Events in France in June 2024 show what a glorious month it is. This year there are some memorable events, including the 80th anniversary of the D-Day Landings on June 6, 1944. There are festivals everywhere as well as Roland Garros tennis, Brittany’s La Gacilly famous outdoor photo festival, and Impressionist Normandy which is one of the biggest celebrations of Impressionism taking place in Normandy and Paris.

Soldier's helmet on beach at entrance to concrete bunker looking out to sea
D-Day Landing Beach © D. Dumas CRT Normandie

Check out the events in France in June 2024 to help plan your visit in advance.

To Jun 2, 2024: Rendezvous aux Jardins. This very popular government sponsored event takes place throughout France with around 2,400 public and private gardens opening up to the public (like the Château de Rivau below). You can talk to the gardeners, go on guided tours, watch demonstrations on plants, see exhibitions, and enjoy musical walks, games and more.

Chateau de rivau Loire Valley kitchen garden with fairytale castle in white stone in background and pumpkins and squashes very colorfully at front
Château de Rivau ©

To Jun 2, 2024: Voiles d’Antibes on the Côte d’Azur is the start of the famous seaborne Mediterranean circuit races, when those beautiful rare, vintage and classic yachts unfurl their sails and race through the water.

Les Voiles d'antibes event with two old yachts, sails at full stretch in blue sea in front of Antibe's castle and fort in background
Les Voiles d’Antibes © Frank Follet Photography

To Jun 3, 2024: Salon Vivre Côté Sud in Aix-en-Provence is a must if you’re interested in interior design. Organised by the Maisons Côté Sud magazine, it’s a seductive view of living in the south of France.

Large field of purple lavender and in distance small mas or farmhouse wof warm stone with red tiled roof, trees around against misty background of far hillside
Small mas in Provence © Jioaliang Gao/Wikimedia

To Jun 9, 2024: Roland Garros in Paris is one of the 4 major world Grand Slam tennis tournaments. Taking place on 20 clay courts, it began in 1925. Like other major tournaments, each match is five sets long (for men) and 3 sets long (for women). 

View of Roland Garros tennis Paris showing domed seating and tall tower in front in leafy setting
Roland Garros © Mister No/CC-BY-SA 3.0

There are two major awards: the Musketeers’ Cup for men and the Suzanne Lenglen cup for women. The womens’ cup is named after the great tennis player who (among other things) was one of the early famous women wearing a bra invented in 1889 by Herminie Cadolle. There are also trophies for the winners of the men’s doubles, ladies’ doubles and mixed doubles.

Suzanne Lenglen playing tennis in 1920. Old black and white photo of her in the air doing a backhand shot with one arm raised behind her. She's in long skirts
Suzanne Lenglen playing in 1920 Public domain via Wikimedia

To Jun 15, 2024: Festival de musique de Sully et du Loiret. Held in the delightful Loire Valley, the festival has been running since 1973. It presents a mix of classical and jazz in the famous château and other local heritage buildings.

Discover more about this part of the Loire Valley on the drive from Nevers to Orleans.

Aerial view of the Chateau de Sully from high up looking down onto river that washes its walls, and surrounding road and green park
Château de Sully © D. Chauveau/Sully

To Jun 18, 2024: D-Day Commemorated. Each year, between late May and mid-June, the D-Day landing beaches host events commemorating the events of the great 6 June 1944 invasion of France by the Allies. There’s a full programme with guided walks, historical re-enactments, exhibitions, fireworks, parachute drops in period costume, tours of the installation and bunkers, military vehicle parades, concerts and more.

This year sees the 80th anniversary of D-Day, so expect many more events and many more people along the Normandy coastline.

Couple in 1940s costume dancing in square at Carentan with statue behind and old houses
Dancing at D-Day Festival in Carentan © C. Cauchard

See my article on a tour of the D-Day Landing Beaches from Utah to Sword.

For accommodation near the D-Day Landing Beaches, check my article here.

American Normandy Landing Beaches Cemetery. rows of headstone; one nearest with US flag
American Cemetery © Alastair McKenzie

To Jun 27, 2024: Saint-Denis Festival is a superb festival in the great basilica of Saint-Denis in Paris and other buildings in the arrondissement. Classical music concerts from French and international orchestras range from the classics to contemporary. Some concerts are broadcast on a giant screen in front of the basilica and there are plenty of events for children as well.

