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La Brasserie’s spacious terrace in front of the Carlton Inter-Continental, one of Cannes’ exorbitantly luxurious seafront hotels, overlooks the Croisette and is the top place to see and be seen in town, with a magnificent view of the bay. For effect, drink Bollinger (see La Brasserie Carlton, Cannes).

Launched by action heroes Sly Stallone, Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger, Planet Hollywood is part of a worldwide chain of movie-themed bar-restaurants and is affordable fun, with potential star-spotting thrown in (see Planet Hollywood, Cannes).

This late night hangout attracts the stay-up-late crowd until the early hours all summer long and the cream of the world’s movie business wind up the night here during the film festival (see Cannes Film Festival).

One of the flashiest café-terraces attracts some of the world’s brightest stars – Roman Polanski, Jude Law and Gabriel Byrne have been sighted – during the film festival and a high-spending, fashionable clientele year-round. Anything stronger than coffee costs a fortune (see Majestic Barrière, Cannes).

Book years ahead to mingle with the rich and famous at this luxurious hotel – the flagship of Riviera hedonism. The list of celebrity guests stretches back decades and includes such current stars as Gwyneth Paltrow and Leonardo Di Caprio (see Hôtel du Cap Eden Roc, Antibes).

This celebrity hideaway hotel and restaurant attracts fashionable artists and celebrities and has a fine private collection of paintings by 20th-century artists including Miró, Matisse and Picasso. By Riviera standards, it is also surprisingly affordable – an overnight stay here need cost no more than an evening drink in one of the flashier clubs in Cannes or Monaco (see La Colombe d’Or, St-Paul-de-Vence).

To mingle with the rich, famous and beautiful, book a room at St-Trop’s most fashionable hotel and swan into Les Caves du Roy, the hotel’s nightclub. Les Caves in season is the haunt of super models, film stars and racing drivers. Gucci, Versace or Armani almost compulsory (see Les Caves du Roy, St-Tropez).

The most prestigious and expensive bouillabaisse restaurant in newly fashionable Marseille attracts France’s movers and shakers from the worlds of business, media and politics – indeed President Jacques Chirac’s dinner bills here became part of a scandal over the perks of French high political office in 2001.

The restaurant at the Hotel Martinez is where stars dine, as the signed photos in the foyer attest. The menu is suitably opulent, with lobster and foie gras. Dress to kill and prepare to reach your credit card limit (see La Palme d’Or, Hôtel Martinez, Cannes).

Book a year ahead and you just might get a table at the place where film and three Michelin stars meet at festival time. The rest of the year the waiting list is not as long, but booking is essential.