Hôtel Barrière Le Majestic – the art deco palace facing the steps

Opened in 1926 opposite what is now the Palais des Festivals, Le Majestic is the Croisette hotel closest to the red carpet. Here is the house, its 349 rooms, its Ciro's beach and Beefbar – and how to stay.

Of all the grand hotels on the Croisette, Le Majestic stands closest to the action. Its white façade looks straight across the boulevard at the steps of the Palais des Festivals, and during the film festival its forecourt, lined with palms and potted cactus, becomes one of the most photographed few metres in France.

It belongs to the Barrière group, which also owns the Normandy in Deauville and the Hôtel Fouquet's in Paris, and it has spent almost a century being two things at once: a seaside resort hotel and the backstage of an industry.

01An art deco hotel of 1926

The hotel stands on the combined plots of the old Hôtel Beau-Rivage and two neighbouring villas. Construction began in 1923 to designs by Théo Petit, the architect of the Normandy in Deauville, who drew an art deco building with a main façade and two rear wings. Only the main block and the east wing were ready when it opened in 1926; the central body was extended in 1928 by Charles Nicod and Émile Molinié, and Maurice Debenedetti redecorated the interiors.

Two storeys were added in 1965, and in 1990 the façades were rebuilt in a uniform version of their original art deco style, which is why the building looks younger than its years. It is recorded in Mérimée, France's national inventory of historic architecture.

02Rooms and suites

Le Majestic has 349 rooms, of which 80 are suites and seven are Signature Suites. The Superior rooms, at 20 square metres, look over the town; the Deluxe rooms run to 25 square metres with a city view or 30 with a partial view of the sea or the pool; and the Prestige Sea rooms reach 35 square metres facing the bay. The hotel's own promise is simple: from the sea-facing rooms, you look out over the steps of the Palais.

Insider tip

Book a sea-facing room to look out over the steps of the Palais.

03Beefbar, Ciro's and the beach

The hotel has two restaurants. Beefbar Cannes, on a terrace above the pool, serves prime beef – Wagyu Tajima A5 and Creekstone Black Angus cooked at high heat – with seafood alongside, and in summer DJ sets accompany dinner. On weekdays there is a €39 lunch formula of starter, main course and drink, outside congresses and public holidays.

Across the Croisette, on the hotel's own beach, is Ciro's Cannes, an outpost of the restaurant that has been a meeting place for Deauville's smart set since 1920. It serves seaside cooking on the sand and on a teak-decked pontoon that juts into the bay like the deck of a yacht, and from 1 November it holds a Sunday seafood brunch, the Brunch de la mer, at €85 a head. The beach also offers parasailing, waterskiing and boat trips.

Back in the hotel are a heated outdoor pool, a 450-square-metre spa working with Biologique Recherche and KOS, a fitness centre and, at Fouquet's, the bar and the breakfast room, where a buffet is served from 7.00 to 10.30.

04When to stay

Le Majestic is busiest when Cannes is: during the film festival in May and the congresses and trade fairs that fill the Palais through the year. Outside those weeks the Croisette is calmer and the hotel easier to book. If the beach matters to you, note its closures in 2027: from 8 February to 21 March, and from 18 to 26 June.

For a weekend. For a lifetime.