A private beach with a restaurant in the middle of the Croisette, a few numbers from the Carlton, run by the same family since 2011 on the site of the old Bains Bottin. Listed here from the public record, with what we'd check before going.
Plage du Festival is a private beach with a restaurant, at 52 Boulevard de la Croisette. Its official website announces opening every day from 10am to 6pm, Mediterranean cooking served non-stop all summer, and evening service in summer only. There are loungers and mattresses on the sand, and the house also runs private events. Booking is online or by phone.
The website publishes no price for a lounger or a mattress, so we give none, and we don't repeat the ones on comparison sites. It does tell a story, though. The beach stands on the site of the Bains Bottin, presented as the first sea-bathing establishment in Cannes, built by Joseph Bottin in the 19th century. The advertising man Jean Mineur later created La Plage du Festival there, and the Courtade family has held the concession since 2011.
Our view: on a Croisette where beaches increasingly carry the name of a hotel or a group, a concession run by the same family since 2011 is a real reason to choose. It says nothing about the food, which we haven't tasted.
Number 52 puts the beach on the central stretch of the Croisette, a few numbers from the Carlton (58): the tourist office in fact places it at the foot of the palace hotel. Its direct neighbour in our notebook is the Carlton Beach Club. If you want the nearest free alternative, walk back towards the Palais as far as Plage Macé, now Plage Brigitte Bardot.
We haven't had lunch here or taken a lounger: treat this as a sourced notebook entry, not a review. The first thing to check is the hours. The official website says 10am-6pm with evenings limited to summer; the tourist office listing, updated on 20 August 2026, says open all year from 10am to midnight. We'd trust the website, and we'd call +33 4 93 39 37 37 for the date we want.
What we'd skip: turning up without a booking in July and August, and assuming dinner is served out of season. We'd also ask the price of a lounger by row before booking, since it is published nowhere on the website, and whether lunch is required to take one. One last detail from the tourist office: pets are not accepted.