Miramar Plage

Miramar sits at the eastern end of the Croisette, on the maintained sand that Cannes rakes flat every morning, with the Lerins islands sitting low on the horizon and the Esterel hills going pink behind the bay at the end of the afternoon. The water here is calm and shallow for a good stretch, protected enough that swimming is easy for weak swimmers, and a qualified lifeguard is on duty from April through October. The set-up splits in two. There are rows of sunbeds on the sand, and there is a raised private pontoon running out over the water, where the loungers get the breeze and an uninterrupted view back along the seafront. The pontoon places are the ones people ask for, and they are priced separately. Food leans on theatre as much as ingredients: a raw bar, whole fish, meat finished with a flame at the table, and a wine list running to several hundred references. What genuinely sets Miramar apart from its Croisette neighbours is that it does not stop at sunset. Dinner service runs through the summer with DJ sets and live performances, and the place stays open until midnight, so a beach day can roll straight into a night out without moving. Outside the summer months it reverts to daytime service only, but unusually for Cannes it stays open all year.