Bijou Plage, La Plage du Festival and Ciro's at Le Majestic are the three quickest private beaches to reach from the Croisette, and each solves a different problem for a different visitor. Bijou Plage suits families thanks to sheltered water on Pointe Croisette, roughly a 15-minute walk from the Palais des Festivals. La Plage du Festival delivers the classic Riviera set piece: sun loungers steps from the red carpet, full restaurant service, and a reservations desk built for high season. Ciro's, tucked inside Le Majestic, is the pick for anyone seeking hotel-grade polish without staying at the hotel.

During the Cannes Film Festival, MIPIM or Cannes Lions, front-row spots at all three vanish well in advance, and Croisette traffic can significantly increase travel time.

• Beach Jewelry — family-friendly, calm water, 15-minute walk from Palais des Festivals
• The Festival Beach — largest Croisette concession, full-day dining, book ahead in high season
• Ciro's (The Majestic) — hotel-standard service, beach open roughly 10:00–18:00

A fixed-rate chauffeur from Transponyx removes the guesswork: call +33 6 10 30 71 84 and a Standard Sedan or Van 7 pax collects you and drops you within walking distance of any Croisette beach entrance, festival week or not.

Where can you get private beach access in Cannes?

Access comes down to three questions: which stretch of coast, which season, and how you plan to arrive. Cannes runs its private beach concessions along three main zones, the Croisette proper, the quieter Pointe Croisette, and Port Canto towards the eastern end, each with a different character and a different route in.

The Croisette holds the highest concentration of private beaches and generally higher pricing, including venues like La Plage du Festival, Rado Plage, Ciro's and Carlton Beach Club opposite the grand hotels. Pointe Croisette, home to Bijou Plage and several calm coves, draws families seeking gentler water and a quieter environment. Port Canto, further along, tends to attract an older and quieter clientele and offers somewhat easier car access outside festival weeks.

Comparing the main private beaches in Cannes

The differences between venues are less about postcode than about what you actually get for your money once you sit down. Front-row and second-row pricing structures are near-universal across the Croisette, with operators typically including a mattress, umbrella and towel in the base fee and charging a premium for the closest row to the water.

Beyond this shortlist, the Croisette hosts a long list of similarly structured venues, among them Hyde Beach Cannes, Copal Beach, La Petite Cannoise, La Mandala, Palais Stéphanie Beach, Vilebrequin La Plage Cannes, Annex Beach, Belle Plage, Croisette Beach Plage, Ecrin Plage, Goéland, L'Alba, La Guérite, La Môme Plage, La Plage Barrière Le Majestic Cannes, La Plage du Martinez, Le Cabanon, Mademoiselle Gray Plage Barrière, Maema Plage, O'key Beach, La Paillote Blanche, Le Lagon Mandelieu, Pascalin Plage, So Beach, Le Vieux Rocher, Monsieur Pablo, and Jimbaran Plage. Families gravitate towards Bijou Plage, CBEACH, and Le Lagon Mandelieu for shallower water and lifeguard cover; diners chasing a proper meal alongside their sunbed lean towards La Plage du Festival, Ciro's, or Carlton Beach Club; anyone after a livelier scene tends to end up at La Mandala or So Beach later in the afternoon.

Full-beach privatization, for weddings, corporate events or film crews, generally needs several weeks' notice in season and considerably more during festival periods, when venues are already juggling day-pass demand against exclusive bookings.

How do you get to Cannes private beaches by road, rail or foot?

Getting to the sand is rarely the hard part outside festival season. It becomes the hard part the moment a red carpet closes half the Croisette or MIPIM fills every hotel drop-off point between the Palais and Port Canto.

1. From Cannes railway station, most Croisette beaches are a 12 to 18-minute walk; Pointe Croisette venues like Bijou Plage add another ten minutes on foot.
2. From the Palais des Festivals, Bijou Plage sits roughly 15 minutes away on foot, while La Plage du Festival and Ciro's are practically at the doorstep.
3. Parking along the Croisette and around Port Canto fills fast in summer and disappears almost entirely during festival week, pushing many visitors towards paid car parks several streets back.
4. During Cannes Film Festival, MIPIM, Cannes Lions or MIPCOM, plan to leave your hotel at least 30 to 40 minutes earlier than usual for any beach reservation with a fixed time.

Pro Tip If you are staying in Nice or Monaco and heading to a Cannes beach for a festival lunch, book your transfer the moment you confirm the beach reservation, not the morning of. Availability for both tightenings at the same rate.

