My family (i.e., wife and 4 year old daughter) visited Cannes and Cannes La Bocca recently for vacation and to take French classes. I highlight these facts because we needed to find a nice, affordable, well positioned place for some of our 10-day stay in the area. Vélès Plage delivered on its promise. The owners are a husband and wife team who are consistently available and always willing to assist.

The place is walking distance (10-15 minutes) to Cannes La Bocca, and, therefore the school we attended. The bus ride is about 2-3 minutes. There is a market in Cannes La Bocca and there are several restaurants. The hotel is not very far from center of Cannes. There are three bus lines that will, for 1E, take you to La Croisette. The ride is about 10 minutes or less, depending on traffic. Obviously, you could also walk there in about 20-25 minutes.

Vélès Plage has several very good features. It is clean, the rooms are spacious (there are various sizes); it has an appropriately sized pool in the midst of a very quaint garden area, directly behind the hotel. The beach is no more than 3 minutes away (walking). You can see the beach from many of the rooms. It is the way you have to walk that takes up the 3 minutes. It’s hard to fully explain here, but suffice it to say that it is not significantly different than staying at one of the Croisette hotels in terms of beach access, which we did later in the trip. (Note: You have to cross a busy road in Cannes, because all the hotels there are across the street from the beach.) I have stayed in places where you walk out the door and the beach is literally right there. None of the hotels offer this, so be careful how you interpret the various hotels' descriptions.

Returning to Vélès Plage, parking is available and there’s a gas station directly across the street. The hotel provides wireless internet service that you can access in your room and there’s no additional charge. Each room has a terrace, stove, microwave, flat screen TV, and a refrigerator from what I could tell. Each room does not have air conditioning, which believe or not, is not a big problem because the nights are very comfortable there – the breeze from outside is actually better than the artificial air. That said, there is sometimes noise from traffic (mostly motorcyclist and trucks from time to time) so we slept with the fan on low and closed the windows. We didn’t hear the street noise with the windows closed and we were perfectly comfortable. Of course, if you’re concerned about that, just book a room with air conditioning.

There is a great patisserie across the street, next door to a convenience store that sells quite a few practical items and a limited amount, but very good fruit. There are also two restaurants in the same cluster of stores.

Vélès Plage is what it claims to be. It is not fancy, but it has nicely renovated rooms. It is a self –catering hotel. This means that you don’t have a cleaning service come in every day, unless you want one and you want to pay extra. There is no room service or 24 hour concierge. You will have assistance during normal working hours and into the early evening. It has a time share feel with a personal touch from its owners, which to us, made it better than a time share. It’s perfect for a family or someone traveling alone in that it is in a safe community.

If you want to be in the heart of the Cannes “Croisette scene” each day and all day (which is not a bad thing), this may not be the place for you. If you want a nice, clean, comfortable, quiet place, off the beaten path, that is convenient and very reasonably priced, and a place that is close to the action when you want to get to it, this is the place for you.

I recommend it and would return without hesitation, if next year’s plans send us back to Cannes.

We thoroughly enjoyed our stay at Veles Plage. VP was highly recommended by the Summer French language school that our children attended. Thierry handled our queries both before and after our arrival promptly and efficiently. He was helpful whenever we had questions. Our suite was spacious, newly refurbished and clean. The view of the sea was lovely. The pool was well maintained and quiet. Nice garden and easy access to beaches too. Short walk to the main shopping area of La Bocca. Bus stop nearby for the 15 minute ride in to Cannes. I would highly recommend VP over the large corporate hotels in the La Bocca area. VP has much more ambiance and attentive and caring staff. Free Internet in room and pool area a big plus. We look forward to returning.