The bass reaches you before the boat does. It travels over the water, low and patient, from somewhere out past the buoys where the yachts sit at anchor with their decks lit gold.
May, in Cannes, and the town has changed its hours. Dinner is a rumour until ten. The real evening begins after the last screening lets out, when the tuxedos spill onto the Croisette and the palms go dark against a sky that refuses to.
I have spent enough festivals here to know that the nightlife is the part nobody tells you the truth about. So let me. For the full picture of the fortnight, start with Victoria’s Guide to the Cannes Film Festival. What follows is only the dark half of it.
The amfAR Gala at the Hôtel du Cap-Eden-Roc
There is one night that stands apart from all the others, and it is not held in Cannes at all.
The amfAR Cinema Against AIDS Gala takes place at the Hôtel du Cap-Eden-Roc, on the pine-shadowed tip of Cap d’Antibes, a short drive along the coast. For one evening in the middle of the festival, it becomes the most coveted address on the Riviera.
It is a charity gala first. A dinner under the trees, a fashion show, an auction where sums are called out that could fund a small film. The money goes to AIDS research, which is worth remembering when the guest list reads like a call sheet.
You do not buy your way in casually. Tables run to figures that make you pause, and even then attendance is arranged rather than purchased. It is the night everyone means when they say they were invited to something. Most people, myself included in most years, watch it pass and are glad it exists.
The Yachts off the Croisette and in the Vieux Port
The harbour is where the festival keeps its secrets.
In the Vieux Port, the yachts moor stern to the quay, close enough to read the names on their hulls. Off the Croisette, the larger ones lie further out, tenders ferrying guests across the black water all night. A brand takes one, a studio another. Somewhere a distributor is closing a deal on a foredeck while a party continues two boats down.
These are the parties people whisper about, and they are almost entirely closed. A yacht is a private world with a gangway for a door, and the person at the top of it knows exactly who is expected. I have written more fully about that ecosystem in The Yacht Scene at the Cannes Film Festival, because it deserves its own account.
Nikki Beach and the Beach-Club Hours
By day the beach clubs are lunch and linen. By festival night they are something else.
Nikki Beach sets up for the fortnight and becomes one of the more visible nerve centres of the after-hours scene, white daybeds cleared for dancing, the sand cool underfoot once the sun has gone. There are themed nights, film-tied parties, the occasional face you recognise moving through with a discretion that fools no one.
Some of these evenings sell tickets. Many do not, being tied to a film or a sponsor and guarded accordingly. The trick, if there is one, is to know which is which before you arrive dressed for a door that will not open. A single flute of something cold, and then the long warm hours of music and sea air.
Dress matters more here than the uninitiated expect. If you are unsure what that means after dark, I keep a whole piece on it: What to Wear to the Cannes Film Festival.
The Late Clubs and the Hotel Bars
When the beach empties, the town turns inward.
Over the years, the late clubs have carried different names. Gotha held the crown for a long spell, and others have risen and closed in the way that nightlife does. What stays constant is the rhythm: the club fills near two, thins near five, and the last guests walk home along the Croisette as the street cleaners begin.
The hotel bars are the steadier bet. The Carlton, the Martinez, the Majestic. Their terraces run late, and while you will not always get in without a name or a reservation, they are more porous than a yacht and more forgiving than a gala. A good deal of the real festival happens at these tables, quietly, between two people who understand each other.
The Honest Part: Almost Everything Is Invitation-Only
Here is the truth the brochures leave out.
Almost everything worth attending is invitation-only. The premieres, the gala, the best of the yacht evenings, the film-tied parties, all of it moves along lines of industry and brand and long acquaintance. There is no ticket booth for the night you are dreaming of.
This is not meant to discourage. It is meant to spare you the sadness of standing at a rope in a gown, certain there has been a mistake. There has not. The system is simply closed, and knowing that is the beginning of moving through it well.
What you can do is real. Book a terrace table early. Cultivate the one contact who works in the industry. Accept the smaller invitation and let it lead to the larger one. On the nights you are outside, be outside beautifully, on the Croisette after dark, where the whole town is a party you are already attending.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I attend the amfAR Gala without an invitation?
Not in any ordinary sense. The gala is by invitation and by table, and even the paid tables are allocated rather than sold openly. Access tends to come through the film industry, through amfAR itself, or through the sponsors who host guests. If you do not already have a route in, the honest answer is that this is the one night you admire from afar, and there is no shame in that.
How do people get onto the yacht parties?
Through the people who chartered the boat. Each yacht is taken for the festival by a brand, a studio, a distributor, or a private host, and the guest list is theirs alone. There is no general entry and no line to join. An invitation arrives because you are known to someone aboard. The way in is patience and the right acquaintance, not persistence at the gangway.
Is there anything open to visitors without connections?
Yes, more than the mythology suggests. Some beach-club nights sell tickets. The hotel bars along the Croisette will often seat you if you book ahead and dress for it. The town itself, the harbour walk, the terraces, the long lit evenings, belong to everyone. You will not be inside every closed door, but you will be inside the atmosphere.
When exactly is the festival in 2026?
The 79th Cannes Film Festival runs from 12 to 23 May 2026, on the Côte d’Azur. The nightlife peaks in the middle weekend, when the amfAR Gala falls, and the yachts are at their fullest. If you are planning around the parties, aim for the centre of the fortnight.
V.
Read also: Victoria’s Guide to the Cannes Film Festival
