About the hotel
The Carlton's twin black domes have defined the Cannes seafront since 1913 — local legend says they were modelled on the courtesan La Belle Otero. It is the most filmed hotel façade in France and, during the festival, the most photographed doorstep in cinema: distributors have draped it in movie billboards every May for decades.
A multi-year restoration completed in 2023 rebuilt the interiors around a new garden and infinity pool while keeping the listed façade untouched — the Carlton now pairs its Belle Époque shell with the newest rooms on the Croisette.
Suites & dining
Suites named after screen legends — Grace Kelly, Sean Connery, Sophia Loren — occupy the corner rotundas with the famous dome views. The seventh-floor Riviera penthouses are festival-week currency. Downstairs, the terrace restaurant remains the Croisette's public stage: half the deals of the festival are done over its lunch tables.
The celebrity connection
Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier of Monaco had their first photographed meeting at the Carlton in 1955 — the encounter that turned a Hollywood star into a princess. Hitchcock had already made the hotel a co-star of "To Catch a Thief" with Kelly and Cary Grant a year earlier. Since then it has been the festival's default royal court: from Sophia Loren and Elizabeth Taylor to the modern jury dinners.
Location
La Croisette, Cannes, France
Worth knowing
- ★Grace Kelly met Prince Rainier here during the 1955 Cannes Film Festival.
- ★"To Catch a Thief" (1955) used the hotel as a principal location.
- ★The façade has been a listed historic monument since 1984.
- ★Reopened in 2023 after the biggest renovation in its history.
Questions & answers
What films made the Carlton Cannes famous?+
Hitchcock's "To Catch a Thief" (1955) with Grace Kelly and Cary Grant used the hotel as a principal location — and a year later Kelly met Prince Rainier of Monaco here, the encounter that made her a princess.
Is the Carlton's building protected?+
Yes — the twin-domed Belle Époque façade has been a listed historic monument since 1984. The interiors were fully rebuilt in a renovation completed in 2023.
What happens at the Carlton during the film festival?+
Its façade wears giant movie billboards, distributors negotiate over the terrace lunch tables, and the legend-named suites (Grace Kelly, Sophia Loren, Sean Connery) become festival-week currency.
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