What to Do in June in and around Nice – 2025
The U.N. Ocean Summit will be held in Nice June 9-13, 2025. It is a global gathering for scientists, but there are lots of free events open to the public, including a free drone show on the Prom after dark on Friday, June 6; a free boat parade at 3pm on Sunday June 8; a giant free marine expo “The Whale” from June 2-13 at the Palais des Exhibitions (free tickets here), and a Nautilus Village and Wow Festival from June 9-13 at the Theatre de Verdure. Check out my blog post for all the details.
Bellet Winery Shuttle – Every Saturday starting June 7, 2025 – Nice runs a special shuttle bus that does a continuous loop of Bellet wineries for the cost of a regular bus ticket!
Fete de la Musique June 21 – FREE Every June 21st on Summer Solstice, the Fete de la Musique transforms all of France into a free music festival which not to be missed. In the Old Town the variety of music is vast; and within this auditive free-for-all there is truly something for every musical taste, and it is kind of fun to try to find the chords through the cacophony… This is the one night of the year when all the bars have permission to pull their speakers outside, serve on the street, and stay open until 3am… and there is literally dancing in the streets. Or…stick to the surrounding neighborhoods: If crowds and craziness are not your bag, know that the farther away that you get from the Vieux-Nice Fete de la Bruit epicenter, the more, well, musical, the festival becomes… delightful, cultural, and full of discovery.
Fete du Chateau Weekend FREE – Friday/Saturday June 27 and 28, 2025 . This is the only weekend of the year when you can go up to the Nice Chateau at night, for a fun music festival put on by… the Communist Party! Don’t miss it. Tram stop Cathedrale or Garibaldi
La Verticale du Chateau Fun Run – Saturday June 28, 2025. This tiny but mighty 2k goes straight up to the top of the Chateau, and walkers and families with children are very welcome! Sign up here, then gather from 9am on rue Catherine Segurane right next to the Garibaldi line 2 tramstop. The starting gun is 10:30am, with an apero and prizes up top.
The 2025 Giant Summer Clearance Sales (Soldes) start from June 25, 2025 and the discounts get deeper and deeper for the next 4 weeks. 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!
Fete de Saint-Pierre (patron saint of fishermen) Port Festival – free – June 5/6, 2025. Starting with a colorful procession around the port at 8pm, the soiree continues with a giant sardinade, a big family-style sardine barbeque (not free) accompanied by other Nice specialties, followed by a fun folkloric outdoor dance party starting at 10:15pm.
The Running of the Sheep (Transhumance) – Free – Saturday June 7, 2025 – in the mountain village Saint-Etienne-de-Tinee. It’s quite a site to see the shepherds guide hundreds of sheep on their yearly multi-day trek from their winter lowlands, to the highlands where they will graze for the summer. There are activities, music, demonstrations, and workshops for kids all day long until they welcome the arriving sheep late afternoon. )r do the same the last Sunday in June (date tbd), for the herd that summers in the picturesque village of Guillaumes. They’ll bring ’em back down in October…
Retro Street Party on Rue Delille – Friday, June 27, 2025 – 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
Stand up Comedy in English – Every Sunday, the new Bobar Comedy Club in Old Nice does a stand-up comedy show (Spill the Tea) in English at 5:15pm and cover charge is just 8€ or 5€ students. 27 rue Benoit Bunico, tram stop Cathedrale.
Beat the heat inside a cool cinema: last weekend in June 29 – July 2, 2025 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.
European Archaeology Days – June 13-15, 2025 – If your French is up to it, there is a lot to discover in this archaeologically rich area.
Nice Ironman European Championship 
Free to watch! June 29, 2025 An ultra-endurance race of insane proportions for mega-jocks, but we mere mortals can still watch! The 6:25am start is a 2.4 miles (3.8 km) open water swim, then they bike over mountains for 112 miles (180 km), and if that wasn’t enough, then they run – I’m not kidding – a full marathon of 26.2 miles (42 km) on the Prom. The Promenade des Anglais is closed to traffic all day, so even couch potatoes can take advantage of the unusually silent Prom for a relaxing drink at one of the bars facing the sea.
More Music Festivals
In Villefranche-sur-mer, catch the Creme Festival, June 20-22, 2025 with three days of Electro, DJ, Indie, dance parties, and more, between the beach, the port and the citadelle.
Free Symphony Mass with the Nice Philharmonic Orchestra – 11am Sunday June 22, 2025, as part of the Sacred Music Festival in the Sainte-Reperate Cathedrale in Old Nice, tram stop Cathedrale.
Festi’Vence – June 26-29, 2025 – Free – a slate of back-to-back classical music concerts spread out over 3 days in the town square of the charming town of Vence. It’s easy to get there by bus, even coming back late.
Afterwork concert at Villa Massena – June 12, 2025 at 7pm. Enjoy a 1-hour songfest concert by the chorus of the Nice Opera, in an unbeatable garden setting… Cover charge is 20€ which includes a drink. Part of the musical outreach by the Nice Opera.
Sunday 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. To find it, just walk to the end of the Promenade du Paillon, where the gardens meet the seaside, and it is in the far right corner. Click here for this week’s concert program. Tram stop Massena
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.
Classical Concerts in Nice – There is a whole slate of at least 10 classical concerts every month by different Baroque and Classical ensembles performing in Nice’s fabulous Baroque Churches.
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€!
Catch one of the eclectic Candlelight Concerts at the Nice Observatory A one-of-a-kind concert venue in a historic (but still operating) observatory lit only by a thousand candles… and at the end the cupola opens up to the stars. Tickets start at 47€ and the Observatory is a bit complicated to get to, but worth it for a unique concert in a truly magical ambiance.
See Related Pages:
- Weekly Open-Air Food and Antique Markets – don’t miss the famous Monday Antique Market at Cours Saleya
- 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…
- Summer in Nice: 5 Ways to Beat the Heat
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Photo credits: Street musician licenced under Creative Commons, Nice Ironman by Patrice Lapoirie courtesy of the Nice-Matin