Hotel Riviera Francese

The fortunes of a small Provencal port on the French coast of the azure Mediterranean might have been completely different if it wasn't for a cholera outbreak in 1834. Nearly two hundred years later it's questionable whether the British Lord Chancellor who 'discovered' the town during his quarantine there did it any favours. Once a humble 10th century fishing village sliding down the slopes of the surrounding hills to cluster around a little stone harbour Cannes has become just another 'playville' for the grossly rich and famous who revel in the association with their Italianate cultural heroes - Gucci, Maserati, the Glitterati and the Paparazzi.

If people-watching isn't your thing then you're in the wrong town. In fact you're in the wrong country. If you've got money then you're probably here to be seen or to find out what everyone else is up to. If like the majority of us, the closest you get to high fashion is a pair of genuine timberland boots then you can spend your day watching how the other half live, drooling over the sports cars and leaving grubby nose prints on the enticing plate glass windows of all those designer boutiques. Happily there is a place in Cannes where you can combine all these activities into one, the Boulevard de la Croisette.