CANNES YACHTING FESTIVAL
Early September · Vieux Port and Port Canto, Cannes · Six Days · Since 1977
2027: 7 to 12 September, the fiftieth edition
The Cannes Yachting Festival is six days of boats afloat in early September, from a Tuesday to a Sunday, in two harbours of Cannes: some seven hundred of them in 2026, the motor yachts and the larger yachts in the Vieux Port beside the Palais des Festivals, the sailing yachts across the bay at Port Canto, and free shuttles crossing the water between them every quarter of an hour. It is the first date in the international boating calendar, and the largest boat show afloat in Europe.
In 2026 almost a hundred and fifty of the boats on show were shown there for the first time anywhere.
The Salon de la Plaisance
It opened in 1977 as the Salon de la Navigation de Plaisance, and very soon became the Festival International de la Plaisance de Cannes. It has been held in Cannes every year since, and took its present name, the Cannes Yachting Festival, in 2014.
Jacqueline Bourey directed it for its first twenty-four years, to 2000. Eric de Saintdo followed her for ten years, then Renaud Jourdon, and Sylvie Ernoult from 2013 to 2025. It is organised by RX France, the French arm of the company once called Reed Exhibitions.
By 2012, its thirty-fifth edition, it had 438 exhibitors and 45,155 visitors. The forty-third, set for September 2020, was cancelled for Covid.
It now holds, at Port Canto, the largest fleet afloat of sailing boats over ten metres anywhere in the world, some hundred and twenty new models.
The Two Ports
The Vieux Port takes the motor yachts and the superyacht extension, and is entered by the Palais des Festivals or by Pantiero, facing the town hall. Port Canto takes the sailing yachts, with the small motorboats, the motor catamarans and the pre-owned yachts over twenty-five metres sold by brokers. Sea shuttles cross between the two, and footbridges over the harbour open on the hour and the half hour for a quarter of an hour.
The gates open at ten each day and close at seven, except on the Friday, when the show stays open until ten at night, and the Sunday, when it closes at six. The programme includes a Concours d’Elegance, a parade of yachts old and new.
A yacht is not boarded on a whim. A viewing is arranged in advance through a broker, and shoes are often left at the foot of the passerelle.
In 2026, from 8 to 13 September, it was the forty-ninth edition and the first under its new director, Constance Brément, who called it “a particularly meaningful moment for me”. Fifty-six thousand came, to 660 exhibitors and 700 boats, 360 in the Vieux Port and 340 at Port Canto, spread over 100,000 square metres, and 720 journalists from forty-five countries reported on it. The first Innovation Route Awards were given, to five winners from a hundred and twenty entries, the Excess 11 named the most innovative boat and the Azimut Grande 44M given the jury’s special award. Ninety-five catamarans were shown, and the talk of the week was of the boat as a place to stay.
What to Know
It runs from a Tuesday to a Sunday in the second week of September. In 2027 it runs from 7 to 12 September, the fiftieth edition, in the Vieux Port and Port Canto again.
Tickets are sold online only; there is no box office at the show. A day ticket costs from €40, and VIP packages, with the VIP Club and shuttles of their own, from €220. Children under ten are admitted free with a paying adult.
Nothing is published on dress. It is a working show, and the shoes come off to go aboard: yachting attire, with shoes that slip on and off. One broker advises: “Slip-on shoes are a practical choice since footwear often needs to come off before boarding.”
Nice Côte d’Azur is the airport, and the 81 bus runs direct from it to Cannes; the railway station is in the centre of the town, a short walk from the Vieux Port. No hotel is named by the show. Stay in the town, within walking distance of the harbour.
Bags larger than A3 are refused at the gates, and animals are not admitted.
The mistake is to arrive without appointments. The brokers’ appointments fill up, and the yachts worth seeing must be booked before the show opens.
The Court
The Cannes Yachting Festival is not the Court’s own. VIP passes, and appointments aboard the yachts a member wishes to see, made through a broker, are sought on a member’s behalf, and the Court arranges the whole of it: getting there, where to stay in Cannes, and the table afterward. The Monaco Yacht Show follows a fortnight later.
How one becomes a member is set out under Admission.
Set down October MMXXVI