France Event Calendar,
Excursions, Camping etc.
No matter
what you are looking for you can find information regarding camping
in France in general or camping in South of France -- If you plan
spending your camping holidays in France please read below.
You can also find current events in France and the South of France
on this page. Watch our selected
travel and event videos for France below.France is a country full of traditions, festivals, markets and events of all kinds. Most cities and towns have a special "Saint's day", which is celebrated. But the most important date is still the July 14th, which is Bastille day, the festival of the French revolution. The average French worker has 5 weeks of paid holiday each year. To ease traffic the French split the country into 3 different zones for the school holidays, each zone taking turns to being school holidays.
January
1st : Jour de l'An (New years day)
7th: Épiphanie
February
11th : Notre Dame de Lourdes (Our Lady of Lourdes)
March
Carnaval de Nice
The Carnaval de Nice takes place each year in February / March in the southern French city of Nice. For two weeks the Carnaval de Nice attracts visitors from around the world to the Riviera for parades, fireworks, theater performances, live music, and and DJ shows. Over a million people converge on Nice for the Carnaval de Nice to watch the flower parade and dance in the streets.The Carnival processions will display some twenty decorated floats, 300 "big heads" - pasteboard caricatures - and a hundred troupes of entertainers. Most of the Carnaval de Nice festivities take place on the Promenade des Anglais, which runs along the waterfront.
April
1st: Les Rameaux
29th : Souvenir Déportés (Rememberance day for the deported WWII)
Pasques (Easter)
May
1st : Fête du travail (labour day, tradtionally people offer "Muguet" Lily-of-the-Valley flowers)
8th : Victoire (V-day 1945)
13th : Fête de Jeanne d'Arc
Acension
F1 Grand Prix Monaco
Pentecôte, with the following Monday being a national holiday.
Fête des Mères (Mothers day)
International film festival at Cannes
Cannes is the biggest and most famous film festival in the world. Most of the action takes place at the famous Palais des Festivals, although screenings do take place all over the town. The beach is the place to see the starlets doing their thing, and although most Cannes Film Festival Events are strictly by invitation only, there are film screenings open to the public.
More info here
International tennis open of France at the Rolland Garros stadium, Paris
June
3rd Sunday : Fête des Pères ( Fathers day)
24 heures at Le Mans (Le Mans 24 hours)
Mid June Nice Jazz festival
The sound of music comes to the Cimiez Arenas and Gardens for the annual Nice Jazz Festival. A fixture since the 1940s, the event is renowned for its breathtaking location and unique atmosphere.
The festival's three stages are set in olive groves and a Gallo-Roman amphitheatre. Each evening there are simultaneous performances and the audience is free to wander between them. The programme is consistently broad and impressive. Highlights in 2007 range from Marcus Miller, The Zawinul Syndicate and Dee Dee Bridgewater to Sly&the Family Stone, Isaac Hayes, The Roots and Gipsy Kings.
Nice Tourist Office: Phone +33 (0) 4 92 14 46 46
End June Paris Gay Pride
The flamboyant Paris Pride parade traditionally goes from Republique to Beaubourg via the Marais, but final confirmation of the route is not usually given until the last minute. Once it starts, however, it's hard to miss!
Paris has a large gay and lesbian population, with consequently one of the most liberal attitudes in France. There is, however, much more in the way of tolerance than acceptance and in recent years the Gay Pride festival has taken on themes such as better integration for lesbians and gays into society to politicise the march. Over the last few years it has grown into a huge carnival on a par with those in neighbouring European countries.
The big day itself is the culmination of a series of events, including debates and masked balls - please visit the festival website for full details.
More info here
Fête de la musique
On 21st June 1982, Jack Lang, the minister of culture, and Maurice Fleuret, the music and dance director, launched the music celebration in France with the ethos : " music everywhere, concert nowhere". The first edition was a real success and the celebration has spread ever since.
The musicians are asked to perform for free, and all the concerts are free for the public. It’s the reason why they are used to play in open air areas as streets and parks or in public buildings like museums, train stations, castles… Furthermore, the Fête de la Musique is a way to encourage the major music institutions (orchestra, operas, choirs, etc.) to perform outside their usual locations. This kind of institutions can also welcome other types of music. In this way it offers an opportunity to develop exchanges between city centres and their outlying areas, to offer concerts in hospitals or in prisons, to promote encounters and exchanges between young musicians and well-known talents.
Throughtout France
More info here
