in touch
The occasional word on the apartment, the guide and what is on. Nothing more.
Thank you, you are on the list.
Riviera Séjour
Notes from the coast, now and then. Nothing more.
Thank you, you are in.