What to Do in July in and around Nice – 2024

Summer Jazz Festivals:

The Cote d’Azur hosts some of the best jazz festivals in Europe:

The Nice Jazz Fest  July 24-27, 2025.   The Riviera jazz festival offering the best bang for the buck, it features 6 concerts a night between two different stages.  Click the link above for a page of insider tips on how to make the most of the the French Riviera’s most famous Jazz Festival.  Here’s a page with all the details plus insider tips.

The festival also features an ‘Off’ section with free concerts all over town, plus nightly jam sessions and special events at all the local jazz clubs and other affiliated concerts all month long, check the monthly concert schedule with Nice Music Live; the concerts at Theatre de Verdure, Black Box, and Stockfish, all have easy tramway access.

Jazz à Juan July 8-18, 2024, features two top-tier concerts nightly on the Riviera’s most stunning sunset sea-view stage, in the village of Juan-les-Pins, near Antibes.  This is a high-end festival, both in headliner quality and price. There are no bad seats, and even a standing section available for reduced prices.

Nuits du Sud July 4-13, 2024, a fun series of world music concerts held in the Vence town square over 2 weekends.  Tickets are 32€ for most nights, and 39€ for July 11.

Jazz/Blues/Rock Concerts in Nice  Besides nightly concerts at local jazz clubs and rock bars, there is also a robust monthly concert schedule with Nice Music Live;  the concerts at Theatre de Verdure, Black Box, and Stockfish, all have easy tramway access.

If Classical is more your bag:

Sacred Music Festival in the magnificent Cathedrale Sainte-Reparate in Old Nice July 1 to July 5, 2024, all tickets 20€, Tram stop Cathedrale

Nice Classic Basilique Festival – July 12 through August 13, 2024 – Classical concerts starting at 8:30pm and with tickets at 11-26€, or just 6€ for the organ recitals. Notre Dame church on Jean Medecin, Tram stop Jean Medecin.

Sunday Concert in the ParkSunday Orchestra Concerts in the Park – FREE – Every Sunday at 3:30pm the Nice Orchestra d’Harmonie gives a free concert in the gazebo in the Albert 1st gardens.  Click here for this week’s program.  To find it, just walk to the end of the Promenade du Paillon where the gardens meet the seaside, and you’ll find the gazebo in the far right corner.  Tram stop Massena

Les Soirees Estivals (Midsummer Nights Concerts) – FREE – Over 500 concerts all summer long in all the towns and villages up and down the coast.  Click the link for the program and calendar, or sort by village.  Most are in the small hill towns but there is a free Thursday night Jazz’Art Lympia concert series on the terraces on the far side of the Nice Port from 8-9pm starting July 18. Tram stop Port

Nice Classic Live  From mid-July and into August, high-quality classical concerts held under the stars in the dream-like French gardens of the Cimiez monastery.  Tickets are 9-19€.  Easy access with bus #5 until 1am.

Concerts in the Prince’s Palace – Monaco – July 11, 18, 26 and 28, 2024  The Monte Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra gives a series of summer concerts in a one-of-a-kind venue: the interior courtyard of the Palace of Monaco. It’s a coat and tie affair, and tickets go from as low as 30€ to up to 250€.

Les Nuits Rothschild  Every Monday and Tuesday night from July through August, the Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild in Cap-Jean-Saint-Ferrat opens its doors from 7:45pm-midnight, for an evening ambiance like no other.  The villa is resplendent at night lit by hundreds of candles; enjoy live ballet and ‘dancing fountains’, wander the gardens with a ‘picnic panier’, enjoy the bar, or dine in the villa. Tickets are 35€, or 60€ including a picnic basket to enjoy in the gardens (note: no bringing in your own food/bottles), or 105€ including a glass of Champagne and 3-course dinner in the villa.  There is also a family admission of 80€ for two adults and 2 children.

The Nice Opera has all kinds of events going on every week: Here is this month’s schedule

  • Insider Tip:  The Nice Opera ticket office has a last-minute ticket line, where one hour before the performance, unsold tickets drop to half-price …and for students and under-30s tickets are just 5€! 

Music Festivals on the Wild Side:

Cannes Bal de Fous Themed masked blow-out dance parties on the beach in Cannes, every Sunday night in July.  Tickets are 30€ and its for over-18’s only.

Other July events…

4th of July poster Villefranche-sur-mer 2022Villefranche-sur-mer’s retro American 4th of July Festival is a blast from the past with an afternoon parade in army jeeps, and from 6pm-11pm music and dance in the town square. Villefranche was a favorite US serviceman’s hang-out during WWII, and it celebrates US independence day with a 1940’s flair.  Villefranche-sur-mer is easy to get to from Nice by bus or train.

