Events and festivals in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, September 19-20, 2026: Coupe Icare closes four days of free flight before 100,000 spectators, between Les Petites Roches and Lumbin, in Isère.
They all look up at the same moment. Above the Petites Roches plateau, in Isère, the show wraps up this 19-20/09. Coupe Icare, the world's largest free-flight event, expects 100,000 spectators over its four days of aerial displays above the Isère valley.
A hundred thousand spectators above the Petites Roches
Founded in 1974 in Saint-Hilaire-du-Touvet, high in the French Alps, Coupe Icare claims the title of the world's largest free-flight gathering. It closes out four days of paragliding, hang-gliding, paramotor and wingsuit displays this weekend, shared between the Petites Roches plateau and the neighbouring town of Lumbin.
Close to 100,000 spectators are expected across the whole edition, most of them packed onto the plateau's slopes to follow the action overhead. The highlight remains the Icarnaval, the largest costumed flying contest in the world. Pilots launch off the cliff in costume, somewhere between parody and genuine flying skill.
The weekend closes out fifty-two years of history for the event. The formula hasn't changed since the start: bring together, in one spot in the Alps, the best free-flight pilots from every corner of Europe and a crowd that simply wants to watch the sky.
Saint-Hilaire-du-Touvet, perched above the Grésivaudan valley in Isère, turns into a giant base camp for the weekend, with launches following one after another across the plateau's heights.
The rest of the weekend across Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
Cantal celebrates its own biscuit in the street. Launched in 2004 by the Cornet de Murat association, the Fête du Cornet gathers between 10,000 and 20,000 visitors every third Sunday of September, around tastings, brass bands and a large pastry and local produce market. Further south, Le Puy-en-Velay dresses up for real: the Fêtes Renaissance du Roi de l'Oiseau has brought François I's era back to life since 1986, with more than 6,000 costumed participants, thirty associations involved and artists from across Europe, through parades, street performances and historical re-enactments.
Lyon opens two very different events. Founded in 1991, the Lyon Contemporary Art Biennale opens this weekend for three months and brings together international artists across macLYON, the Grandes Locos and the Fondation Bullukian. At the Halle Tony Garnier, in the heart of the city, The Ink Factory has, since 2018, brought together more than 350 tattoo artists from 25 countries across 15,000 square metres, with live shows, DJ sets and art performances, in front of 14,000 visitors.
The back-to-school season also counts in numbers. Founded in 1949, the Foire de Saint-Étienne is, by its own account, the region's key economic event of the season: it expects 80,000 visitors and 250 exhibitors at the Parc Expo, across four themed areas running from home and garden to wellbeing. In Montélimar, the De l'Écrit à l'Écran festival draws more than 30,000 spectators around some fifty films, previews, meetings with film crews, literary debates and masterclasses.
Three last events complete the regional map. Founded in 1992, La Transvolcanique sends 1,000 to 1,600 cyclists across the Auvergne Volcanoes park between Blanzat and Le Mont-Dore. In Vichy, the Festival des Jeux, running since 2018, opens its gaming tables for free at the Palais des Congrès, with a role-playing zone run by game masters and a dedicated area for children from age two. In Grenoble, Merci Bonsoir, co-organised by the Mix'Arts and Le Prunier Sauvage associations, brings together more than 200 artists from 40 companies at the Parc Bachelard, for a pay-what-you-want weekend.
The Foire de Saint-Étienne, for its part, stays open through September 28, well after the weekend ends.