What to Do in October in and around Nice – 2024
The Running of the Sheep (Transhumance) – Free – Sunday October 6, 2024. It’s quite a site to see the shepherds guide 1000 sheep on their yearly multi-day trek from their summer highlands to their winter lowlands. It all happens in Roubion, an hour and 15 minute drive from Nice (they run shuttles from the parking into the town.) Get there before 10:30am as the sheep arrive at 11:30am, and then it’s a big sheep celebration with folkloric music and dancing, sheepdog demonstrations, falconers, cow-milking, and lumberjack contests. They’ll send ’em back up in June…
Free Parc Phoenix Weekend for local residents – Free – Saturday/Sunday October 5/6, 2024. The first full weekend of each month Parc Phoenix nature park/arboretum is free to local residents (but you need to bring proof: a recent phone or electric bill, or tax notice). Right after lunch is the busiest time with a line to get in so mornings or late afternoons are best. Tram stop Parc Phoenix
Fete de la Sainte Reparate – Free – Sunday October 6, 2024. An all day celebration in Old Nice to celebrates its patron saint with a procession 10:30-11am from the Hotel de Ville to the Cathedral that bears her name, followed a mass in the Cathedral at 11am. At 3:30pm there is a free orchestra concert in this magnificent Cathédrale, followed by a free organ concert at 6pm. Cathedral Sainte-Reparate, Place Rossetti, tram stop Cathedrale. Read the horrendous story that made her a saint here.
Open-air Science Festival – FREE – October 12/13 in the Albert 1 gardens between Place Massena and the seaside. Discover the mysteries of the oceans and the latest scientific innovations, with demos, workshops, presentations, and more. Tram stop Massena.
Attention Americans: Watch the just released film The Apprentice with a theatre full of like-minded compatriots, then go collectively kvetch after. Organized by the local chapter of Democrats Abroad, Sunday afternoon, October 12, 1:15pm screening at the Rialto Cinema, behind the Hotel Negresco. Tram stop Alsace-Lorraine. Screening tickets are 9€, 6€ for DA members.
Stand up Comedy in English – Sunday Oct. 6 and also Oct. 13, 2024, 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.
Direct from London, Mamma Mia! The Musical is doing nightly shows (plus matinees on Sat/Sun) from October 9-13 at Monaco’s Grimaldi Forum. Tickets start at 45€
Eze Gourmand Festival This festival is skipping 2024, but will be back October 12, 2025 Free entry, with demonstrations, tasting, contests, music, art, and a gourmet food court, but chef’s cooking workshops are 15-20€ each. Here are more ideas for your daytrip to Eze.
Blind Date? Here’s an out-of-the-box idea, a Blind Dinner October 23, 2024. Blindfolded before being lead to your table, you’ll experience your meal in a way you will never forget! Tickets for the 3-course blind dinner are 60€, and you select meat, fish or veg. Starts at 8:30pm at Ornato Restaurant 54 blvd Jean Jaures, tram stop Massena.
Festival de Guitare October 24-26, 2024. Three nights of blues/rock, Irish, world music and manouche jazz. Espace Magnan (tram stop Magnan), tickets 17€
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.
Sunday Orchestra Concerts – FREE – Every Sunday at 3:30pm the Nice Orchestra d’Harmonie gives a free concert in one of Nice’s fabulous baroque churches. Click here for this week’s concert program.
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€!
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.
Catch one of the rare 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 35€ and the Observatory is a bit complicated to get to, but worth it for a unique concert in a truly magical ambiance.
Flea Markets/Car Boot Sales/Neighborhood Garage Sales October is prime season for Vide Greniers, which means ’empty your attic’ …and empty it they do, with all kinds of oddball stuff trading hands at bargain basement prices. One person’s trash is another one’s treasure, and believe me, ‘treasures’ abound at these local sales:
- Flea Market on the Nice Port – FREE – Sunday October 6, Sunday October 20, and Sunday Oct. 27th, 2024 – Tram stop Port
- More second-hand stuff can be found Saturday October 12 at the smaller neighborhood Flea Market/Vide Grenier held on the square Notre Dame, behind the church, tram stop Jean Medecin.
- And on Sunday October 13, there is a vide grenier in the town of Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat which could be part of a great little daytrip.
- And finally, the Holy Grail of flea markets, Monaco’s Grande Braderie de la Croix-Rouge, Saturday October 12, 2024, where one of the richest countries in the world empties the contents of their fabulous closets for charity. 9am-7pm, in the Espace Leo Ferre Concert Center adjacent to the Fontvieille Shopping Center.
Nice goes to the Dogs in Woofest, Nice’s newest festival dedicated to dogs and dog lovers, October 26/27, 2024, on the Prom, Albert 1 gardens, and beach. The featured event is a run/obstacle course, plus a festival village with demos, workshops, and activities like a ball pool, and Doga (dog yoga) all weekend long. There will be food trucks, so no “eating the dogs!”
Grande Braderie de Saint Tropez last weekend in October. The one time of the year when a Saint Tropez day trip is a bargain! All the shops pull their wares onto the sidewalk and mark it all down to clear-out prices. Even the the boat to Saint Tropez, normally closed in winter, runs a special boat on this weekend, ferrying boatloads of bargain hunters to the shores of normally trop cher St Trop.
Halloween – October 31st – Vieux Nice/Garibaldi/rue Bonaparte. The nickname for Old Nice is the Babazouk which means ‘Monster’s Lair’… and this is the one night of the year when Old Nice gets even spookier! France doesn’t do trick or treat, but they do love to dress up and cut loose…!
Rocky Horror Picture Show – A new Old Nice tradition! A screening of the cult film, but with all the trimmings! You get a ‘participation pack’ on entry, then your emcees (Dr F&F + Magenta) guide the soiree and even explain the deal for Rocky Horror newbies. Costumes are encouraged, and before you know it you too will be dancing the timewarp! Friday, Saturday, plus Halloween night, but get your tickets early as it sells out fast. Theatre de l’Impasse in Old Nice, tram stop Cathedrale or Garibaldi.
October is a great month to enjoy the spectacular scenery from a mountain train with peak autumn colors as the leaves turn.
See Related Pages:
- Weekly Open-Air Markets – don’t miss the famous Monday Antique Market at Cours Saleya, and great shopping for Italian wares at the sprawling Friday Market in Ventimiglia
- Nice by Nite – concerts, jazz clubs, salsa and tango venues, pub quiz nights, English-language theater and movie venues, and a few surprising ideas…
Photo credit: Rugby World Cup fans, Skaters, and Opera all by Best of Nice