Saint-Denis Festival with audience on seats in front of Saint Denis basilica watching the concert inside on a giant screen
Saint-Denis Festival

To Jul 27, 2024: Festival de Nîmes in Occitanie. Music festival with a big line up includes Eric Clapton, Suzanne Vega, James Blunt and many more. The festival has been wowing the crowds 1997 and is one of the important festivals in the south of France. But hurry; many concerts are sold out.

Nîmes Festival with huge crowd around circular stage bathed in organse glow from fireworks in background
Nîmes Festival

To Sep 22, 2024: The Impressionist Festival in Normandy celebrates the 150th anniversary of the birth of the Impressionists. Around 150 to 200 events are organised in the main cities celebrating the art: Rouen, Caen, Le Havre, Cherbourg, Giverny, Honfleur, Port-en-Bessin-Huppain, Fécamp and Saint Lô and in other smaller towns. The connection between contemporary art and Impressionism is also a theme in the concerts, major Impressionist exhibitions, installations, dance and more, including the exhibition Whistler, the Butterfly Effect at the Musée des Beaux-Arts (Fine Arts Museum) in Rouen (May 24-Jul 24), and a Gwen John exhibition at the Château-Musée in Dieppe from end June to end September.
Official site of the Impressionist Destination Festival in Normandy
Here’s an overall view of Normandy Impressionism
An Idiot’s Guide to the Great Impressionist Painters

Cliffs at Etretat by Monet
Étretat cliffs by Monet. Public domain via Wikimedia Commons

To Nov 3, 2024: International Garden Festival at Chaumont-sur-Loire Château in the Loire Valley is a fabulous, huge Festival, the Chelsea Flower Show of France. The Château and grounds are lovely and the festival of a series of gardens from international designers always delivers some surprises.

Chaumont garden festival showing garden The Banquet. Lots of plants growing, many herbs with kilner jars in the soil
Chaumont Garden Festival 2022 – The Banquet Garden © E. Sander

To Jan, 2025: Chartres en lumières sees this wonderful city illuminated for its annual festival of light. The first city to do this, it really is a must-see event.

Mediatheque in Chartres seen from fountains in the ground. spectacular building in background lit up with spectacular colours
Mediatheque in Chartres © F. Delauney Spectaculaire, allumeurs d’images

Events in France starting in June 2024

Jun 1-2, 2024:  Medieval Festival de Provins. This UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Seine-et-Marne near Paris is an exceptionally well preserved fortified medieval city. Their  annual Medieval Fair is great fun with swashbuckling galore, sinister characters along with musicians, stilt walkers and entertainers. There are camps, craftspeople making and selling jewellery, spices, fabrics and costumes from the distant past. And it’s great for children.

Provins annual medieval festival with men in coloured costumes and 2 women walking along streets playing wind instruments and drums
Annual Provins Medieval Festival © Provins TO

Jun 3-Jul 16, 2024: Les Nuits de Fourvière in the Gallo-Roman theatres of Lyon is a magical feast of theatre, music, dance, opera and circus. Around 60 performances are watched by over 130,000 spectators.

Overall view of the roman amphitheatre in Lyon
Lyon Roman amphitheatre where the Nuits de Fourvières Festival takes place

Jun 9-15, 2024: Annecy Animated Film Festival The international competition, founded in 1960,  has over 200 films from short to feature films, TV movies and student films. Premières take place at different venues, plus conferences and more. There are free outdoor screenings each night at Le Pâquier.

annecy animated film festival in bonlieu with many flages in pattern from ceiling
Annecy Animated Film Festival at Le Paquier © Wikimedia/Gouawana

Jun 9-Jul 6, 2024: The Anjou Festival now in its 72nd season has become the second biggest outdoor theatre event in France. The festival presents a varied programme in historic venues.  

anjou Festival with stage against two sides of old house and audience in front
Anjou Festival © Christophe Martin/Anjou Festival

Jun 12-16, 2024: Festival du Film de Cabourg, Normandy. Every summer, Cabourg’s film festival is dedicated to romantic films. Premières, tributes and retrospectives, lectures, debates and meetings, all open to the public. There’s also an outdoor cinema with 400 seats set up on the beach. You’re likely to spot French stars like Marion Cotillard and Sophie Marceau. At the end of the competition, the Swann d’Or awards are given to the best feature-length films, best short film, best actress and best actor.

