I went to the Cannes film festival with a daily budget of £ 30 – this is what happened

Cannes in May is a star -studded circus, filled with gills with black tie galas, the premiere of the red carpet and a cruise ship.

The world famous film festival is also two weeks the busiest a year for a film journalist, rubbing the elbow with celebrities but undergoing a very different experience: dragging laptops throughout the city, planning a nap and restless because of the decreasing bank balance.

During the festival, work days often stretches more than 16 hours – this is my third year in the trench. I eat while traveling, where and when I can.

My priority is to capture as many playback as possible for hours, but the second is to maintain low costs – around £ 30 per day – in a city known as luxury and luxury.

Hollywood and Riviera France are mixtures of decaden and elitists. This year’s festival watched people like Jennifer Lawrence, Robert de Niro, Dakota Johnson, Robert Pattinson, Denzel Washington, Rihanna, Leonardo DiCaprio and Paul Mescal Roll in.

I was in the city of Champagne with a fanta budget – but we did what we had to do.

Smooth start

I started my journey with Easyjet flights that were sold out from Gatwick to Nice, the nearest main airport to Cannes. This goes without obstacles – we even arrived a little earlier.

For the first time, the bus I needed to catch the remaining 33 km with my arrival. There was no transfer of driver for me – even though the journalist who worked to get a voucher that covered the cost of this coach’s trip, so I didn’t complain.

As soon as I was in Cannes, I traveled almost everywhere, except when I took a local bus to the cinema complex that was used to play with veins, this was free for an accredited press. We will not talk about what Uber or Bolt will collect you for the same trip if you misinterpret the schedule.

The film festival took place mostly at the Palais DES Festival complex along the cannes sea seasks, next to the port, of which around 40,000 head and press industries fell for two weeks each May.

Tricks that are tried and tested

Tourism traps highlight strips, and often Panini from one of them is everything I have time. This made me back € 6.50 (£ 5.47), which was not too offensive.

However, if you go some way back from Croisette, the bread is fresher, the ingredients are better, and the price is the same.

To reduce costs, I refuel with free drinks, including coffee and cold soft drinks, available at Palais. In a few days, I took the free coke coke from the roof of the journalist, even if I had to make a special circular road for it.

When the restaurant will easily fill you € 5 (£ 4.21) for the same thing – and for mineral water when you definitely ask for a tap – this and bring my bottle to the fountain is my most reliable hacking.

I hope to load the canape that is presented at parties, the method that has been tried and tested for entertainment journalists who try to adjust everything to their rhythm (and also eating). This is not used to plan at One Villa Bash, where I grimaced through some of the most without flavors that I had put in my mouth.

So, long after midnight, I switched to fast food fast food that is always reliable, can always be relegated with friends. Even in Cannes.

Expensive taste

However, the party does it always come with free liquor. However, on my first night, after starting at 4 in the morning, I paid a glass of taittinger at the Italian Caffe at Jean Hibert BLD. Yes, this is indeed flying in front of the ‘budget’, but also € 10 (£ 8.42) glasses – something that I have never seen in England, so we will say it’s cheap if there is nothing else.

And when I returned to this restaurant towards the end I stayed, I lowered a glass of Prosecco and saved € 4 (£ 3.37).

For most of my trips to Cannes, I have access to the kitchen in the studio where I live in Le Suquet, the old quarter and the far side of the cannes to the luxurious strip of luxury celebrities haunts such as Carlton Cannes and Hôtel Martinez.

This means I can go to Aldi to take breakfast and snacks, such as fruit, milk, cereal, chips, to keep me walking for the first few days.

Worthy, not surprising, also makes space in your budget for a bakery in Cannes, especially for the pain of Au Chocolat. They are not very cheap at a price of more than € 2 (£ 1.68), but they are commensurate – plus, they are easily ridiculed while standing in the queue for film screenings.

The last few nights I have been spent at Bang Ibis at the center of Cannes, which is calm and also presents a very varied breakfast buffet. The cakes included are the quality of bread and arrange me well to push the last days of the festival.

Budget Buster

During the festival I have to have accommodation, and carefully planning steps in a strict schedule. Fortunately, I was able to drop my luggage at Ibis Cannes Center before checking -in.

I gave my appreciation with € 2.40 (£ 2.02) Pain of Au Chocolat on the way to Palais for a press conference with Paul Mescal.

After asking a question about the new film The History of Sound that became viral, I jumped into work, only appeared for lunch before 4 pm.

This is one of the Panini stand days, which I have time, so € 7 (£ 5.89) again when I spoil myself with luxury ham with cheese and tomatoes. I’m still walking back to print my free canned drinks.

But this is where the wheels start to fall.

After returning to the hotel, I found myself persuaded to a Patisserie for drinking dinner and éclair – turning on some more jobs – before dinner.

This finally happened after 10 pm, and because I am now in the unknown Cannes, I just want an open place that looks good. It produced € 24 (£ 20.20) Spaghetti Alle Vongole was accompanied by a prosecco glass of € 8 (£ 6.73) in Da Tina 33 Cannes.

Total expenditure = € 46.40 (£ 39.06). Regret = zero.

Can you be able, cheap?

Cannes will not be a cheap destination.

The glamorous reputation preceded it, so my best suggestion is to spend a little extra time to walk further than Palais to find the best quality food and liquor. Up Rue Saint-Antoine’s Cobblestones further to Le Suquet is a good place to start.

Pizza from Tredici, for example, is worthy of stretching a budget for (from € 14-32, £ 11.78-26.94)-and the best recommendations, from friends, commensurate with weight in gold.

Hotel costs soared during the festival – up to six times their usual price, I note – so if you are not interested in absorbing the cinematic atmosphere, directing and visiting at other times other years.

But if you want to have fun in the A-List atmosphere, where anyone can walk past you (I accidentally almost collided with Harrison Ford and Phoebe Waller-Bridge for one year), order earlier-Pra-Pratal.

And, of course, sniffing Champagnes € 10 where you can.

Budget options for your trip to Cannes

Easyjet flew from London Gatwick to Nice for up to seven days a week throughout the year, with prices starting at £ 34.99 PP (one direction, including tax).

The double room in Ibis Cannes Center starts at £ 68 per night. Ordering tourists can now enjoy a 25% discount for Accor summer sales.

Message on June 11, 2025 for a minimum residence of three nights between July 4 and 7 September 2025. Members of the Global Global Accor Loyalty program who are free to join-accor live limitless can save up to 10% additional on their order.

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