ILES OF THE LERINS

Just a stone's throw from the famous Croisette is the Lérins archipelago, whose two largest islands offer visitors a beautiful outing combining nature, local produce, history, legend, spirituality and contemplation. Once very well known to sailors, these islands were a regular and important stopover on the main sea routes of antiquity.

Saint-Honorat: it is the smaller of the two (1.5 km of shoreline and 400 m wide). It tells the story of Cannes. Formerly called Lerinum, it takes its name from the ecclesiastic Honorat d'Arles, future Saint Honorat, who found solitude there. But soon joined by many disciples, he founded a monastery in the^5th century whose rigorous asceticism became a school throughout Provence. Around 1703, to protect the monks from pirates, a fortress was built there, constituting one of the rare examples of a fortified monastery: the door was located high up and you had to climb down a ladder to enter or leave! Monks still live there: praying, meditating and cultivating the vineyard, they produce excellent wines as well as a liqueur which has become the local speciality: Lerina. Today, the island is a very spiritual place of tranquillity (dress code is compulsory and smoking is forbidden). You can easily walk around the island thanks to the coastal path that runs along the coast.

An arm of about 700 m long, called the Canal du Frioul, separates the two islands.

Sainte-Marguerite: boaters have a weakness for this beautiful place and its rich underwater world. From Cannes, the shore is very close and the most daring could almost swim there, because only 1,100 m separate the tip of Palm Beach from the island's royal fort! The particularity of Sainte-Marguerite Island lies in its pine and eucalyptus forest, the only coastal forest in the whole Alpes-Maritimes department. Migrating birds, crystal clear waters, rare species... The setting is idyllic. To the north stands the royal fort built by Richelieu and then reinforced by Vauban in the early 18th century. Formerly a state prison, the site is sadly known for having held the Iron Mask for 11 years. Transformed into a military jail, the place houses the Museum of the Iron Mask and the Royal Fort.

No matter which island you are on, the view of the surrounding mountain ranges is spectacular, with the contours of the Massif des Maures or the Esterel to the west, and on the other side, the Grasse hinterland with the peaked Cheiron range topped in the distance by the fringe of the Mercantour.