Cabourg Film Festival with red carpet running along on boardwalk outside large buildings to right; lots of colourful balloons flying and people in distance
Cabourg Film Festival © Georges Biard/CC-BY-SA 4

Jun 12-Jul 5, 2024: Les Flaneries de Reims is a delightful classical music festival that also includes world music and jazz. Around 60 concerts, many of them free, take place around the city: in the St. Remi Basilica, the Opera, the Manège de Reims Circus, the Palace of Tau and Reims Station Forecourt. A big outdoor picnic finishes the festival. Free shuttle buses take people from one part of the city to another.

Reaims Flaneries with ope air concert with musicians on stage and fields beyond and audience on chairs
Flaneries de Reims © Axel Coueuret

Jun 13-16, 2024: 24 Hours of Le Mans race, in Le Mans in the Pays de la Loire is one of the most famous car races in the world. It covers a road circuit of just over 8 miles (13kms) in Le Mans, part of which is on a public road.

More about the Le Mans race and the museum.

De Dion Bouton car with hood up in front of poster showing early 20th century ladies in their fab car
De Dion Bouton at Le Mans © Mary Anne Evans

Jun 14-16, 2024: Nature is Bike, Angers, Loire Valley. Dedicated to gravel bikes, it’s a sporting event but is aimed at reconnecting with nature, involving families, professionals and enthusiasts. There are two events: a 64km night ride and a 100km daytime course. There’s also a family ramble, a ‘Gravel Expo’ trade fair and environment-focused events. Angers is a major cycling centre, located where three major cycling routes cross.  The town is well known for its extraordinary historic and contemporary tapestries.

Bike riders in Angers showing 4 standing by bikes on edge of lake with old buildings in background
Bike riders in Angers @Leonard-de-Serres

Jun 14-22 Jul, 2024: Chorégies d’Orange started in 1869, making it the oldest festival in France. It’s held in the magnificent Roman Théâtre Antique, which seats 8,600 people, has superb acoustics and puts on popular operas and classical music.

Orange music festival with view from back of audience high up looking down over audience in tiered seating facing magnificent roman amphitheatre facade
Madame Butterfly at Orange © jean-louis zimmermann/CC-BY-SA 2.02.0

Jun 21-Nov 3, 2024:  La Gacilly Photo Festival is a wonderful outdoor photo festival. For three months, hundreds of large format photos are displayed in the parks, green maze, squares and streets of the small town in Morbihan, Brittany.

La Gacilly, Brittany, outdoor photo festival showing big board withexplanation in shady park and boards with photos behind
La Gacilly Photo Festival

Jun 24, 2024: World Music Day (concerts and dancing in the streets throughout France). It began in 1982 and has blossomed since then. Everyone participates so there’s an enormous variety of music from contemporary to folk as the music schools, conservatories, museums, hospitals, radio, concert halls, cafés, street performers and more put on their own versions.

Jun 24-29, 2024: Jazz a Ramatuelle, Var, PACA. Since 1986, swing jazz has been played here, mainly with American and French jazzmen. Established musicians and new discoveries play her and at the Fringe Festival.

Jazz at Ramatuelle poster 2024 with crescent moon over sea and sand dunes and wording on top
Jazz at Ramateuelle 2024

Jun 25-30, 2024:  Marseille Film Festival, Marseille, Bouches-du-Rhône. Over 200 films from around 30 different countries are shown, many for the first time. There are three competitions: international, French and debut films. Open to professionals and the public at cinemas, art galleries, theatres and outdoor amphitheatres. There are also retrospectives and great classics. Around 500 professionals and over 20,000 spectators attend.

Jun 26-30, 2024: Rock and electronic music Since 1997, the Garorock festival in Marmande by the Garonne river has offered 3 days of rock and electronic music. Outdoor stages attract thousands of music lovers, listening to music from 1pm to 5am.

Garorock Festival shot taken from back of audience with people holding up mobiles and band on stage well lit
Garorock Festival © Wikimedia/Oberten47

Jun 26-Jul 23, 2024: Summer Sales throughout France.
Read more about Discount shopping, malls, bargains and sales in France.
And…Flea markets and brocante fairs are always great entertainment.

Two girls with backs to us. One with red top and hat carrying a carrier bag over her shoulder withthe worlds La Vallee beside girl with dark hair looking at flowers
La Vallee Shopping

Jun 26-Sep 8, 2024: Paris Jazz Festival. 25 free festivals spread over the summer take place in the Parc Floral in  jazz, world music and Afro-American music (soul, blues). Along with the concerts, there are workshops where you can make instruments from salvaged objects, introductions to percussion and conferences as well as a sound discovery area for children in the Botanic Garden. All concerts and activities are free; there’s a charge for admission to the park.

