September is a glorious time to visit France. The days are warm and the sea beckons; the trees begin to change their colour; the crowds have largely gone, and the country starts the first grape harvests.

Here are some great events in France in September 2024.

To Sept 1, 2024: The Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc (UTBM) main race follows the hiking trail Tour du Mont Blanc.170kms with altitude changes attracts top athletes and elite runners in the main race. Another 7 races attract 10,000 runners to the roof of the world. The route passes through France, Switzerland and Italy.

Ultra Trail Mont Blanc race showing pathin hight mountains with competitors walking away with large rocks on one side and sky
Ultra Trail Mont Blanc © Wikimedia/mako1

To Sep 1, 2024VVR (vignes vins randos). Over 15 walks are organised in the vineyards of Anjou, the Loire Valley and Touraine by Val de Loire. Each walk lasts around three hours and is guided and hosted by a winegrower. Stop on the way to taste local products and visit local heritage attractions. Plus cooking demonstrations and events for children. And of course you can buy the wines you’ve tasted on the walks.

Loire valley vineyards from top of hill into valley where old stone buildings sit and vines on near and far slopes stretching away into distance
Loire Valley vineyards © Szidi05/Wikimedia Commons

To 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.

Paris jazz festival wit group of 3 wind players on stage and main in white shirt to right
Paris Jazz Festival © Barigaf/CC-BY-SA 4.0

To Sep 8, 2024: Le Voyage Estival in Nantes has become one of the most exciting, and original, summer events in France. It’s an urban trail with works of art, some of which are new, others are created. 30 or so different works start at the former LU factory by the Canal Saint- Félix, then continue past iconic sites and buildings like the castle of the Dukes of Brittany and the Machines de l’Isle park with its grand elephant. A green line on the ground takes you along the itinerary. Don’t worry if you miss it; there is a permanent Voyage à Nantes through the city.

Le Voyage a Nantes permanent trail with huge tape measure coming down from above and lying on ground and woman standing in front of poster
Le Voyage à Nantes Permanent Trail

To Sep 11, 2024: Paris Paralympic Games takes over the city. Less popular than the main Olympic Games, it’s a great chance to see these fabulous athletes close up.
Guide to the Paris Olympics
Quick Guide to Paris

Versailles Chateau used for Paris Olympics 2024 equestrian with long view down very long sandy arena with gardens on both sides then two large tiers of stands with people watching horse in middle
Château de Versailles Paris Olympics 2024 ©Paris2024

To Sep 22, 2024: Impressionist Destination 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

Claude Monet garden at Sainte adresse painting with sea in background with lots of ships, flags on shore and infront many well dressed victorian ladies sitting at tables
Claude Monet: Garden at Sainte-Adresse. Public domain

To Sept 29, 2024: Rencontres d’Arles. This large international and well-known photo expo is 50 years old. Over sixty exhibitions take place in heritage locations and most of the exhibits have not been seen before.

Les Rencontres d'Arles photograph exhibition with pictures covering walls in old church and people looking at them
Les Rencontres d’Arles © Gilzet base/CC-BY-SA 4.0

To Nov 3, 2024: International Garden Festival at Chaumont-sur-Loire château in the Loire Valley is equivalent in prestige to the Chelsea Flower Show. The Château and grounds are lovely and the festival of a series of gardens from international designers always delivers some surprises. This year’s theme is appropriately, the Resilient Garden.

chaumont Childrens garden with two children in patch of branches and flowers
Chaumont Childrens’ Garden © Chaumont Festival

To 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 photo festival. Man in front of photos outdoors
La Gacilly photo festival.

To Jan 5, 2025: Chartres en lumières sees this wonderful city illuminated for its annual festival of light. It’s nightly so there’s no excuse to miss it.  

Chartres lit up at Saint aignan church with facade totally covered in different coloured lights
Chartres lit up Public domain via Wikimedia Commons

Events in France starting in September 2024

Mid-September onwards: Wine harvest festivals are beginning all across France. Check the local tourist offices for celebrations where you are as the wine harvests are always one of the major events in September in France.

epernay vineyards in autumn. Long view with orange and red vines and church in distance with sun just appearing over horizon
Epernay vineyards in autumn © Alexandre Coudreux/Epernay Tourism

Sept 6-15, 2024: American Film Festival, Deauville, Calvados, Normandy.  At this well-established event you get the chance to see around 100 American films – from blockbuster Hollywood productions to small independent films. They’re on at the Lucien Barrière casino and Le Mony cinema. The festival village provides information on all the events.
Here’s a guide to chic Deauville, well worth a visit any month of the year.

Boardwalk at Deauville © L. Helbert/Normandy Tourism

Sept 7, 2024Nuits de Sologne starts at 5pm at Saint-Viâtre near Nouan-le-Fuzilier in the Sologne south of Orléans with musical entertainment and craft exhibitions, a bar and food stands. Sit on seats on the grass and wait for the first part of this spectacular show. At 8.45pm, there’s a projection onto an enormous façade. At 9.30pm the big fireworks start, synchronized to music. This might be a bit off the beaten track but it’s one of the events in September in France to try to see. You must buy tickets in advance from the website.

Fireworks showing back sky and red and white huge rockets snaking into the air and dropping down again
Fireworks at the Nuits de Solange

Sept 12-15, 2024: Bol d’Or, Le Castellet, Var, PACA. 100 years old this year, the Bol d’Or is the chance for endurance motorcyclists to compete with an international line-up. Lasting 24 hours, teams of three riders take turns during the competition. Races take in the Bol d’Argent, a 3-hour race for medium engine size motorbikes and the Bol d’Or Classic, which sees the great vintage bikes take to the track.
Enthusiasts can also see the race on a giant screen and check out the latest products from major manufacturers like BMW, Yamaha and Suzuki. And if that’s not enough, there are rock concerts, a funfair, paintball, freestyle demos and mini-bike workshops for those mini champions.

