From Solidays at the Longchamp racecourse to Europe's biggest mineral show in Alsace, eleven highlights to live the first great festival weekend of summer, region by region.
The Fête de la Musique is behind us, and the weekend of June 27-28, 2026 truly opens the season of the big festivals: this is the moment when meadows fill with stages, châteaux turn into concert halls and villages become open-air galleries. Rather than list everything, we've put together a tour of France of eleven highlights, region by region, from headliners that draw tens of thousands of festival-goers to quieter gems. This year, the first summer weekend pulls you in every direction: on the same Saturday you can dance on the lawns of Longchamp, cycle in period costume through the Saumur vineyards or listen to Corsican polyphony beneath the vaults of Bonifacio. From Paris to the Garonne, here is our national pick, all genres included.
Solidays in Paris: three days of music and solidarity at Longchamp (Paris region)
From Friday June 26 to Sunday June 28, the Paris-Longchamp racecourse hosts Solidays, one of the capital's biggest festive gatherings. Created in 1999 by the Solidarité Sida association, the festival brings together more than 200,000 people each year around an eclectic line-up — rap, pop, electro, reggae, rock — and an unwavering commitment in the fight against AIDS. On the lawns of the Bois de Boulogne, dozens of artists take turns across several stages well into the night, in an atmosphere that blends celebration and shared cause. It's the event that opens the Paris summer: every ticket sold funds projects against the epidemic. If you keep just one big urban festival this weekend, make it this one. Book ahead, the nights often sell out.
Garorock in Marmande: the South-West's giant on the banks of the Garonne (New Aquitaine)
On the Filhole plain, sixty hectares along the Garonne, Garorock unfolds its edition from June 26 to 28 in Marmande, in the Lot-et-Garonne. Born in 1997, this contemporary music festival has become one of the biggest line-ups of the French summer, with a programme that mixes rock, electro, hip-hop, pop and world music, and international headliners. The vast site lives day and night: main stages, electro areas, a festival village and campsites by the river. It's the archetypal marathon festival, where you come for the whole weekend rather than a single concert. Worth catching for anyone wanting the big-format South-West experience, in the heat of late June. Booking essential, the crowds are huge.
Europavox in Clermont-Ferrand: all of Europe on stage on Place du 1er Mai (Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes)
From June 26 to 28, the Place du 1er Mai in Clermont-Ferrand becomes the beating heart of Europavox, a one-of-a-kind festival devoted to the continent's music scene. Created in 2006, it has programmed more than 500 bands from across Europe and gathered 160,000 festival-goers over the editions. The idea: to spotlight, for one weekend, artists heard nowhere else in France, from big names to emerging revelations, in a line-up resolutely turned towards diversity. It's the festival for the curious, for those who like to leave with three discoveries in mind. A stimulating counterpoint to the summer's big machines, in the heart of a lively student city.
Festival de Carcassonne: the season opens at the foot of the ramparts (Occitanie)
From June 26 through July 31, the Festival de Carcassonne launches its summer season at the foot of the medieval city, a UNESCO World Heritage site. With more than 200,000 spectators and some 150 shows across a dozen stages, it is one of the largest performing-arts festivals in the south of France. Pop and rock concerts, contemporary music, but also theatre, dance and opera: the programming is deliberately broad, and part of it remains free. The opening weekend sets the tone for the edition, with its first big nights in the unique setting of the floodlit ramparts. Watching a concert beneath the towers of the city, at nightfall, is one of the experiences to live once each summer.
Anjou Vélo Vintage in Saumur: 11,000 cyclists in period costume (Pays de la Loire)
From June 26 to 28, Saumur and the Saumurois turn back the clock with Anjou Vélo Vintage, Europe's largest gathering of vintage bicycles. Created in 2011, the event brings together more than 11,000 participants for a joyfully retro weekend: rides on period bikes through the vineyards, Roaring Twenties costumes, swing and jazz concerts, a vintage village, a flea market and tastings of Anjou specialities. The spirit is light-hearted, the image irresistible — thousands of cyclists in tweed and floral dresses on the roads of the Loire. It's one of the most photogenic events of the summer, a world away from the big electro stages, and a chance to discover Anjou differently. To enjoy in the saddle or simply as a spectator along the riverbanks.
