The Palais des Festivals et des Congres sits at 1 boulevard de la Croisette in Cannes. The building dates from 1983, is owned by the City of Cannes and operated by SEMEC under a public service delegation. It averages around 150 events over 340 days a year and hosts over 70 business events annually, drawing close to 300,000 accredited professionals.
How the space is organised
This is a multi-level congress building on a seafront boulevard rather than a conventional fairground, so it is not usefully described in halls. Up to 35,000 square metres can be given over to exhibitions across more than 55 modular spaces on levels 0 to 5, with auditoriums seating from 147 to 2,309 including the Grand Auditorium Louis Lumiere and the Theatre Debussy.
The principal exhibition spaces are the Hall des Expositions on level 1 at 13,756 square metres across three modular zones; the Espace Riviera on level 0 at 6,877 square metres in total, of which the Hall Riviera provides 3,619 square metres of exhibition space; the circular four-deck Rotonde Riviera at 2,624 square metres; the modular Rotonde Lerins at 2,150 square metres; and the Hall Mediterranee at 960 square metres.
The ceiling height is the defining constraint
The Hall des Expositions has a ceiling height of just 2.10 to 2.75 metres, with a floor loading of 500 kg per square metre. That is dramatically lower than any conventional exhibition hall and it governs the entire design. Double-decker stands are impossible, tall structures and towers are impossible, and conventional overhead rigging does not apply. Anyone arriving with a fairground stand design will have to start again.
The Hall Riviera is more generous at 3.75 metres, also at 500 kg per square metre, and has direct access from the beach as well as internally from the Hall des Expositions above. For anything bulky, that beachfront route is the practical way in.
The practical consequence of a low ceiling and a dense city-centre seafront location is that stands here tend to work as meeting and hospitality environments rather than tall product displays, which also suits the market-style events the venue is known for. Note that this is a consequence of the building rather than a venue rule.
The venue does not publish truck access dimensions, freight-lift capacities or build-up window lengths openly. An organiser's guide is offered for download on the Espace Riviera page, and the sales team can be reached on +33 (0)4 92 99 84 30. Settle load-in logistics with them early, because a dense seafront site in central Cannes gives far less room for manoeuvre than an out-of-town ground.
What exhibits here
The Palais hosts the Festival de Cannes and its Marche du Film, MIPIM for real estate, MIPCOM for the audiovisual industry, the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity and the Tax Free World Exhibition.