October on the French Riviera: a week of sea, museums and villages

Cannes: fill your basket after Le Suquet

Start in the lanes of Le Suquet and walk up towards Notre-Dame-d’Espérance. On the way down, choose lunch ingredients at Forville. Walking in this direction saves you carrying fresh food around all morning.

During the market works, the producers are in the hall on the Allées de la Liberté, opposite the bandstand. The stalls with display counters and the fish sellers are on the eastern part of the Forville market square. In autumn, come from Tuesday to Sunday, from 8 am. Closing is at 12.30 pm on weekdays and 1.30 pm at weekends.

A little shopping, then lunch at home: this suits the day after your arrival. If you would rather visit the Musée des explorations du monde, allow it more time and have lunch in town. The Cannes walk will help you choose your stops.

Le Cannet: Bonnard and lunch above the rooftops

First, choose your exhibition at the Bonnard Museum. After the galleries, walk up Rue Saint-Sauveur towards Bellevue. The craftspeople, the chapel associated with Tobiasse and Peynet's Mur des Amoureux give you several reasons to stop before reaching the square and its sea view.

I recommend booking a table in the neighbourhood if you are coming as a group. You can spend the morning in the museum, then continue through Rue des Calvys and Rue des Voûtes after lunch. In October, usual museum hours are 10 am to 6 pm, with Mondays closed. Exhibition changeovers can mean additional closures.

Le Bosquet, Bonnard's house, is not the museum. If it is the painter's landscapes that interest you, save the hill walk for another visit. Our route through old Le Cannet accompanies the outing around the museum.

Sainte-Marguerite: choose a day when the sea allows the crossing

Plan the islands for a favourable day, with a museum in reserve if boat services are disrupted. On Sainte-Marguerite, you can walk under the trees, visit the Fort Royal area and watch birds at the Batéguier pond. Bring water, a picnic and a jacket for the boat.

I suggest choosing just one island. Saint-Honorat deserves its own day around the abbey and vines, and there is no direct shuttle between them. Buy tickets for the right destination and check return times before boarding at Quai Laubeuf.

In October, the walk should be reason enough to go, even without a swim. The Lérins Islands guide will help you choose between Sainte-Marguerite and Saint-Honorat.

Grasse: museum bottles or the gardens at Mouans-Sartoux

An overcast day suits the International Perfume Museum. Bottles, presentation cases and manufacturing techniques offer several ways into perfume's history. With friends interested in photography, keep Guillaume Barclay's exhibition among your reasons to come this autumn.

The museum opens from 10 am to 6 pm in October, but ticket sales close at 5 pm and the first rooms at 5.30 pm. Come in the morning or early afternoon. Monday 5 October 2026 is a closure day. You can continue afterwards through the old town's streets.

If you would prefer a garden outing, choose the MIP gardens in Mouans-Sartoux. They are in a different town and can replace the museum for that day. The Grasse and perfume guide explains the two visits and fragrance-making workshops.

Antibes: the museum in the morning, the ramparts afterwards

At Château Grimaldi, arrive at 10 am if you want to visit before lunch. In October, the Picasso Museum closes between 1 pm and 2 pm, then welcomes visitors until 6 pm. It is closed on Mondays. After the galleries, head to the Promenade Amiral de Grasse and then back into the old town for lunch.

In early October 2026, choose your date carefully. From 29 September to 10 October inclusive, only certain areas remain open during exhibition installation, including Picasso's works on the second floor and the terrace. “Claude Picasso, Une vie en marges” opens on 11 October and runs until 10 January 2027.

If you are coming specifically for that exhibition, plan Antibes after 10 October. Otherwise, the museum and ramparts make an outing you can shorten or extend according to the time available and the weather.

Mougins: a morning in the village or a stop at Fontmerle

In the village, start at the washhouse on Avenue Jean-Charles Mallet, then head to Place du Commandant Lamy. Continue along Rue du Badier and through the passage of the former Saint-Jacques hospital. Lunch in old Mougins can be the destination for this walk.

For photography, note two dates in October 2026: Bertien van Manen until the 4th, then “Icônes : images fantasmées” from the 31st. Between the two, do not build your day around the centre being open.

With children, you might prefer to start with Fontmerle's birds and cypresses, then go to the village. Allow for travelling between the two places. The Mougins walk offers these two ways to spend the morning.

Valbonne on Friday, then lunch at home

Keep Friday for Valbonne. The Provençal market fills Place des Arcades and the village streets from 8 am to 2 pm. For direct-from-producer shopping, head to the Pré de l'Hôtel de Ville between 8 am and 1 pm. This second market can be your first stop if groceries are your main reason for coming.

I suggest choosing lunch with your guests. Each person finds something to share, you ask for a cooking tip, then head home to lay the table. The terrace if the weather allows, the dining room otherwise: these moments at home are also why you return to the French Riviera.

Leave the afternoon without a booking. A stay does not have to end with a race through all the visits you did not manage to fit in.

During MIPCOM week, plan arrivals in Cannes

From 12 to 15 October 2026, Cannes hosts MIPCOM at the Palais des Festivals. If your stay falls during the trade show, plan your arrival and the reservations that matter to you in advance. MIPCOM is a professional event requiring accreditation.

If you rent your home to delegates, the MIPCOM article explains preparing the property and welcoming guests on site. These arrangements should be settled before the show week, once you have secured your bookings.

Come back to a home ready for your stay

Before you arrive, you can entrust me with preparing your property: cleaning, linen, access and coordination of the work we have agreed. You return to a home ready to welcome you and can devote your days to your stay.

If other guests follow you, I can also take over on site for arrivals and departures, showing them how the home works, communication during the stay, cleaning, linen and checking the property. Guest assistance is arranged 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, under the terms we agree together.

You or your agency remain responsible for listings, prices, bookings and contracts. To arrange this support, you can tell me about your property.