Everything from the 78th Cannes Film Festival, which will be held from May 13th to 24th, 2025, is practical.
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The Cannes Film Festival is a two-week cinephile heaven, with celebrities, actors and directors rub shoulders with reviewers and money people. Over the last two weeks, many films have been featured by distributors. If you are planning on attending, check out our brief guide to help you navigate the festival with ease.
What is the Cannes Film Festival? Why is it special?
The first idea of the Cannes Film Festival emerged at the outbreak of World War II in 1939, but Hitler and Mussolini refused to participate, and it was not possible for Europe to head for war soon.
Diplomat Philip Arranger revived the idea in 1945, but the town lacked sufficient public funds due to wartime devastation, and the first festival began in 1946 when the city raised funds through public subscriptions. The central idea was to support the film without political pressure or constraints.
Despite some censorship issues during the Cold War of the 1950s, by the turn of the 1960s, Cannes had firmly decided to adopt the idea that “the quality of films in films had outperformed diplomatic considerations.”
Cannes is a festival that has shown creative films such as La Hayne, Parasite, Piano, Sex Lies, Videotapes and more recently Fall Anatomy.
Common pitfalls to avoid at the Cannes Film Festival
Many of Paris' Summer Olympics travel advice remains effective to ensure the smoothest possible trip.
Some words will go a long way before asking what you need. The political word in French is bonjar. All conversations are good when they start with some fun things. It is the oral equivalent of apértif before you start entreating. This may be a surprise to travelers, where not all restaurants photograph credit cards in France. Therefore, it is wise to carry a little cash. There are ATMs everywhere, so use a travel credit card that is suitable for your drawer. Meal times are primarily observed when you miss a beaten track (as a rule, lunch starts from 12pm to 2pm and dinner starts from 7pm). The tip is highly appreciated, but is not as expected in the US or any other country. Due to the minimum wage law, servers are paid, taxi drivers and hotel staff don't expect tips, but people always appreciate it. When you're having a nice meal, you can leave a little more left or roll it up to the nearest five or ten in the restaurant. Sunscreen seems obvious, but in Cannes it can get hot, so travel with water bottles that can be constantly refilled to see people to see creams and hats. Here you can find a map of refillable water stations in Cannes.
Visiting the Cannes Film Festival from the US – EES and ETIAS requirements
Travelers are not required to obtain a visa if their stay is less than 90 days and future ETIAS and EES systems are not yet in place. The Entry and Exit System, the new biometric passport system originally scheduled for November 2025, is expected for October 2025. ETIAS is a new travel approval that many visitors, including US visitors, require as well as the US ESTA and UK ETA travel permit schemes. The new date for EU countries to deploy ETIAS is believed to be in the third quarter of 2026.
Entering and leaving the Cannes Film Festival
Nice-Cote d'Azur Airport is about 25 km away from Cannes Centre and has 81 bus routes operated by Zou, and takes around 45 minutes and costs around $25.
Or, taking a train from many international train stations, the train from Nicevilles Station to Cannes costs around 40 minutes, and a one-way trip costs around $8.
Sometimes you can get a much cheaper bus ride at Blabracar, a French bus and car sharing company.
Visiting the Cannes Film Festival
Cannes is not a big geographical location (its reputation is much larger). During the festival, much of the action lies around the famous Croisette and Lepalais, where major screenings take place. Unless you're lucky enough to get tickets to one of the many meetings and parties on the water.
This means that while most visitors can easily explore Cannes on foot, the Palm Bus Service covers the entire city and its suburbs (here you can find English sites), running on 30 bus lines and five nights. Taxi is another possibility, and Uber is also operated in town, but it may be better to walk if traffic is backed up.
What to do at Cannes at the Cannes Film Festival?
Cannes does not have many museums, art galleries or important buildings. The ideal entertainment is to incorporate the atmosphere and see famous and wealthy visitors and locals passing the world, especially throughout Cannes.
Visit the Hotel Carlton, which Alfred Hitchcock photographed to catch a thief in the 1950s, visit the foodie heaven in Marcheforville and walk along the cobblestone streets of Rusketo, the old Roman town of Cannes. Visit Picasso's 23 paintings and 44 paintings bequeathed to Cannes after six months at Chateau Grimaldi in 1946.
There is a prison home that is not in the prison where a man once housed in an iron mask. Or, on another boat (no boat to go to both islands for a round-trip), on the small island of Saint Honorat, to the abbey founded by the hermit of 410CE, where the monks owned most of the Cannes. Today, resident monks still make wine under the vow of silence, and the island is attractively carless.
In La Croisette, the famous seaside esplanade in Cannes, everyone can see whether they sit in chairs on the iconic free Blue Beach or walk up and down two kilometers. Enjoy a drink at Le Vieux Harbor and watch the gorgeous yachts come and go in one of the waterside bars and cafes. Or head to a free beach like Plage du Midi. There you will be able to sit on the sand or hire a very stylish sunrounger on the private beach at Hotel Barierre Le Majestic.
If you can't get tickets to Lepalais, you can stay on the beach and shoot a film at public outdoor screenings (Cinema de la plage) throughout the festival. Perfect for a sunset picnic.
Which films are on display at the Cannes Film Festival?
This year, Juliet Binoce leads a ju judge, including Halle Berry and famous French and Moroccan author Leila Slimani. Tom Cruise arrives to promote Mission Impossible. The final calculation, Robert De Niro, will be picked up 50 years after the taxi driver wins at Cannes and Paul Mezcal arrives with Josh O'Connor to promote the history of the sound.
You can find the official lineup of here and where it is on the Cannes schedule.
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