Cannes' year compresses into about ten weeks of high demand and forty of considered availability — most clients are looking at the wrong half. The Cannes Festival in May and the Cannes Yachting Festival in early September pull the largest fleet and the highest rates of the European year. The rest of the season is the quieter, more reliable one.
The town is the western anchor of the Côte d'Azur and the principal year-round charter port between Monaco and Saint-Tropez. From the brokerage desk the question is rarely whether to charter in Cannes — it is when, and out of which port.
The two ports of Cannes
Cannes operates two charter harbours: the Vieux Port and Port Pierre Canto. The Vieux Port sits at the centre of the old town, walking distance to the Croisette and the Palais des Festivals. It is the smaller of the two harbours and the more demanded; berthing is held by long-term residents and by the season's incoming charter fleet.
Port Pierre Canto, ten minutes east, is the superyacht facility. Deep-water berthing, less foot traffic, and the operational space that larger yachts need. Most charters above 40 metres embark here.
The choice is operational. Day charters and shorter weeks favour the Vieux Port for proximity to the Croisette and to the town's restaurants. Longer charters with a higher-spec yacht favour Port Pierre Canto for the embarkation flow.
Anchorages and day routes — the Lérins, Cap d'Antibes
The cruising from Cannes is short-range and route-flexible. The Lérins islands sit a fifteen-minute tender from the Vieux Port — Sainte-Marguerite and Saint-Honorat are the principal anchorages. Sheltered swimming, restaurant-on-island lunches at the Sainte-Marguerite quayside, and the option to anchor on either side of the islands depending on the wind.
Cap d'Antibes is a half-hour cruise east. The protected anchorages along the cap, the village of Antibes itself, and the route through to Juan-les-Pins all fit into a day. The longer day route extends to Saint-Tropez — about three hours under way — and back; this is the canonical Cannes-led Riviera day.
Most weekly charters from Cannes route the western Riviera arc — Cannes, Cap d'Antibes, Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, Villefranche, Monaco — over five to seven nights, with the Lérins as the day-one anchorage and the return through the same ports on the way west.
Cannes' two big weeks — Festival and Yachting Festival
The Cannes Festival runs roughly 14–25 May. The Cannes Yachting Festival follows in early September. Both pull the largest fleet of the year through Vieux Port and Port Pierre Canto; both run rates materially above the standard Riviera weekly figure.
Festival week is the more demanded of the two for charter. The yacht serves as private accommodation, evening hospitality venue, and the route between the harbour and the Croisette. We have placed charters during Festival week as late as six weeks out — but the available yachts at that point are not the available yachts twelve months earlier.
The Cannes Yachting Festival is more broker-side than principal-side. It closes the western Mediterranean season formally, and the yachts that have spent the summer in Italian and Spanish waters return for the show before repositioning west or south for the winter.
The shoulder months
June, July (excluding mid-August), and late September consistently deliver the best Cannes charters of the year. The weather is reliable, the Lérins anchorages are uncrowded, and the international fleet is densely available. Most of our weekly charters from Cannes are booked in this window.
The deeper shoulders — early June, the last week of September — are the most operationally flexible. Anchorages are nearly empty, the harbour traffic is light, and the rate sometimes softens off the August peak figure. For clients who want the Côte d'Azur without the August density, these are the weeks to brief.
What the published rate sheets do not capture is that Cannes' calendar runs in two simultaneous tracks — the event-driven track and the cruising-driven track. They overlap only twice. Brief for the track you actually want.