The Leleu brothers at Paris Jazz ©

Jun 27-30, 2024: Hellfest in Clisson, Loire-Atlantique. Since 2006 Hellfest has been staging hard rock, gothic rock, heavy metal, black metal and hardcore punk. Seven stages for the biggest names from Guns’n’Roses to Iron Maiden, Kiss to Deep Purple  and many more. Not everyone goes in the gear you’d expect: Festival-goers appear as pink rabbits, Gauls and Teletubbies.

Hellfest festival with people carrying banners running away from camera
Hellfest

Jun 27-Jul 16, 2024: Jazz à Vienne, Isère. Great names lined up for this annual popular jazz festival held in the Théâtre Antique which can hold over 7,000 spectators. Over 200,000 people descend on the city to see the performances at venues from Jazz Mix to the Cybèle stage. There’s a Jazz Parade and if you’re near Vienne you might catch the Caravan’Jazz which travels around the local communes. Isère is a fabulous place to visit (there’s more on Isèrere here).

Jazz festival in Vienne in a huge amphitheatre looking down from back to toptier of seats to huge stage with performers
Jazz in Vienne © Daniel Culson/CC-BY-SA 3.0

Jun 28-30, 2024: Les Nuits de Nacre in Tulle, Limousin. If you are an accordion fan this is for you. Music is everywhere from the streets to cafés, from concert halls to public squares. Most of the 90 concerts which feature all kinds of music from gipsy jazz to world music, are free.

nuits de Nacre accordion festival with one band in old fashioned costumes and top hat and instruments on ground in front
Nuits de Nacre musicians Accordion Festival

June 28-30, 2024: Saumur in Anjou has a great event – a Vintage Cycle Ride! Participants register for a ride – anything from 30kms to 105 kms, dress up as their favourite vintage character and set off around Saumur.

Saumur vintage cycle ride showing two people man and woman dressed in 1940s-50s style sitting on bicycles
Saumur vintage cycle ride

June 28-Jul 31, 2024: Carcassonne Festival is fabulous in a superb setting. 120 shows (80 of which are free in the OFF festival) are performed on 11 stages taking in opera, theatre, dance, music classes. With over 250,000 visitors it’s one of the biggest festivals in France.

Jun 29-Jul 21, 2024: Avignon Festival. Founded in 1947 this festival has grown to become one of the biggest for international contemporary live performance events. It’s a beautiful city, so seeing a performance here is truly magical. Over 130,000 people come for theatre, visual arts, dance and music. Every night there’s a permiere of a new work.

Dark stage with performers and papal palace b ackdrop avignon festival
Avignon Festival

Jun 28-Jul 7, 2024: La Rochelle International Film Festival on the French Atlantic coast explores the world of films from everywhere. 250 films, historic and contemporary are shown at a festival that prides itself on the unusual and the unknown (many are not distributed through the usual channels). Retrospectives rediscover forgotten works and stars. This year it’s the turn of Marcel Pagnol, the great influencer on 20th century literature, theatre and cinema. Older generations remember films with Fernandel and others; younger ones remember Manon des Sources. New films bring European and international works to the audience. And international stars always come to this festival.

Two old postcards showing Marcel Pagnol in black and white with theatre on top and portraits of actors below
Marcel Pagnol in Prague 1931

Jun 29-Jul 21, 2024: Tour de France. The world’s greatest cycling race starts in Florence then goes to Turin before crossing into France. Due to the Paris Olympics, the Tour will finish for the first (and only) time in Nice.

Paris tour de france final 2002 with many riders going round arc de triomphe
Paris Tour de France Final 2022 © ASO/Charly Lopez

Events in France in 2024

Have I missed an event you think I should include? Please do let me know.
Events in France in January 2024
Events in France in February 2024
Events in France in March 2024
Events in France in April 2024
Events in France in May 2024

I am updating the events in France in 2024 but have left 2023 as many of France’s major events occur each year, usually at the same time of the month.

Events in France in July 2023
Events in France in August 2023
Events in France in September 2023
Events in France in October 2023
Events in France in November 2023
Events in France in December 2023

More about great Food Festivals in France
Public holidays in France

More about Normandy, much in the news this year.

Here’s a quick guide to the French regions and departments to help you find where the events are taking place.

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