Cannes by boat, and the islands off it.

Cannes is the western end of the coast and the gateway to the two islands most visitors never quite reach. The ferries to the Lérins run to a timetable and land you on a jetty; a private boat lands you in the strait between the islands, which is the point of going. This is what a Cannes boat tour looks like when you are the only people on the boat.

The Croisette from the water

Boats leave from the Quai Saint-Pierre in the Vieux Port, under the Palais des Festivals. Coming out of the harbour you have the whole Croisette on your left, the pale hotels and the pines, the Palm Beach casino on the point, and then the bay opens and the islands are already there, low and green, twenty minutes ahead.

Sainte-Marguerite and Saint-Honorat

Sainte-Marguerite is the larger island, wooded from shore to shore, with the Fort Royal on its northern side where the Man in the Iron Mask was held. Saint-Honorat, beyond it, has been a monastery island for sixteen centuries; the monks still make wine there, and the abbey rises straight out of banded turquoise water. The strait between the two, the Plateau du Milieu, is the anchorage: shallow, sandy-bottomed and the colour of a swimming pool.

You anchor where you like and stay as long as you like. Swim, snorkel the shallows, take the tender ashore to walk the abbey or the fort, and come back to a boat that has not moved.

Lunch at La Guérite, or aboard

La Guérite sits under the pines on the Sainte-Marguerite side of the strait, and a table there with the tender waiting is the classic Cannes boat day. The crew hold the table when you book. The alternative most guests choose the second time is lunch laid on the aft deck at anchor, with the islands either side and nobody else’s music.

Beyond the islands

A full day from Cannes has time for more. West is the Estérel, the red porphyry cliffs dropping straight into deep green water, with coves at Théoule and Agay that the road never reaches. East is the Cap d’Antibes, forty minutes on, with the Baie des Milliardaires on its far side. A day that does the islands in the morning and the Estérel in the afternoon is one of the best on the coast.

What a Cannes boat tour costs

From €1,400 a day for the boat, plus the captain at €350 and fuel at cost for the route. A Lérins day uses very little fuel: the islands are twenty minutes off the beach. A four-hour half day starts from €850 and is plenty for the islands, a swim and lunch. In festival week and during the Grand Prix the water is the one quiet place in town, and those days go first.