Concierge.com's insider take:

Arguably more glamorous than the Oscars, this ten-day mid-May schmoozefest ties up the coast's harbors with megayachts, while hotels are booked solid (at significantly higher rates) and traffic jams are the norm. Don't count on crashing any high-ticket events; security is omnipresent and the Palais des Festivals, known locally as "the bunker" for its Brutalist concrete-block design, lives up to its nickname. But check the festival's official site for tickets; you can still catch a movie after its premiere but well before it hits theaters stateside. For those dedicated to stargazing, note that Mougins, a few miles inland, is where the hottest American celebrities usually hole up to escape the paparazzi—and you.