Festivals and events across France this weekend, October 10 and 11: Montmartre celebrates its grape harvest, Lapalisse recreates the Nationale 7 and Honfleur honours the scallop.
Saturday, on the Butte Montmartre. The Montmartre Grape Harvest Festival, open in Paris since October 7, runs there until Sunday the 11th. Festivals and events across France this weekend, October 10 and 11: Montmartre celebrates its grape harvest, Lapalisse recreates the Nationale 7 and Honfleur honours the scallop.
Montmartre's harvest, from the vineyard to the whole 18th arrondissement
Since 1934, the Montmartre Grape Harvest Festival has celebrated the harvest of the Clos Montmartre, one of the last vineyards in Paris. It lasts five days, from 7 to 11 October 2026, at the foot of the Sacré-Cœur. Free concerts, a food trail with producers and winemakers, a grand parade of brotherhoods: the Butte becomes a festive village.
It all began with a property development plan. In 1933, Pierre Labric, mayor of the Commune Libre, Jean-Louis Forain, Francisque Poulbot and Adolphe Willette, founders of the République de Montmartre, secured the planting of new vines at the corner of rue des Saules and rue Saint-Vincent to stop it. From 1934, the harvest was celebrated under the patronage of Mistinguett and Fernandel.
Since 2008, the town hall of the 18th has extended the festival to every neighbourhood of the arrondissement, from Grandes-Carrières to the Goutte d'Or.
The République de Montmartre, founded in 1920, leads the Grand Parade, which the P'tits Poulbots accompany on drums, in 1813 infantry costumes.
The City of Paris gardeners look after the Clos all year. The Comité des Fêtes et d'Actions Sociales of the 18th makes the Clos wine under the direction of an oenologist, bottles it in the cellars of the 18th arrondissement town hall and sells it in support of the arrondissement's social work. The whole official programme is free; on the Parcours du Goût, only the exhibitors' products are paid for. The festival ranks third among Parisian events by attendance, after Paris-Plage and the Nuit Blanche. In October 2025, the 92nd edition drew close to 492,000 people.
From the N7 to the quays of Honfleur
In Lapalisse, in the Allier, the Embouteillage de la Nationale 7 runs from October 8 to 11: hundreds of period vehicles, cars, caravans, trucks, bicycles and scooters, cross the town on Saturday and Sunday, drivers in retro costume, for the 11th edition and the 20 years of Nationale 7 Historique. Honfleur celebrates its sea. The Festival of the Scallop and Fishing, born in 1994 as the Shrimp Festival, lines the quays of the Vieux Bassin with a seafood market, sea shanties and demonstrations of capstan hauling.
At the Champ de Mars in Foix, the Foire de la Barguillère gathers breeders, producers and craftspeople on Saturday and Sunday (10/10/2026 and 11/10/2026), from 9 am to 6 pm, with lumberjack contests. On Sunday only, in the Creuse, the Chénérailles Horse Fair presents between 200 and 250 horses on the fairground, a tradition going back to 1902.
Marseille, esplanade Gisèle Halimi, at the foot of the Mucem: the Fiesta des Suds brings world music, rock, reggae, electro and hip-hop until Sunday the 11th, a closing day traditionally free. In Mauves-sur-Loire, twenty minutes from Nantes, Mauves de Rire fills the 226-seat Théâtre Le Vallon with comedy from Friday to Sunday, at 20 euros an evening for the full rate and 18 euros for the reduced rate. In Charleville-Mézières, the Nuit Blanche turns some twenty places in the town centre into a gallery, free of charge, on Saturday from 7 pm to 1 am.
Dijon starts the Marathon des Grands Crus, with a marathon, half marathon, 10 km, 5 km and roller races along the Route des Grands Crus as far as Vougeot. For families, Faites du Jeu dans Landerneau opens free of charge, from age 2, on Saturday from 2:30 pm to midnight and on Sunday from 10 am to 6 pm.
During the Montmartre festival, driving up to the Butte is strongly discouraged, even forbidden; metro lines 2, 4, 12 and 13 serve the sites.