Viva Cité in Sotteville-lès-Rouen: street arts take over the town (Normandy)
From June 26 to 28, Sotteville-lès-Rouen hands itself over to artists with Viva Cité, one of France's great street-arts festivals. Founded in 1990 by the Atelier 231, a national centre for street arts, the event stages more than 200 free performances each late June across the town's neighbourhoods, squares and most unexpected spaces. Street theatre, contemporary circus, monumental parades, performances: the programme turns public space into a giant open stage, accessible to all, with no ticketing. It's a popular, family-friendly date, where you drift from one show to the next through the streets. For lovers of art that comes down into the street and surprises at the corner of a square, Viva Cité is one of the finest of the season.
Mineral & Gem in Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines: Europe's biggest mineral show (Grand Est)
Through June 28, Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines, in the Haut-Rhin, hosts Mineral & Gem, Europe's largest mineralogy and gemmology show, the second in the world after Tucson, Arizona. Across nearly 52,000 m², the town centre turns into a giant cabinet of curiosities where more than 1,000 exhibitors from around the world display minerals, fossils, gems and jewellery. Giant crystals, meteorites, precious stones: it's a journey into the depths of the Earth, as much for seasoned collectors as for families. The event draws tens of thousands of visitors each year to this former Vosges mining town. An extraordinary outing, to discover before the Sunday close, like no other festival of the summer.
Rencontres et Racines Festival in Audincourt: thirty-five years of world music (Burgundy-Franche-Comté)
From June 26 to 28, the Parc Japy in Audincourt, in the Montbéliard area, hosts the Rencontres et Racines festival, a fixture of world music and urban cultures since 1990. Reggae, dub, hip-hop, chanson, world music and fusions follow one another on stage, but the festival is also a great community village where more than 70 cultural and charitable associations run stalls and activities. It is this caring, intercultural dimension that makes it singular: you come as much for the music as for the spirit of the place. Human-scale and rooted in its territory, it proves a festival can be popular, committed and musically demanding all at once. A fine gateway to the summer's mixed sounds.
Chambord Live: concerts at the foot of the Loire's greatest château (Centre-Val de Loire)
From June 26 to 28, the Domaine national de Chambord hosts Chambord Live, the contemporary music festival staged in the exceptional setting of the largest château in the Loire Valley, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Since 2022, the event has brought together headliners of pop, rock, electro and hip-hop before the monumental silhouette of François I's château, for a capacity of 30,000. The setting is everything: watching a big concert unfold facing the towers and lantern turrets of Chambord, as day fades, is an experience of its own. It's one of the finest marriages of heritage and live music on the French calendar. Plan access and parking ahead, the estate is vast.
La Gacilly Photo Festival: Europe in the open air, a village turned gallery (Brittany)
All weekend, and through October 4, the village of La Gacilly, in the Morbihan, remains Europe's largest open-air photography gallery. Created in 2004, the La Gacilly Photo Festival fills the streets, squares and gardens each summer with around thirty monumental exhibitions — fine-art photography, photojournalism, nature reportage — drawing more than 300,000 visitors. The visit is free, open-access, in the open air: you wander from one giant print to the next along the flowered lanes of the village. In June, the route is still fresh and the crowds gentler than at the height of summer. For lovers of the image and of strolling, it's a contemplative interlude, ideal with family or alone, the opposite of the buzz of the big stages.
Les Jeudis Polyphoniques in Bonifacio: Corsican voices beneath the vaults (Corsica)
All summer long, the upper town of Bonifacio, in Corse-du-Sud, resonates with the Jeudis Polyphoniques, a season of Corsican polyphony concerts held from April to October. In the setting of the Saint-Dominique church, around thirty evenings bring together the island's finest polyphonic groups, from Una Fiara Nova to L'Alba. Hearing these a cappella male voices resonate beneath the Gothic vaults, a stone's throw from the cliffs, is one of the most striking musical experiences on the island. It's a living gem of Corsican heritage, far from the big summer line-ups, to be experienced for the pure beauty of the singing. The concerts take place on Thursdays: to slot in before or after the weekend, for anyone passing through the far south of Corsica.
Building your weekend, anywhere in France
Big-format music at Longchamp and on the Garonne, a European stage in Clermont, a floodlit château at Chambord, tweed-clad cyclists in Saumur, street arts in Sotteville, giant crystals in Alsace, photography in La Gacilly or Corsican polyphony in Bonifacio: this first real summer weekend offers plenty to choose from by mood, from the great thrill of the headliners to the quieter gem. Every region has its own treasures 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.