A booked chauffeur or hotel concierge drop-off remains the most dependent option precisely because it removes the two biggest variables, parking and unpredictable traffic, from a schedule that already has a fixed lunch reservation attached to it. Transponyx's Cannes chauffeur service tracks these congestion patterns closely, and festival-week transport scarcity is a real, recurring feature of the calendar rather than an occasional inconvenience.

How do you choose and book the right beach spot?

Front row generally buys you proximity to the water, first access to shade rotation as the sun moves, and marginally faster table service if the beach runs a restaurant. Second row costs less and still includes the same core kit at most venues: mattress, towel, umbrella and access to showers, with the price gap widening sharply during festival weeks.

• Decide your priority first: water view and status (front row) or value and flexibility (second row or a shaded back section).
• Book by phone or the venue's own site for the clearest confirmation; La Plage du Festival and Bijou Plage both list direct reservation channels.
• Ask your hotel concierge if you are staying at a property with a beach partnership, since concierge bookings sometimes unlock rows not shown online.
• Reserve seven to ten days ahead in July and August, and three to four weeks ahead for festival dates.
• Call the venue directly for full-beach privatization rather than a day pass; this is a separate booking process with its own lead times and minimum spend.
• Confirm cancellation terms at the time of booking, since policies vary by venue and tighten considerably during peak weeks.

Are Cannes beaches accessible for families and reduced mobility?

Several Cannes beaches carry Handiplage accessibility labeling, which grants access to adapted equipment at labeled sites, though proof of disability is typically required before use. Municipal beaches publish lifeguard supervision windows each summer, with Zamenhof beach supervised from 8:30 to 18:30 between 15 June and 15 September, a useful benchmark for family-focused planning.

• Check Handiplage status directly with the beach before traveling, since labeling varies site to site.
• Shallow coves around Pointe Croisette suit smaller children better than the open Croisette front.
• Accessible parking near beach entrances is limited during peak months; a chauffeur service can coordinate drop-off closer to the entrance than most public parking allows.

What does festival-week transport actually look like on the ground?

Nice Côte d'Azur Airport sits roughly 30 to 40 minutes from central Cannes under normal traffic, stretching towards an hour during festival congestion or a Monaco Grand Prix weekend that pulls traffic west along the coast. A party of two or three typically travels comfortably in a Standard Sedan or Business Sedan; groups of four to seven, common for a shared beach day with luggage and beach bags, generally need a Van 7 pax, while eight travelers with equipment call for a Van 8 pax.

Transponyx runs a fixed 2026 rate structure across all four vehicle categories, so the price agreed at booking is the price paid on arrival, with no adjustment for festival-week surge demand.

• Bilingual, licensed VTC drivers, with some also speaking Italian, Spanish, Russian or Arabic
• 60 minutes of free waiting time included on every airport pickup
• Flight monitoring included as standard, so a delayed landing does not cost extra
• Child seats available on request for family beach days

A driver waiting at arrivals with your name, not a queue at the taxi rank and a meter running through gridlock on the Boulevard Carnot, is the difference between arriving relaxed and arriving already late for your lunch reservation.

That reliability matters more on Film Festival mornings than almost any other week of the Riviera calendar. Every taxi and every parking space along the Croisette is already accounted for by mid-morning.

What services can you expect once you're through the gate?

Nearly every Croisette private beach runs on the same basic formula, a restaurant kitchen, a bar, sunbeds arranged in rows, and enough back-of-house infrastructure to keep several hundred guests fed and dry through a full day. Ciro's at Le Majestic keeps its beach area open through roughly the same window as its dining room, typically 10:00 to 18:00, with the restaurant itself running lunch and dinner service until 10:30 p.m.

CBEACH opens its stretch of sand from 09:00, earlier than most neighboring venues, and provides lifeguards on duty alongside showers and changing rooms as standard. Wi-Fi coverage is now close to universal across the larger concessions, useful for anyone working a half-day before a MIPIM meeting or a Cannes Lions panel. Pontoon access, for swimming out beyond the shallows or boarding a water taxi, appears at established venues like Rado Plage, which has offered classic Riviera beach club service since 1958.

Water sports availability varies more than any other category, with some venues offering paddleboard or jet ski hire directly and others referring guests to an adjacent operator. If a maritime excursion appeals more than a static beach day, a private boat charter is worth considering as an alternative; Halkidiki Boat Sailing's weekly private cruise illustrates the kind of small-group sailing format now offered along several Mediterranean coasts.

