If Cannes has one lunch that defines the season, it is La Guérite — and getting to it is half the story. The restaurant sits on Île Sainte-Marguerite, the wooded Lérins island a short boat ride off the Croisette, so the meal begins the moment you step onto the water.
The island lunch
La Guérite is a beach-club restaurant in the truest sense: Mediterranean and Mykonos-inflected cooking, tables under the pines and by the water, and live music that lifts through the afternoon until a lunch table has quietly become the whole day. The crowd is barefoot-glamour — yachts moored offshore, a dressed-down-but-expensive room, and a rhythm that belongs entirely to summer.
Getting there
You reach the island by boat — a short hop from the old port or the Croisette, or by tender straight off a yacht. It is part of the appeal, and part of the logistics: the boat, the timing and the table all have to line up, especially in peak weeks.
When to go
Lunch is the event; arrive around 13:00 and let the afternoon run. July and August are peak, and during Cannes Film Festival and the Lions the island fills with the industry — book well ahead. Shoulder-season lunches (June, September) are calmer and arguably the sweet spot.
How to book it
La Guérite is one of the hardest lunch tables on the Riviera to secure last-minute. We hold relationships directly and book the table and the boat transfer together, so all you do is arrive at the water. Message us with your date and party size and we confirm — usually within the hour in season.
Around the day
Pair it with a yacht day, a Cannes dinner ashore, or a villa for the week. See the La Guérite venue page to book, or our wider Cannes concierge guide.