This week, the world will turn its gaze to the jet-set playground of Cannes, where the 10-day film festival opens on Thursday. Highlights include Ridley Scott's Robin Hood and Oliver Stone's Wall Street sequel. Actors, film makers and media from all over the world will descend on the small town in southern France. Since 1946 it's been intrinsically linked to red-carpet glamour but Cannes is also a byword for luxury hotels, billionaire yachts and designer boutiques.

Even out of season, travelling to Cannes can be pricey – there is the transfer from Nice to organise, and hotels are expensive all year round as the town is a popular convention destination. Although a wonderful place to experience, it's not somewhere to pitch up for an entire holiday, especially when the town is within travelling distance of some other world-famous resorts like Monaco, Monte Carlo and Nice.

One clever way to experience Cannes and pack a lot more in besides is with an escorted tour. Once seen as the preserve of the sensible shoe and raincoat brigade, escorted tours are becoming increasingly popular with budget travellers – everything, from airport transfers, hotel meals and full-day guided tours and itineraries are included in competitive prices. They're perfect for those who'd like some structure to their holiday without having to do the research and legwork themselves and also, as recent travel troubles with the volcanic ash showed, escorted tours are becoming a safer way to travel – those stuck abroad on escorted tours didn't have the worry of booking hotels and flights as that was all taken care of by their operator.

Dublin-based tour operator The Travel Department has a number of tours to Cannes, taking in the Cote d'Azur. The usual stay is five days, giving plenty of time to explore Cannes, where you are based, and then spend up to two-and-a-half days in the company of an experienced and accommodating guide.

Typically, the guided day starts with collection by coach at your hotel directly after breakfast, and travelling on to Monaco and Monte Carlo, taking in the city of Nice en route, and the breathtaking scenery of the Côte D'Azur, as you wind your way through old towns like Eze, where the summer homes of Bono and The Edge are pointed out by the guide. The tiny church in Eze is also where The Edge married Morleigh Steinberg. The breathtaking summer homes of Elton John and Roman Abramovich can also be seen along the way.

The tour allows for lunch and a few hours in Monaco, after a visit to Monaco Cathedral where Princess Grace and Prince Rainer are buried, and where they were married in 1956. While the palace isn't open to the public all year round, a stroll around it is worthwhile for the spectacular views and high rises of the principality and to see the route of the famous Monte Carlo Grand Prix race.

After that it is on again to Monte Carlo, a district of Monaco and the grandiose casino Grand Théâtre de Monte Carlo, which bizarrely also houses an opera and ballet house in the one building and is the setting of many movies, including three James Bond films, with Connery, Brosnan and Craig all filming here.

Before returning to Cannes, the tour stops at the Fragonard perfume factory, and although these tour stop-offs can be tedious at times, this visit to what is one of the oldest perfumeries in the Grasse region is fascinating. Guests are given a guided tour of the laboratory where everything, from carving bars of soap to distilling of orange blossom to produce the essence called neroli, is done by hand. The factory shop offers some really good discounts, up to two-thirds off the price of perfumes that are sold exclusively in the Fragonard Parisian store.

The full-day excursion can last for up to 10 hours so it's nice to spend the following free day either relaxing at your hotel or exploring Cannes at your leisure.

There are also suggested activities including a cookery demonstration where you prepare a typical French lunch under the guidance of a chef, and get to enjoy it afterwards with a glass of wine, or take in an escorted tour around the concrete structure that is the Palais de Festival, where the film festival and many other less glamorous ones take place – a bridge convention was on the day we visited.

Although if the weather is good, which it generally is, it's nice to take off on foot yourself and see what the town has to offer. Fewer spots better symbolise all the glamour and history of Cannes than La Croisette, the promenade that lines the shore in front of the lines of luxury yachts in the old port. If your feet allow, La Croisette is best viewed from the highest point of Cannes' old town, Le Suquet, where the remains of the fortified tower still stand, along with the 12th-century Chapel of St Anne. Le Suquet, with its winding streets, small boutiques and restaurants, is a lovely place for a stroll. The whole city centre is just 1km square – and can easily be reached by foot from your hotel base.

But Cannes is all about the stars and even if you're not there for the film festival, you can stroll along the endless Allées des Stars, which is imprinted with handprints and signatures of the great and glamorous. Restaurants all over the town have framed photos of celebrities dining at their tables. Needless to say, people-watching in Cannes is an endlessly fascinating activity.

La Croisette is home to multiple high-end boutiques such as Chanel, Bulgari and Dior but the Rue d'Antibes, the town's main shopping strip, may prove more wallet-friendly. It's home to lots of familiar high-street names including Zara, Foot Locker and Mango but it also has some of the wonderful French boutiques you'll find in French department store Galeries Lafayette. If you are looking to stock up on local produce, it's also good for specialist shops selling oil, Provençal herbs and lavender, honey and olive oil soaps.

And as this is France, there are some amazing boulangeries and patisseries with mouth-watering baked goods that cry out to be sampled.

The final leg of the Travel Department Tour is a trip to the town of Paul de Vance, before transfer to Nice airport for the two-hour flight home. A leisurely few hours spent in the winding streets of the medieval fortified village perched with a view of the sea is a fitting end to a break that packs a lot in, albeit in a very relaxed way.

Four days is the perfect sampler for what the Côte d'Azur has to offer, giving you the chance to cherry pick what you might like to do if you plan to return.

Getting There

The Travel Department offers escorted holidays to Cannes / Côte D'Azur departing from Dublin and Cork. A five-night holiday starts at €489 (+ taxes and charges) and seven-night holidays are available from €689 (+ taxes and charges).

Full details of all holidays are available on www.thetraveldepartment.ie or by calling 01 637 1600.