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CULTURE

27 festivals and events to enjoy this summer in France

France really comes alive in the summer, with events and festivals great and small taking place the length and breadth of the country - here's our pick for the summer of 2023.

Published: 16 May 2023 08:03 CEST
Updated: 1 June 2023 10:30 CEST
27 festivals and events to enjoy this summer in France
The crowd at the Rock en Seine festival. (Photo by Anna KURTH / AFP)

From old rockers to classic cinema, via Celtic heritage and fireworks to modern theatre, here are some of our favourite French summer festivals. 

JUNE

Nuits de Fourvière

This actually starts on May 31st and runs to July 28th – but we’re here claiming it for June. The spectacular Gallo-Roman theatre at Fourvière hosts 60 equally spectacular performances of theatre, dance, music, and circus acts. Acclaimed comedian Florence Foresti headlines for five nights in June, while the NoFit State Circus’s spectacular new show graces the stage for 15 nights from June 22nd to July 8th. Find out more here.

Fêtes Johanniques

If you go down to Reims on the weekend of June 4th and 5th, you may think you’ve gone back in time, as the city remembers the coronation of Charles VII in Reims Cathedral in 1429 – with medieval markets and parades marking the arrival of Joan of Arc and the Dauphin in the city. Details here.

Anjou Festival

The second-biggest outdoor theatre event in France, which kicks off on June 9th and runs to July 6th, really has to get a mention in our rundown of summer events. Details of the full programme of dramatic events are here.

Les Foulees du Gois

The premise of Les Foulees du Gois, at Beauvoir-sur-Mer, is simple. It’s a race. In fact, it’s several races – with events for male and female adult fun-runners and children. But the main event pits elite athletes in a four kilometre run along a submerging beach path against each other and  the rising tide. Find out more here.

Festival Photo La Gacilly

Photography has the power to amaze, shock and inspire – never more so than at the world-renowned La Gacilly Festival in Morbihan, where people’s relationship with the environment and sustainability are at the forefront, and have been for the past 20 years. More information here.

Hellfest

Rock and heavy metal fans should head to Clisson, Loire-Atlantique between June 15th and 18th, where for three days, hard rock, gothic rock, heavy metal, black metal, death metal and hardcore punk bands perform on seven stages set up for the occasion. This year’s acts include Kiss, Motley Crue, Iron Maiden, Tenacious D, the soon-to-disband Sum 41, and the never-less-than-weird Fields of the Nephilim. It’ll be loud. Details here.

Fête de la musique

Villages, towns and cities across France come alive with the sound of music on Wednesday, June 21st, to celebrate the sheer joy of live performances and the breadth and diversity of musical genres.

It’s pretty much guaranteed there’ll be a live performance or several to enjoy not too far away from you – wherever you are. The legendary Sunset Sunside in Paris, for example, will honour the majesty of Nina Simone on a dream midsummer’s night.

Festival de Nîmes

Starting on June 23rd and running to July 22nd, the Festival de Nîmes has brought modern music to the famous Roman Arena. This year’s eclectic line-up includes Simply Red, Slipknot, Christophe Mae, Placebo, Florent Pagny, Michel Polnareff, Sam Smith, Arctic Monkeys, Louise Attaque. Find out more here

Rétro C Trop 

For three days between June 23rd, and June 25th, at the appropriately aged Château de Tilloloy, Hauts-de-France, there’s the ‘festival of old rockers’, this year featuring sets by Mika, Lena Lovich, Chris Isaak, Texas, Canned Heat and Caravan. Details here – and insert a joke about old rockers here…

The La Rochelle Film Festival

A year after paying tribute to icy-eyed French heart-throb Alain Delon, the Charente-Maritime resort’s 51st film festival – which runs from June 30th to July 9th – honours the often burlesque humour of Pierre Richard.

Eight of the comic’s films from the 1970s, including Le Distrait, and Le Grand Blond avec une chaussure noire, will feature during the celebration of all things cinematic.

There’s also a retrospective film starring the iconic Bette Davis – including All About Eve, Now Voyager, Jezebel, and the unmissable Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?, an homage to director Lars von Trier, and a retrospective of work from star of stage and screen Sacha Guitry.

JULY

Tour de France 

The annual cycle race begins in Bilbao and runs through southern and central France before its traditional finish on the Champs-Elysées on July 23rd. Next year both the dates and the finish location will be different as the event moves to make way for the Paris 2024 Olympics.

Z’accros d’ma rue, Nevers

Theatre, circus and music are in store at Les Z’accros d’ma rue street art festival in Nevers in from July 3rd to 9th, as they have been since the opening event in 1999. Most of the shows are free. At the time of publication, no details of acts had been announced – but keep up to date here.

