Cannes Day Trips: Grasse Perfumes, Picasso Villages & the Esterel
Explore the spectacular hinterland beyond Cannes—tour perfume factories in Grasse, walk Picasso's hilltop villages of Mougins and Vallauris, hike the crimson Esterel cliffs into the sea, and take coastal trains to Monaco and Nice along the most glamorous railway in Europe.
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Grasse – Perfume Capital of the World
Perched 400 metres above the Riviera, 17 km north of Cannes, Grasse has been the world capital of perfume since the 16th century. The Fragonard, Galimard, and Molinard perfume houses offer free factory tours showing how jasmine, rose de mai, tuberose, and mimosa are transformed into fragrance. The Musée International de la Parfumerie traces 4,000 years of scent history.
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Mougins – Village of Art & Gastronomy
The hilltop village of Mougins, 6 km north of Cannes, was home to Picasso for the last 12 years of his life—he died here in 1973. The village has reinvented itself as a hub of art galleries and fine dining; the Musée d'Art Classique de Mougins places Greek antiquities alongside Warhol and Hirst. The annual Mougins Festival of Gastronomy draws celebrity chefs each September.
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Vallauris – Picasso's Ceramics Town
Picasso rediscovered ceramics in Vallauris from 1947 to 1955, reviving the town's moribund pottery industry and creating over 4,000 ceramic works here. The Musée National Picasso 'La Guerre et la Paix' houses his large-scale painted chapel murals on the theme of war and peace. The town's main street remains lined with ceramic studios and galleries.
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Mandelieu-la-Napoule & Mimosa Festival
The resort of Mandelieu-la-Napoule immediately west of Cannes built the Château de la Napoule—a medieval castle transformed in 1918 by American sculptor Henry Clews into a Neo-Gothic fantasy of his own mythopoetic art. Each February, the town hosts the Fête du Mimosa—the world's largest mimosa festival, when cascades of yellow blossom parade through the streets.
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Cannes Hinterland Hiking & Esterel Massif
The red porphyry Massif de l'Esterel rises immediately west of Cannes, its dramatic crimson cliffs plunging into the deep blue sea. A coastal walk from the Corniche de l'Esterel between Saint-Raphaël and Cannes ranks among the most spectacular in France. Inland hiking trails cross the massif's ridges through cork oak and pine forest with constant views of the Mediterranean.
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Monaco & Nice as Day Trips from Cannes
Cannes sits perfectly between Monaco (55 km east, 35 min by train) and Nice (33 km east, 35 min by train). Day trips to Monaco's Casino, Palais Princier, and Oceanographic Museum, or Nice's old town markets and Matisse Museum, can easily be combined with a Cannes base. The Côte d'Azur rail pass covers all coastal stops between Marseille and the Italian border.