Le Majestic Cannes: The Art Deco Palace Facing the Red Carpet

THE STORY BEHIND THE HOTEL · FRENCH RIVIERA SEASON · 05/12

The Majestic’s greatest piece of real estate is not a suite. It is the sightline: sea in one direction, the Palais des Festivals’ red-carpet steps in the other. That relationship was engineered long before the cameras arrived.

How the hotel was born

Hotel entrepreneur Henri Ruhl bought the Beau-Rivage and neighbouring Villa des Enfants in 1920, assembling the plot for a new palace. Architect Théo Petit began an Art Deco scheme in 1923. The main block and eastern wing opened in February 1926; Charles Nicod, Émile Molinié and G. de Montaut completed the central extension in 1928.

Architecture: a building that explains the place

The white façade uses symmetry, shallow relief and measured Art Deco ornament rather than Belle Époque exuberance. Inside, the original programme offered 250 rooms with bathrooms, reception spaces, monumental stairs and coloured marbles. Later enlargements attempted to repeat that disciplined language, so the building reads as one palace even though it was made in chapters.

The turning points

The Majestic’s history follows Cannes itself: resort ambition, war, recovery, cinema and expansion. During the Second World War the city passed through Italian and German occupation; in 1945 the hotel became a military hospital for wounded and severely burned soldiers. The Barrière story began when the operating company came under the group’s control in 1952.

The documented names

The Majestic is a long-standing Festival base, but the responsible story is the institution rather than an unverifiable rooming list. Its cinematic identity is visible in named suites and in the hotel’s position directly opposite the Palais. The Christian Dior Suite creates a documented bridge to fashion; the Mélodie, Balancine and Escale suites build on Cannes’ screen vocabulary.

The difficult chapters

Occupation, medical requisition and repeated construction interrupted the fantasy of effortless continuity. Two floors were added in 1965; façades were harmonised in 1990; later extensions tested how far the palace could grow without becoming pastiche. Each intervention had to negotiate a building already embedded in Cannes’ collective image.

Restoration without amnesia

Renovations from 2008 led to a new wing in 2010 and a larger contemporary resort. The current offer continues to evolve, including reworked suites, wellness and beach spaces. The best additions preserve the façade’s calm and place spectacle in the view, not in excessive decoration.

The hotel today

Le Majestic now combines hundreds of rooms and suites with Ciro’s Cannes on the private beach, Beefbar Cannes, a spa, heated outdoor pool and family facilities. Signature suites look directly toward the sea and Festival steps; the Majestic Suite adds a private pool terrace at the top of the building.

Watch the story in motion

Why travellers still choose it

This is the strategic Cannes address. Choose it when proximity to the Palais, station, old port, Croisette and beach matters more than retreat. During major events the area is intensely public; outside them, the same location makes the city unusually easy to explore on foot.

Practical location

Le Majestic stands at 10 Boulevard de la Croisette, opposite the Palais des Festivals and minutes from Cannes station and the old port. Nice Côte d’Azur Airport is roughly 27 kilometres away. Festival and congress dates materially affect access and atmosphere.

Osama Samaha
Editor-in-Chief — OUISTARS Travel