Festival de Carcassonne

Bob Dylan is the headline act of this year’s festival of music, theatre, arts, dance, comedy and cinema – all set against the dramatic backdrop of the famous citadel – between July 2nd and 29th. Blues legend Joe Bonamassa, renowned tenor José Carreras, and Tom Jones (yes, that one) are among those lined-up to head to deepest Aude this summer. There are numerous free off-festival performances. Find out more here

Pause Guitare

French stars Indochine, Bigflo and Oli, and Shaka Ponk headline this year’s four-day Pause Guitare programme in the World Heritage city of Albi, southwest France. The relatively little-known music festival that routinely punches above its weight, has also bagged international rock stars Queens of the Stone Age and ZZ Top guitarist Billy F Gibbons, with more acts still – at the time of writing – to be confirmed. Keep up to date here.

Festival d’Avignon

No rundown of summer events in France would be complete without mentioning the annual Festival d’Avignon, which celebrates – as it always does – the best of live theatrical performances, from July 5th to 25th this year. The extremely full programme of events is available here. 

Fête nationale

July 14th is France’s Fête nationale, often known as Bastille Day in the Anglophone world, which is a public holiday.

The big military parade is on the Champs-Elysée in Paris but most towns do something to mark the occasion, with concerts, parties and big, loud, fireworks displays. 

Pyrotechnic Art Festival

Not satisfied with the glitz and glamour of its Film Festival in May, Cannes turns on the lights again for six nights of music and fireworks in its six-week Pyrotechnic Art Festival, between July 14th and August 24th. 

Nice Jazz Festival

Where would you find jazz-defining great Herbie Hancock, French singer-songwriter Juliette Armanet, and that Tom Jones on the same poster? The Nice jazz festival, which runs from July 18th to 21st. 

They’re not the only performers joining in the fun on the Riviera. More than 20 acts are taking part in the Festival proper, while several more are performing in the Off festival programme.

Equestria

Fans of all things horses should head to southwest France for the Equestria Festival at the National Stud Farm in Tarbes – which gets under way this year on July 18th and runs to July 23rd. All the details are here.

Festival de Cornouaille

It translates as the Cornwall Festival, but it’s in Quimper, in the heart of Brittany – and it has been going for 100 years. This year’s event runs from July 19th to 23rd and celebrates – as always – the best of Celtic culture in France. All the details are here.

Jazz in Marciac

One of those great little festivals that France does so well that has just got bigger and better with age. The 45th annual event – which runs from July 20th to August 6th – features, among numerous others, Norah Jones, Samara Joy, Wynton Marsalis. Full details here.

Fêtes de Bayonne

Known for drawing large crowds, this five-day event celebrates Basque culture with the famous bull run, large parties, street performances, traditional dances, and fireworks. You can even buy a traditional outfit (in the colours of white and red) at a local market nearby to better join in the celebration. In 2023, the event will run from July 26th until the 30th. You can find more information here.

AUGUST

MiMa 

If puppets are your thing, MiMa – the International Festival of Puppet Art, held from August 4th to August 7th in the medieval town of Mirepoix, Ariège – is for you. More details here.

Festival du Chant de Marin

Did you love the Wellerman, which took social media by storm a while ago? Then the Sea Shanty festival, in the Breton resort of Paimpol, is for you. This year’s event runs from August 4th to August 6th, with performances from 160 groups on seven stages, while the port is filled with 200 boats. More information here

Festival Interceltique de Lorient

Sticking in Brittany for a 10-day festival (August 4th to 13th) that pretty much does exactly what it says on the bodhran. More than 100 shows on stages across the Morbihan coastal town celebrate anything and everything Celtic. Artists at this year’s event include Irish folk group Clannad, The Kilkennys, and Usher’s Island. Full details here.

Festival du Bout du Monde

The darkly named End of the World Festival takes place from August 4th to August 6h at Landaoudec Prairie on the Crozon Peninsula in Brittany, a few hundred yards from the wild Atlantic ocean. Franz Ferdinand and Suzanne Vega are among the acts in a packed showcase for a festival that’s nowhere near as gloomy as its name suggests. More here

Rock en Seine

Billie Eilish, Florence + the Machine, The Chemical Brothers, Christine and the Queens, and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs are among the numerous acts lined up for this year’s annual Rock en Seine festival at Domaine national de Saint-Cloud from August 23rd to August 27th.

Member comments

  1. How about highlighting some music festivals in Corsica? We have attended festivals in Calvi in September and others around Easter. Their tradition of choral music is magnificent and rich.

    And how about some accordion festivals around France ?!

    Another idea, how about an article on les Guinguettes ?