Which beach suits your mood: quiet luxury or a livelier scene?

Ambience on the Croisette splits fairly cleanly into three registers, and choosing the wrong one is the single most common regret visitors report after a Cannes beach day. Rado Plage and Ciro's sit at the quieter, more formal end, favored by an older clientele that values discreet service and a proper tablecloth over background music. La Plage du Festival occupies the middle ground: busy, well-run, full of the kind of people-watching that makes the Croisette famous, but rarely raucous before evening.

Venues like La Mandala and So Beach lean towards a livelier register once the afternoon turns towards early evening, with music, a younger crowd and a faster drinks turnover. Carlton Beach Club sits closer to the luxury dining end of the spectrum, drawing a clientele more interested in the kitchen than the playlist. Bijou Plage, CBEACH and the Pointe Croisette cluster read calm and more family-oriented throughout, which is precisely why they follow anyone traveling with children or simply preferring a slower pace.

None of this is fixed by geography alone. The same stretch of Croisette sand can feel entirely different in May during the Film Festival versus a quiet Tuesday in September, and reception staff will usually tell you honestly, if asked directly, what kind of afternoon to expect that particular week.

What are the house rules on a Cannes private beach?

Every private beach in Cannes operates as a paying concession, which means house rules apply the moment you cross onto the sand, not just at the restaurant table. Reservations are generally tied to a specific time slot and row, and arriving significantly late without notice can mean losing the spot to another guest.

Most venues expect swimwear on the beach itself but require guests to cover up, typically with a shirt or wrap, when moving through the restaurant section for lunch. Bringing outside food or drink onto a private beach is almost universally discouraged, and some venues explicitly prohibit it, since the restaurant margin is part of how the concession funds its sunbed service. Music volume, particularly from personal speakers, tend to be restricted to preserve the atmosphere the venue is selling, whether that atmosphere is quiet luxury or a livelier lounge scene later in the day.

Children are welcome at family-oriented venues but supervision remains the parent's responsibility even where lifeguards are present, since lifeguard cover on municipal beaches follows fixed seasonal windows rather than round-the-clock supervision. Smoking policies vary by venue and increasingly restrict smoking to designated areas away from the sunbed rows. Tipping is not obligatory but is customary for beach and restaurant staff during a full day's service, generally in line with standard French hospitality norms.

When should you visit to avoid the crowds?

Timing a Cannes beach day around the calendar makes a bigger difference than choosing between any two venues. May brings the Film Festival, and every beach along the Croisette runs at or near capacity for roughly two weeks, with front-row spots gone well in advance and second-row availability tightening daily. MIPIM in March brings a different, more business-focused crowd that fills lunch reservations at venues like Ciro's and Carlton Beach Club without necessarily filling every sunbed.

July and August remain the busiest purely leisure months, with beaches at their fullest between 11:00 and 16:00 on weekends. Arriving before 10:00 on any given day, even in peak season, generally secures a better choice of row before the lunchtime rush claims what remains. September offers close to the same weather with noticeably thinner crowds, and Cannes Lions in June brings another business-travel bump concentrated around specific hotel-adjacent beaches rather than the whole Croisette.

Weekday visits consistently beat weekends for space, and the hour after lunch service ends, typically from around 2:30 p.m. onwards, tend to see a natural lull before the evening aperitivo crowd arrives.

Do any beaches run sunset parties or live music?

Several Croisette venues extend their offering well beyond the standard sunbed and lunch format once the calendar turns towards summer evenings. La Mandala and So Beach are the two most consistently associated with evening entertainment, running DJ sets and sunset gatherings that draw a distinct crowd from their daytime sunbed clientele. Bijou Plage extends its own day into evening dining, with an aperitivo slot running from 17:00 to 19:00 ahead of dinner service until 10:30 p.m., and last reservations accepted at 10:30 p.m.

Larger concessions occasionally host branded events tied to the festival calendar, particularly during Cannes Lions and the Film Festival, when beaches double as venues for industry parties rather than purely public bookings. These events typically require a separate reservation from a standard day pass, and availability during festival weeks can close out entirely if a private brand event has taken over the venue for the evening.

Anyone hoping to combine a beach day with an evening event should confirm directly with the venue whether the daytime and evening offerings run as one continuous booking or two separate reservations, since this varies by beach and by season.

How do you contact and book each beach directly?

