Avignon closes its Cour d'Honneur, a giant dragon returns to Calais's streets: our national picks for the July 25-26 weekend, across twelve French regions.
The last weekend of July closes more doors than it opens. Avignon lowers its curtain. Chalon packs away its street stages. Cornouaille wraps up its bagad band contests. Two events couldn't care less: a fifteen-metre dragon is back on the streets of Calais, and an Indian festival of colour takes over a corner of the Sologne.
Why choose between a grand finale and a show that ignores everyone else's calendar? This national selection mixes both, with verified dates and places, from the Pyrenees to the Channel coast.
Twelve events, twelve regions, for the weekend of July 25-26, 2026.
Festival d'Avignon, Avignon: the last night beneath the Palais des Papes ramparts
Jean Vilar founded this festival in 1947. Every July since, the Cour d'Honneur of the Palais des Papes turns into a stage for the most ambitious productions in world theatre. This year's edition brought together more than 40 shows and dozens of directors from around the globe.
The Festival d'Avignon closes its doors this Saturday, July 25, after three weeks of performances that opened on July 4. A last evening beneath the ramparts, for anyone who wants a proper send-off. Tickets for the Cour d'Honneur sell out fast in the final days: book early if Saturday's programme tempts you.
Chalon dans la Rue, Chalon-sur-Saône: the whole town turns into a stage, one last time
Since 1987, Chalon-sur-Saône has turned into an open-air theatre every summer. From Thursday July 23 to Sunday July 26, around 150 French and international companies give more than 700 performances in the streets, squares and gardens. Street theatre, circus, dance, puppetry: it all plays out in public, mostly for free.
The town counts close to 200,000 spectators over the four days, making it France's biggest gathering of street arts. Sunday the 26th closes Chalon dans la Rue, before the stages come down. Worth exploring on foot, across two districts of the old town.
Festival de Cornouaille, Quimper: Brittany's biggest culture festival wraps up
Founded in 1923, this festival draws more than 150,000 visitors each summer over four days in the old centre of Quimper. Parades in traditional dress, bagad band competitions, fest-noz dances and workshops fill the programme, with more than 150 events on offer.
The Festival de Cornouaille lives out its final weekend through July 26. It usually saves the big parades and the bagad final for these last two days. Grandparents in traditional headdress, children dressed as pipers: several generations cross paths here, on a programme that's largely free.
La Cinéscénie du Puy du Fou, Les Épesses: the world's biggest night show carries on
Every summer evening through September 12, the Vendée countryside hosts this show, this weekend included. Created in 1978 by Philippe de Villiers, it remains the largest night-time show in the world.
On a 23-hectare stage, 2,400 volunteer actors, the Puyfolais, retrace seven centuries of Vendée history through the saga of the Maupillier family. Fireworks, water jets, laser projections and 3D video mapping accompany 360-degree spatial sound.
Seats for La Cinéscénie du Puy du Fou book up far in advance. A Vendée summer classic that still manages to stun despite its fame.
Des Flammes à la Lumière, Verdun: the Great War replayed every night
Every evening through August 1, the Carrières d'Haudainville quarries replay this show, created in 1996 and billed as Europe's biggest sound-and-light spectacle devoted to the First World War.
Three hundred volunteer actors, nine hundred costumes and thirteen hundred projectors build a sixty-scene fresco: the crossing paths of soldiers and civilians, French and German, from the Belle Époque through the Armistice to reconciliation.
Des Flammes à la Lumière packs a century of local history into a single dense evening.
Jazz in Marciac, Marciac: halfway through three weeks under the big top
From July 20 through August 5, this small Gers village lives out its jazz season, running since 1978. It is now France's biggest jazz festival, and one of the most respected anywhere.
The big top on Place du Chevalier d'Antras has hosted Wynton Marsalis, Herbie Hancock, Diana Krall and Robert Plant over the years. This weekend falls right in the middle of the three-week run.
Jazz in Marciac turned this Gers village into an international destination without losing its open-air party feel.
