Ouch.
Cannes has been voted Number 10 place in the list of 2015’s unfriendliest cities of the world as rated by a Readers’ Choice Awards survey by Condé Nast Traveler (and in 2014 they did not fare much better; they claimed Number 2 spot of global unfriendly cities).
What did readers say about Cannes?
- Bloated simply by the prestige of its famed film festival
- Lots of lovely yachts and fancy hotels, but filled with very wealthy, thin snobby people
- A tad rude
- Cosmopolitan but too much glitz
- Get out of town to find secret quiet places nearby
- Ask for prices if they aren’t listed on menus. We ordered a two-pound lobster, which we shared, and the bill was €240. It must have been made of solid gold!
Not exactly a glowing reference for regional tourism – which I might add is not down to my sterling efforts 🙂
I love Cannes so I’m wondering who actually voted in this survey. Yes, there are snobby people and wait staff in Cannes – but there are in every city. Paris has been labelled previously as having ‘dirty streets and rude people’ and Marseille as ‘a hotbed of crime and gang shootings’ so Cannes is not alone in the occasional lack of global love shown for French cities.
So, to show my support for the Cannes I know (and love) – the Cannes where the sunset over the Esterels seems to last forever some days, where the vendors at Marché Forville animatedly talk about their fruit harvest, where the ice cream along the Croisette tastes the best in summer etc – here is my open letter to Cannes to prove this city has a glass that’s half full, not half empty.
Access Riviera 