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The old town, known as Le Suquet after the hill on which it stands, provides a great panorama of the twelve-kilometre beach, and has, on its summit, the remains of the fortified priory lived in by Cannes' eleventh-century monks and the beautiful twelfth-century chapelle Ste-Anne. These house the Musée de la Castre (daily except Tues: April-June 10am-noon & 2-6pm; July-Sept 10am-noon & 3-7pm; Oct-March 10am-noon & 2-5pm; €1.53), which has an extraordinary collection of musical instruments from all over the world, along with pictures and prints of old Cannes and an ethnology and archeology section.

You'll find non-paying beaches to the west of Le Suquet, along the plages du Midi and just east of the Palais des Festivals. But the sight to see is La Croisette, the long boulevard along the seafront, with its palace hotels on one side and private beaches on the other. It is possible to find your way down to the beach without paying, but not easy (you can of course walk along it below the rows of sun beds). The beaches, owned by the deluxe palais-hôtels - the Majestic, Carlton and Noga Hilton - are where you're most likely to spot a face familiar in celluloid or a topless hopeful, especially during the film festival, though you'll be lucky to see further than the sweating backs of the paparazzi. At the quays at the end of La Croisette and the Vieux Port, you'll find millionaires eating their meals served by white-frocked crew on their yacht decks, feigning oblivion of landborne spectators a crumb's flick away. As an alternative to the dubious entertainment of watching langoustines disappear down overfed mouths, you can buy your own food in the Forville covered market two blocks behind the Mairie, or wander through the day's flower shipments on the allées de la Liberté, just back from the Vieux Port.