Discover What’s New in Cannes This Summer

The Côte d’Azur is undergoing a Renaissance as its glamorous seaside towns get a spruce-up in time for high season. One of the Riviera’s gems, Cannes is stepping out of its somewhat sleepy shell and sprinkling much-welcome glitz throughout La Croisette with the revival of its iconic Casino Royal Palm, a handful of new design-driven restaurants, and freshly opened, destination-worthy beach bars. While the seaside city will always reign as one of the South of France’s most lavish locales, this year Cannes is shining even brighter thanks to these haute new happenings. 

1. Casino Royal Palm Is Revived to its 1920s Glory

One of the final touches of the rebirth of Palm Beach Cannes, the French Riviera’s first true members’ club on the Pointe Croisette, the Casino Royal Palm is infusing Roaring Twenties elegance into the historic building’s Moorish bones. Blending touches of Art Deco with the nostalgia of early cinema, the apricot-toned casino is a modernized take on the century-old space that once attracted the society set, royals, and some of Hollywood’s biggest names, like Marlene Dietrich and Cary Grant. 

Pastel drawings of gaming scenes inspired by Italian artist Israel Rubinstein swirl on the frescoed ceilings, while champagne and craft cocktails flow from the statement-making grand marble bar. Bespoke French oak chairs encase geometric, custom-crafted gaming tables, creating a scene straight out of a James Bond film. Keeping with the theme, the dress code encourages old-world glamour (think suits or tuxedos and gowns or cocktail dresses), which is accentuated by the music streaming from the grand piano.

2. Il Grande Brings Felliniesque Charm to Palm Beach

Joining Palm Beach Cannes’s impressive roster of restaurants, which includes La Petite Maison, Nammos, and Zuma, Italian eatery Il Grande Palm Beach pays homage to the indulgence of 1960s Italy. Franco-Mexican architect Hugo Toro, behind the design of Le Mas Candille in nearby Mougins, played with light and verticality to accentuate Palm Beach’s historic dome, suspended nearly 23 feet above the dining room. “Guests are immersed in a glamorous, cinematic universe where various styles from the 1930s to 1990s converge,” Toro tells Galerie. The statement-making, cathedral-like concrete bar extends to the soaring ceiling, adding a touch of contemporary Brutalism to the striking space lined with scarlet marble, retro jacquard patterns, and elegant Murano chandeliers. The mezzanine is inspired to feel like a grand theater, while the terrace allows the focus to be solely on the food—classics like cacio e pepe and lobster pasta—and sweeping views of the bay and Lérins Islands.

3. Hôtel Martinez Unveils Vinyl Speakeasy Martinez Bar

Following the recent renovation and redesign of iconic restaurant La Palme d’Or, which hosts the annual Cannes Film Festival Jury Dinner and earned a Michelin star less than a year after reopening, Art Deco grande dame Hôtel Martinez’s new vinyl speakeasy is poised to be one of the Croisette’s hottest cocktail bars this summer. Designed by top yacht interior designer Rémi Tessier, also behind the new look of La Palme d’Or, the retro-inspired Martinez Bar is crowned with gold leaf-framed red glass ceilings and columns housing built-in speakers that are clad in moire fabric, mirror and glass.

Chef Jean Imbert is behind the menu of sharing plates like crispy langoustine and “caviar caviar,” a blend of imperial golden caviar with aubergine dip, as well as the soundtrack, curated by one of his favorite New York record shops. Expect a cocktail menu of revamped classics that nod to the bar’s 1930s aesthetic and resemble the soundtrack playing during live DJ sets.

4. Deauville’s Le Ciro’s Lands at Hôtel Barrière Le Majestic 

Le Ciro’s, the iconic fish restaurant that has been the go-to for Deauville’s society set since the 1920s—and a favorite of everyone from Yves Saint Laurent to Catherine Deneuve—is descending on the Croisette this summer at Hôtel Barrière Le Majestic’s beach club. Jordane Arrivetz looked to the Riviera’s yachting lifestyle when designing the nautical-inspired seaside restaurant, where the wood decking mimics the same found on a Riva boat. Chef Gabriella Stocker, who cut her teeth at Michelin-starred restaurants in Madrid and London, is behind the menu of locally-inspired dishes like whole fish sourced from the daily fish auction and bouillabaisse, as well as beach staples like lobster rolls and Caesar salad.

5. Caprini & Pellerin Debuts Its Contemporary Showroom-Gallery

Coinciding with the Cannes Film Festival, Caprini & Pellerin, the Cannes-based architecture and design firm responsible for the restoration of Palm Beach Cannes, recently unveiled its new ground-floor gallery space near the city’s central shopping street, rue d’Antibes. Showcasing a mix of pieces that speak to the agency’s architectural projects and collaborations, the space spotlights limited editions, one-off pieces, and custom-crafted works of art in collaboration with Caprini & Pellerin’s roster of artists and craftspeople. 

Partnering with Saint-Paul-de-Vence-based Podgorny Gallery, the immersive inaugural exhibition, “Drive and Drape: Dante’s galaxy salon,” spotlights Emmanuelle Luciani, founder of Southway Studio and Pavillon Southway in Marseille. Designed to feel like a “futuristic collector’s cabinet,” the month-long show blends decorative art and contemporary sculptures, sprinkling in neoclassical- and mechanical-inspired pieces by design duo Bella Hunt & DDC.