CosmoJazz Festival, Chamonix-Mont-Blanc: jazz comes back down from the Aiguille du Midi
Saturday July 25 marks the last date of this festival, founded in 2010 by pianist André Manoukian, his partner Stéphanie Manoukian and programmer Carine Zuber.
For six days, jazz musicians have performed above 2,000 metres, at the summit of the Aiguille du Midi, at Planpraz and in the valley, all free of charge.
This closing show of the CosmoJazz Festival, at Parc Couttet, brings the festival back down to valley level. A last concert open to everyone, no cable car or hike required.
Festival d'Art Sacré, Bastia: sacred music closes its 25th edition
This festival closes its 25th edition on Sunday July 26. Launched in 2002, it has spent six days staging sacred music concerts inside Bastia's religious buildings.
The genre is rare in Corsica's summer line-up, which usually leans toward secular polyphony or village fêtes. Voices and organs, inside churches often closed to the public the rest of the year, give this final concert a distinctive setting.
Festival d'Art Sacré closes the week in music, far from the open-air stages of the rest of this selection.
Fêtes de la Madeleine, Mont-de-Marsan: the region's biggest fair ends Sunday
Started in 1933, these festivities form the biggest fair of the Landes region's capital. Through Sunday July 26, the town dresses in blue and white for five days of intense celebration.
Landes bull-running, bullfights at the Plumaçon arena, brass-band parades and cavalcades fill the days. Evenings turn to concerts and open-air dances, for every age group.
This weekend carries the heaviest crowds before Sunday's close of the Fêtes de la Madeleine. A historic fair, best experienced immersed in the streets of downtown Mont-de-Marsan.
Le Dragon de Calais, Calais: the fifteen-metre creature returns to the streets
Since November 2019, this steel-and-wood monster, more than 15 metres long, has roamed the streets and harbour of Calais, between Avenue Winston Churchill and the seafront.
Designed by François Delarozière and the Compagnie La Machine, it breathes fire, smoke and water on its regular outings. On the weekend of July 25-26, the creature is back for its usual walks, carrying passengers or trailed by crowds along the quays.
Watching le Dragon de Calais in motion remains a rare sight, even for locals. No booking, no hidden schedule: just follow the crowd down to the harbour.
Bals Barges, Aulnay-sous-Bois: the last dance on the Ourcq canal
These free, popular open-air dances hold their final evening this weekend, on Sunday July 26. Since July 4, they've livened up the banks of the Ourcq canal in Aulnay-sous-Bois, part of the wider L'Été du Canal programme.
Waltz, rock, tango, salsa or musette: every evening switched rhythm, with no ticket and no sign-up. Locals and visitors danced together, all generations mixed, right by the water.
It's a last chance before next year for the Bals Barges. The simple, almost old-fashioned format stands apart from the big-ticket festivals filling the rest of summer.
Holi Festival de New Mayapur, Luçay-le-Mâle: an Indian festival of colour, for one Sunday
Run by the ISKCON community settled since 1975 at the Château d'Oublaise, this event brings Holi, the Indian festival of colour, to life with upbeat music, traditional dances and clouds of coloured powder.
It happens this Sunday, July 26, free to attend. It's probably the most unexpected outing of the weekend nationwide: nothing like a concert or a village market.
Wear clothes you don't mind ruining: the powder at the Holi Festival de New Mayapur doesn't always wash out easily. A collective, family-friendly experience, best enjoyed outdoors if the weather allows.
Building your weekend, anywhere in France
Curtain down in Avignon, stages packed away in Chalon, one last dance on the Ourcq canal in Aulnay: this weekend closes more seasons than it opens. Yet a dragon keeps breathing fire in Calais, and the Sologne turns bright with coloured powder, indifferent to everyone else's calendar.
Twelve events, twelve regions: where to start? Every region holds plenty more beyond this national pick.
For the full rundown of what's on near you, see our this weekend's agenda and compare programmes region by region.