Every established Cannes private beach maintains its own booking channel, and going direct is usually faster than working through a third-party platform. Bijou Plage lists full contact details and an online reservation system on its official site, covering lunch, aperitivo and dinner slots. La Plage du Festival operates its own reservations page and, as one of the Croisette's largest concessions, recommends booking ahead for anything during high season.

Ciro's, as part of Le Majestic, runs its beach bookings through the Barrière Hotels reservation system, which also covers its restaurant service. CBEACH publishes hours and contact details on its own coming page, while Rado Plage's official site covers its Croisette pontoon and classic beach club service.

For venues without a dedicated online booking system, a phone call to the beach directly remains the standard route, and hotel concierge desks along the Croisette maintain relationships with most of the major concessions, which can occasionally unlock availability not shown publicly. Whichever channel you use, confirming the exact row, time and cancellation terms in writing, even by text or email, avoids disputes on arrival during a busy festival week.

Why the smartest beach plan starts with the journey, not the sunbed

Most guides to Cannes beaches treat the booking as the hard part and the arrival as an afterthought. That gets the priority backwards during any event week. A confirmed front-row reservation at La Plage du Festival is worth nothing if you are still stuck in traffic on the Boulevard Carnot when your slot opens, and Croisette parking during the Film Festival or MIPIM disappears faster than most sunbed inventory does.

The conventional advice, book early and hope for good traffic, ignores that traffic during these weeks is entirely predictable, not random. Every operator quoted here, from Bijou Plage to Ciro's, expects congestion and plans reservation slots around it. Visitors rarely do the same with their own transport.

My honest read: fix your arrival method before you fix your beach choice, not after. Decide how you are getting there with the same certainty you apply to the sunbed booking, and the rest of the day sorts itself out far more easily than most guides suggest.

— Dany

Book your Cannes beach transfer with a fixed 2026 rate

Booking the beach is only half the plan. Transponyx handles the other half: a fixed-rate Mercedes-Benz chauffeur that gets you from Nice NCE, your hotel or Monaco to the Croisette without the parking search or the taxi-rank wait that eats into festival mornings.

The Nice NCE to Cannes run takes roughly 30 to 40 minutes outside peak congestion, and Transponyx quotes it as a fixed price confirmed at booking, with no surge pricing during the Film Festival, MIPIM or Cannes Lions. A couple heading to Bijou Plage travels comfortably in a Standard Sedan; a family of five with beach gear for a day at Ciro's or La Plage du Festival generally fits a Van 7 pax; larger groups heading to a beachside industry event during MIPCOM can take a Van 8 pax. Every booking includes 60 minutes of free airport waiting time, flight monitoring, and a bilingual licensed driver, with child seats available on request.

Reserve as early as possible for festival dates through Transponyx's Nice airport transfer page, by phone on +33 6 10 30 71 84, or by comparing options on the luxury chauffeur services guide before your next Cannes booking.

Sources

• Beach Jewel | Private Beach, Restaurant & Cocktail Bar in Cannes
• Swimming in Cannes: public beaches, private stretches and the local bays keep to themselves
• Ciro's Cannes — Le Majestic (Barrière Hotels)
• Festival Beach — Private beach and beach restaurant in Cannes

FAQ

What are the typical prices for private beaches in Cannes?

Prices vary by row and season, with front-row sunbeds costing noticeably more than second-row spots, and operators typically include a mattress, umbrella and towel in the base fee. Exact rates are set by each venue and are not published as a single fixed tariff across the Croisette.

How much does it cost to privatize a private beach?

Full-beach privatization for events or shoots requires a separate negotiation with the venue and typically carries a minimum spend well above a standard day pass, with several weeks' notice recommended in season.

How do I book a private beach in France?

Book directly through the venue's own site or by phone, such as Bijou Plage's online system or La Plage du Festival's reservations page, or ask your hotel concierge, since many properties hold direct relationships with Croisette beaches.

What does a sunbed cost at a Cannes private beach like Bijou Plage?

Individual sunbed prices are set and updated by each venue rather than published as a single Croisette-wide figure; contact Bijou Plage directly for its current day-pass rate before booking.

Is it better to book a driver than rely on taxis for beach access during festivals?

A pre-booked, fixed-rate chauffeur removes the two biggest festival-week risks, unpredictable traffic and vanished parking, which is why Transponyx confirms fares at booking with no surge pricing, unlike metered taxis competing for the same congested drop-off points.