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Cannes in May
Good month: May is at the start of the recommended season (May – June, September – October (avoid festival week unless you want the crowds)). Plan around: Cannes Film Festival: Hotel Prices Multiply. Cannes Film Festival can fall this month.
The season runs to the end of June, next month.
2 days in Cannes in May · from ₹35,657 for two
Stay, food & local travel; getting there extra
Before you book May
Closures, crowds and rules at Cannes this month.
Worth knowing
Cannes Film Festival: Hotel Prices Multiply
For twelve days in May the festival fills Cannes with film professionals; screenings are for accredited guests only. Rooms cost several times their usual price and sell out along the coast. Check the dates and plan Cannes for another week unless the festival is the point.
What’s on in May
Timing a trip around these changes what you pay and what you can book.
Cannes Film Festival
Twelve days in May. Screenings are for accredited film professionals and invited guests; the public sees the red carpet from behind the barriers and the free beach screenings. Hotels in Cannes cost several times their usual price and fill up along the coast to Nice; avoid it unless the festival is why you are going.
What it costs
For two sharing a room; 2 days on the ground, getting there not included.
Budget
₹35,657 for two
- Room a night₹11,720
- Food a day, each₹4,160
- Main sight entry, each₹1,920
Mid-range
₹72,712 for two
- Room a night₹22,370
- Food a day, each₹9,600
- Main sight entry, each₹1,920
Luxury
₹1,64,598 for two
- Room a night₹53,250
- Food a day, each₹22,400
- Main sight entry, each₹1,920
What May does to prices
- Rooms cost several times their usual price and sell out along the coast.
- Hotels in Cannes cost several times their usual price and fill up along the coast to Nice; avoid it unless the festival is why you are going.
Totals cover the room (taxes included), food, local transport, entry and a 10% buffer: the figures the planner opens on. These are typical rates; Tourisma has no month-by-month rates for France yet, so they don't move with the month.
Getting there
Fly into Nice (NCE), 26 km away
Then: Train · 36m (TER along the coast)
Flights from India: from 3 cities, one way from ₹36,000
Fly into Paris (CDG), 690 km away
Then: Flight · 4h 48m (Fly to Nice + train or express coach to Cannes)
Flights from India: from 9 cities, one way from ₹32,000
Routes compared
Entry rules
Visa needed before you fly for up to 90 days, about ₹9,590
- Apply for a Schengen short-stay (type C) visa on france-visas.gouv.fr, up to six months and at least 15 days before you fly; 4-8 weeks ahead is safest in summer and December.
- Book an appointment at a VFS Global France centre in India and go in person to give fingerprints and a photo (not needed again for 59 months). Pay the €90 visa fee (€45 for children aged 6-11, free under 6) plus VFS's service charge.
- Allow about 15 days for a decision, up to 45 in peak season. Track it online; VFS returns the passport.
- If you have used two Schengen visas lawfully in the last three years, ask for a multiple-entry visa: under the EU's cascade for Indian nationals you can get two years, then five.
- Did you study in France for at least a semester, with a master's degree or higher? Ask for France's five-year alumni short-stay visa.
- At the first Schengen border, register your fingerprints and photo in the Entry/Exit System (EES). Stay no more than 90 days in any 180 across all Schengen countries.
Carry: Passport valid at least three months beyond the day you leave the Schengen area, issued within the last ten years, with two blank pages; France-Visas application form (printed) and two recent passport photos; Return flight booking and hotel bookings (or an invitation) for the whole stay; Travel medical insurance covering at least €30,000, valid in all Schengen countries; Bank statements for the last three to six months, and recent income-tax returns; Employer's leave letter or proof of business; for students, a letter from the school; A short covering letter with your day-by-day itinerary; For children: birth certificate and both parents' consent if not travelling with both.
One Schengen visa covers France and 28 other countries, but a multi-country trip should apply through the country where you spend the most nights. Book the VFS appointment early: slots for June-August and December go weeks ahead. The ETIAS travel authorisation does not apply to visa holders.
Checked 2026-10; confirm with the embassy before you fly.
Elsewhere in France in May
Also in season this month.
- Amboise (Loire Valley) · great month
- Arles · great month
- Avignon · great month
- Bayeux (D-Day Beaches) · great month
- Carcassonne · great month
- Disneyland Paris · great month
- Honfleur & Étretat · great month
- Lourdes · great month
Nearby in Côte d'Azur (French Riviera):
Want this as a real plan?
Cannes in May, day by day, priced for your group.