What's the must-see thing in Cannes?

The ferry to Île Sainte-Marguerite leaves from the Quai Laubeuf end of Cannes' Vieux Port every 30 minutes in summer, and the crossing takes 15 minutes. Trans Côte d'Azur runs the route for about €16 return (roughly $18). The island is 3.2 kilometres long and 900 metres wide. Most visitors head straight to Fort Royal, built in the 1620s and expanded by Vauban in the 1680s. The cell where the Man in the Iron Mask was held from 1687 to 1698 is still there, a small vaulted room with one high window facing the sea. Worth noting, the fort also houses the Musée de la Mer, where Roman-era amphorae pulled from local shipwrecks sit in glass cases with the salt still crusted on them. Outside the fort, trails cut through Aleppo pine and eucalyptus. The air on a June afternoon smells resinous and warm, almost medicinal. Swimming coves line the south coast, with flat rocks heated to the point where you need sandals.

Le Suquet is the hill at the western end of the Vieux Port, and it's the only part of Cannes that existed before the 1830s when Lord Brougham turned the fishing village into a winter resort. The climb takes 10 minutes from Rue Saint-Antoine, through narrow streets where the plaster walls are that particular Provençal ochre that goes pink at sunset. At the top, the Musée de la Castre sits inside a 12th-century castle. The collection is eclectic, heavy on Pacific and pre-Columbian artifacts, and the €6 entry includes access to the square Tour du Suquet. From the tower, you look east across the entire Bay of Cannes to Cap d'Antibes. On a clear day, you can pick out the Estérel mountains turning red-brown beyond La Napoule.

La Croisette runs 2 kilometres along the bay from the Palais des Festivals to the Pointe Croisette. You'll likely walk it regardless, since most first-time hotels sit on or near it. The beach side has a problem, though. The sand is divided into private concession strips where a sunbed costs €30 to €50 per day at places like CBeach or Plage Macé. The free public sections between them are narrow and packed by 11am in summer. That said, the morning light on the water around 7am is the best thing about La Croisette, flat and silver before the parasols go up. The palm-lined sidewalk on the hotel side has better people-watching after 6pm, when the heat drops from the current 27°C to something bearable.

Skip the Palais des Festivals unless you happen to be there during the film festival in May. Outside of those 12 days, it's a beige concrete box from 1982 with a red carpet that tourists photograph themselves on. The nearby Allées de la Liberté hosts a flea market on Saturday mornings, and that's a better use of your hour. If you have a half-day, Marché Forville sits 2 blocks inland from the Vieux Port and sells socca for €3 to €4 a portion. The chickpea flatbread comes off wood-fired copper pans, too hot to hold with bare fingers. It tastes of olive oil and char. Pair it with a tapenade sample from any of the olive vendors lining the north aisle.