For our few days at the Côte d’Azur we elected to stay in the Holiday Inn of Cannes. It is located outside of the town centre near the Cannes La Bocca railway station. The area around the hotel is mostly residential with very few restaurants and shops close by, you can walk to the town centre on foot following the beachside road in about 20 minutes where you have a bigger offering. The Holiday Inn itself is located in 1 wing of an older residential building, but has been thoroughly refurbished. The lobby area is designed in a modern and inviting style and the friendly staff behind the desk quickly issued me my room keys, WiFi-code and other information.

The Room

As an IHG Rewards club Platinum member I was upgraded to an executive room on the top level of the building, with a magnificent overview of the hotel pool and garden, the railway line and of course the Mediterranean Sea. The room itself was rather small, but as square meters in Cannes are really expensive this was to be expected. In the middle of the room you had a bog and comfortable king-size bed, opposite the bed at the other wall you have a small desk area and a smart TV. What bothered me in this hotel was the absence of a printed room directory, you had to look everything up using the smart TV functions of the TV that was frustratingly slow. In the entrance corridor you had a big closet at one side, where also the tea and coffee facilities, iron and ironing board, safe and minibar are located. In this executive room the content of the minibar was complimentary, but as there were only two bottles of still water, a one can of Coke, Sprite and apple juice each as well as a Twix bar inside it wasn’t really a generous offering.

The bathroom was located at the other side of the entrance corridor, offering big washbasin with plenty of storage space at one side and a bathtub/shower combination on the other side. The toilet was located in a separate small room in between the bathroom and the room entrance door. As the footprint of the entire room was really small, the bathroom and toilet itself were also of the minimal required size. The style and decoration of the rooms however was in a nice modern and inviting style.

The restaurant

Breakfast was only served from 7:30 AM onwards, but the hot dishes where only offered as from 8:00 AM. The breakfast offering had a quite generous offering of sweet items like pastries, muffins, waffles and pancakes (all very delicious and of a good quality) but there where much less savoury options available. On the second morning we had to catch an early train at 8:00 so as the 7:30 breakfast start time was too late we kindly asked the front desk whether we could have an earlier breakfast, unfortunately they could not help us in that matter and referred to the restaurant staff to make arrangements. The lady in charge of the breakfast was clearly not amused and did not want to make any gestures towards us to provide a basic earlier breakfast, she only said that they start working at 6:30 and that perhaps some things might be available before 7:30. As we arrived the next morning at 7:00 we could have some yoghurt and hot drinks as that where the only things available.

On the second night at the hotel we also went for dinner in the restaurant (due to lack of other options in the area) , luckily the staff in the evening was much friendlier and provided us with a tasteful and pleasant dining experience. We chose a beef dish with gratin potatoes accompanied by a glass of white wine while dining with a view over the sea.

The pool

The hotel provided an open-air pool in the hotel garden, unfortunately it was an unheated pool so by the time we got to the hotel both days in the early evening in late September the sun was gone from the garden and the water too cold to take a swim. I can imagine that the pool area with the loungers around it can be very pleasant to spend a sunny summer day at however. Towels are provided by the hotel at the pool, so you do not need to bring your own.

With the exception of the breakfast incident our stay in the Holiday Inn Cannes was pleasant. You can clearly see that the hotel is catered mostly towards holidaymakers staying there for a longer period of time, getting up later in the morning and relaxing by the pool. If that is your kind of holiday then this hotel is most likely to your taste, if you want to use it as a base to explore the Côte d’Azur it might however be less appealing.