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DISCOVER FRANCE

‘They treated me like a son’ – The secrets of integrating in a Pyrenees community

They're popular with tourists for both their beauty and their wilderness - but what's it like to actually live in the Pyrenees? Author Stephen Cracknell spoke to residents on both the French and the Spanish side of the mountains about what brought them to the area and why they remain.

Published: 6 May 2024 12:33 CEST
'They treated me like a son' - The secrets of integrating in a Pyrenees community

In the classic French novel Jean de Florette, the titular hero inherits a house in rural southern France and moves there, although an early misunderstanding convinces him that the locals have rejected him.

Jean believes he doesn’t need the village. He is strong and works hard – Gérard Depardieu played the role on screen – but finally he comes to grief because he hasn’t integrated.

Much has changed since 1963, but there are still areas where outsiders have had less influence on local life. Like the Pyrenees.

My friend, Open University professor Gordon Wilson, and I have been talking to residents there, in both France and Catalonia.

How do they live and what do they think of their neighbours? For anyone moving from a town to a rural area – and not just to the Pyrenees – what they say is worth listening to.

One outsider who has successfully integrated is Mustapha, from Morocco. He had the advantage of growing up on a farm in the Atlas Mountains so knew the kind of life awaiting him in the Pyrenees.

He was also determined: when he could not obtain a visa, he crossed to Spain in a dinghy. When he was confronted by his complete lack of Spanish and Catalan, he worked around the problem by talking Sheep. Within two days he found a job as a shepherd in Pallars Sobirà, Catalonia.

“What surprised me most was the good people,” he said. “Very good people. Very welcoming. I was living in my bosses’ house. They treated me like a son.”

Shepherd Mustafa with his dogs. Photo Stephen Cracknell

During his first summer in the high pastures, however, he had to live alone in a tent. When he brought the sheep back down in autumn, they had gained weight, but he had lost 14kg.

“One night I heard a lot of noise coming from the sheep. I was sleeping in the tent. The bear was eating a sheep fifty metres away. Eating the sheep. Argh! Well, I shut the tent up and that was it. I just let him eat it.”

After three years he obtained his residence papers. He and his wife, Fatima, now have two children. All four of them speak Catalan, Spanish, Berber and Arabic.

Another person now living in the mountains is Adeline.

Before she moved to France’s Ariège département, she only knew the Pyrenees through its footpaths.

Her mother was a nurse, her father a stonemason, she herself was a teacher. Then she fell in love with Mathias, a shepherd. Despite her origins in the south of France, moving to an isolated farm was a big leap for her.

“I decided to resign from teaching because I knew that it was no longer right for me. It was a bit like jumping off a cliff because I knew it would be difficult to earn my living.”

When she moved to Mathias’ farm, she took up management of the walkers’ hostel – which is how Gordon and I came to meet her. She grew food to feed the guests. Then, when there was a glut of fruit, she converted it into ice cream and sorbet. Now she runs the hostel, works the land, and sells produce, both fresh and frozen, on her market stall in St Girons.

Adeline now runs a walkers’ hostel at Esbintz in Ariège. Photo: Stephen Cracknell

“When I arrived, I was Mathias’ girlfriend… Now it’s the opposite effect. So, when Mathias comes on my stall, people say, ‘Oh you are the boyfriend of the girl who makes ice cream!’” Adeline has become part of the community.

But what to make of René? Unlike Mustapha and Adeline, René was born and bred in the Pyrenees, as was everyone in the family except for his Swiss wife.

He has always lived in Ariège. In my definition he is a local. But he told us: “We are foreigners”.

His grandfather, he explained, came from the Ebro delta in southern Catalonia, looking for work.

He walked across the Pyrenees, crossed the border into France and stopped at the first village. He married a woman who was living there. That was in 1920.

Yet René still feels he is an outsider despite his family roots in the area. His comments give a clue to his sense of detachment: “The locals, it’s simple. Here, it’s sheep, Saint-Girons it’s cows. Full stop. Forests? If they are a problem, they get burnt.”

Until his recent retirement, René was a school nurse: “What I see in the young locals in the sixth-form college in Foix, for example, for some, as soon as they go beyond Pamiers [20km north], it is worse than northern Europe. They’ve never been away.”

These four routes to the Pyrenees – by dinghy, by love, by walking, by birth – are as diverse as the people who followed them. As the poet Antonio Machado wrote: “Traveller, there is no path, the path is made by walking”.

Mountain People: Tales from the Pyrenees, by Gordon Wilson and Steve Cracknell, is published by Austin Macauley (London). Also published by Stephen Cracknell: The Implausible Rewilding of the Pyrenees, Lulu, 2021

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