Bad news for travelers: this is the famous European city you will not be able to travel to if you book a cruise ship

As of January 1, 2026, in response to growing concerns about over-tourism and environmental strain, the French city of Cannes will not allow large cruise ships to dock at the harbour.

Under the new regulations, any cruise ship carrying over 1,000 passengers will be barred and must instead anchor offshore, with passengers ferried to shore via smaller boats. Additionally, the French Riviera resort — which has a population of only 75,000 people — will impose a hard cap of 6,000 daily disembarkations, aiming to strike a balance between tourists and locals.

“Cannes has become a major cruise ship destination, with real economic benefits. It’s not about banning cruise ships, but about regulating, organising, setting guidelines for their navigation,” Mayor David Lisnard assured tourists in a statement.

‘There is no solution in sight’

France is listed as the most-visited country in the world for tourists, with over 100 million visitors arriving last year alone.

Over-tourism and its management — or lack thereof — has been a growing concern across much of Europe over the past months, with Spanish hotspot Barcelona a particular standout case. Protests have occurred across the city aimed at exploitative landlords who price-out locals in favour of charging more to money-wielding tourists. Once Catalan writer, in a column for The Guardian, wrote that “my city has been stolen from me and I’m not getting it back”, adding that “there is no solution in sight.”

He references the same problems in other locations across the continent, such as Rome, Florence, Venice, Amsterdam, Paris and Prague, saying that local councils are under huge pressure to accommodate the huge numbers of visitors on economic, environmental and hygiene levels.

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