Bellet Winery Shuttle – Every Friday and Saturday in July, Nice runs a special shuttle bus that does a continuous loop of Bellet wineries for the cost of a regular bus ticket!

Fireworks wiki by Billy Hicks

Hit Machine Street Party on Rue Delille – Saturday, July 6, 2024 – Rue Delille closes to traffic from 6:30pm to midnight and throws a giant ‘Apero’ street party.  The 15€ entry fee includes the periodic waves of finger food provided by the surrounding restaurants (which are promptly swarmed),  drinks are just 4€ each, and there is dancing in the streets to hits from the 80’s, 90’s and 2000’s, so dress accordingly.   Last year the tickets sold out fast so buy ahead of time from any restaurant on rue Delille.  Tram stop Garibaldi

Pink Parade/Nice Gay Pride Parade – FREE…and freeing!  4pm Sunday July 23, 2024.  Glam up and gather at the Nice Port at 4pm, when the parade struts down the Promenade des Anglais to the Negresco and back.  And that’s when they really get the Pink Party really kicks into gear with pink drinks, DJ’s, dancing and fabulousness from 6pm-11pm, when the everyone will probably head to rue Bonaparte.

The Hopman Cup Tennis Tournament –  Update: It’s skipping a year for 2024, but will be back in Nice for 2025.

Bargain Hunters:

The 2024 Giant Summer Clearance Sales (Soldes) run from July 3 to 30, 2024 (and July 6-Aug 19 just over the border in Italy…)  It’s shocking for Americans, but in France the dates when stores can have big blowout sales are regulated by law (!), so everything goes on sale all at once!

Flea Market – Sunday July 7, 2024 Palais du Justice in Old Nice.  Hunt for vintage treasures in this sprawling second-hand open-air market.  Tram stop Opera

Film/Theater Buffs:

Open-Air Cinema on the Nice Port – FREE classic films presented on the big screen every Wednesday night at 9:30pm.  The films are in original version but the French films have English subtitles (Trois Mousqutaires July 3 and Fanfan La Tulipe on July 24) and some are in English (Breaking Away on July 10) and a personal favorite, I, Tonya on July 31). Tram stop Nice Port

More for film buffs:  Beat the heat inside a cool cinema: June 30 – July 3 2024 is the Fete de la Cinema where all movies are just 5€ a ticket.  Here’s a guide to cinemas in Nice with films in English.

Stand up Comedy in EnglishEvery Sunday, the new Bobar Comedy Club in Old Nice does a stand-up comedy show (Spill the Tea) in English at 7:30pm and cover charge is just 8€ or 5€ students.  27 rue Benoit Bunico, tram stop Cathedrale.

Contes de l’Apero (loosely translated to The Happy Hour Tales) Theater in the Park – FREE – Every evening in July at 7pm at the far end of the Promenade du Paillon gardens.  These nightly 1-hour performances (in French) start just after the sun drops behind the palms.  Tram stop Cathedrale or Garibaldi

Historic Commemorations:

Nice Bastille Day Attack Memorial Ceremonies, July 14th.  The most tragic and heartbreaking night in Nice’s recent history is commemorated with a day of somber ceremonies and moving tributes to the 86 victims…  ending at exactly 10:34pm when 86 spotlights will shine to the heavens.

Fete du Malonat in Old Nice -FREE-  July 27/28, 2024.  A yearly tribute to the Madonna for protecting this little neighborhood from the Cholera plague of 1854.  With the epidemic flaming, the hospital was at capacity and started sending the overflow to the convents.  This neighborhood was full of fishermen families, who panicked to have so many sick sent into their midst, and too poor to get out of town, so they turned to the Madonna to save them.  The survivors promised her a yearly procession, and they’ve kept their word through generations.  On Saturday it starts at 8pm with a procession from Malonat shrine to the Church du Gesu and back.  On Sunday there is a celebratory mass at the Church of Gesu at 10:30am, followed by a procession with the Virgin through town on the way back to her shrine, then the yearly dedications ceremony, and finishing off with a aperitif and nibbles offered by the city at noon.  If you have never been a part of a religious procession dating from the medieval ages, here’s your chance!  Tram stop Cathedrale

See Related Pages:

  • What to do on Sundays in Nice – free afternoon orchestra concerts, free museum days, special family-friendly concert matinees at the Opera House, and of course numerous Catholic masses to choose from…
  • Nice by Nite – concerts, jazz clubs, salsa and tango venues, pub quiz nights, English-language theater and movie venues…

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Photo credits:  Fireworks by Billy Hicks, licensed by Creative Commons.  Nice Jazz Festival by Alain Morana.

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