New Speed Triple 1200 RR Triumph on display at the Bol d'Or 2022 with two super motorbikes parked on land with mountinas behind, one red, one black
The new Triumph Speed Triple 1200 RR at the Bol d’Or 2022

Sept 13-15, 2024: The famous Lille Braderie takes over the city in Nord-Pas de Calais for a non-stop antiques and bric-a-brac fair that is quite a sight to see. It starts at 8am on Saturday and finishes at 6pm on Sunday. Wander among the streets of 10,000 amateur and professional exhibitors. If you can’t find what you’re looking for here, you never will. To keep up, eat endless portions of mussels and chips, then pile up the shells outside the restaurant. The competition for the largest pile is kept going by the 3 million or so visitors.

Stalls and buyers in the Bourse at Lille
Lille Braderie. Lille Tourist Office

Sept 14-15, 2024: Crémieu Medieval Festival, Crémieu, Isère. Watch the Middle Ages come to life as around 200 professionals and 300 volunteers re-enact the past. Horse shows, jousts, jugglers, stilt-walkers, flag-twirlers, fire-eaters, musicians and magicians provide the entertainment.
To see how the great unwashed lived, visit the living camps and watch the occasional dispute and fight with swords, lances and shield. Walk along the street where old trades flourish: potters, bow-makers, chainmail-makers and spinners.

Cremieu Medieval Festival September France with man in medieval costume on ground playing lute and others behind
Cremieu Medieval Festival © Didier Jungers/Balcons du Dauphine Tourisme

Sep 14-15, 2024: Mougins in the Alpes-Maritimes organises an international festival to gastronomy. French and foreign chefs demonstrate; there are lessons, competitions, workshops, signings and more. From 10am to midnight, eat from the stands and food trucks. One day is dedicated to children; after all they are the chefs of the future!

Mougins food festival picture of chef in middle at table and two children on each side of him
Mougins Food Festival is for children as well!

Sept 18-22, 2024Fête Renaissance du roi de l’oiseau in Le Puy-en-Velay, Auvergne. This Festival of Renaissance Arts just gets better each year. The whole town goes back in time, with most of the residents dressed up in costumes they have been making all year. There are parades, archery contests, camps and much more. And it takes place just 25 kms from my house.

Soldiers in 16th-century dress in huddle on ground holding weapons with lady in middle part of Le Puy Renaissance Festival
Renaissance Festival Le Puy-en-Velay © Jordan Fontanille/Le Puy TO

Sep 21-22, 2024: European Heritage days (Journées du patrimoine). Monuments and historic site throughout France (and Europe) put on a special show. You can get inside buildings not normally open like the Élysée Palace and private villas and castles. It’s not just about seeing the places; there are guided tours, skills demonstrations, theatre and music.

Elysee Palace from garden behind pink magnolia looking at gracious neo classical building from corner
Elysee Palace © Pierreschwartz/CC-BY-SA 4.0

Sept 21, 2024-Jan 5, 2025: The Lyon Contemporary Art Biennale was created in 1991. New contemporary artists, from sculptures to painters, photographers to video makers are represented. Three separate platforms are spread between the Contemporary Art Museum and La Sucrière on Quai Rambaud, La Veduta, a cultural laboratory with exhibitions and artists’ residencies, and Résonance, the biennial’s fringe event, devoted to the Rhône-Alpes art scene with performances and concerts. It alternates with the Dance Biennial which was created in 1984.

La Suriere building in Lyon showing 19th centry huge industrial building of concrete with huge glass winsows and words in red
La Sucriere in Lyon © Wikimedia/Buorrel

Sept 23-29, 2024: What a Trip! Heyme Festival, Montpellier, Herault, Occitanie. The International Travel and Adventure Festival has everything: a travel village, world bookshop, workshops, adventure travel and an official film competition, free concerts, exhibitions, talks and more. It’s organised by people who love travel and is not like so many trade shows around the world.

What a trip festival of travel photos and videos. this one in mountains partially snow covered with blue stream at bottom and small figures about to disappear around corner
What a Trip entry

Sept 28-Oct 6, 2024: Les Voiles de Saint Tropez, Saint Tropez, PACA. Around 300 sailing boats, both traditional and modern, gather to race in the Mediterranean. This is one of the last events in France in September so try to make it to catch that last summer sun. It’s a sight to see.

Old sailing yachts lined up all with white sails unfurled in waters off voiles of St Tropez
Les Voiles de St Tropez © Jean Francois Fournier/Wikimedia Commons

Sept-Dec, 2024: Paris Autumn Festival is a huge arts events, taking in every discipline and taking place in different venues throughout Paris. Around 50 events cover the new and the avant-garde. It was created in 1972 by Michel Guy under the impetus of Georges Pompidou who wanted Paris to become a cultural capital. He succeeded; today around 150,000 people attend one of the events.
Please Note: Exact dates to be decided.

 If you know of other events you think I should include, please do let me know!

More Events in France in 2024

If you know of other events 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
Events in France in June 2024
Events in France in July 2024
Events in France in August 2024
Events in France in October 2024
Events in France in November 2024

To be updated: Events in France in December 2023

More about great Food Festivals in France
Public holidays in France

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

Regions of France
French Departments