Highlights of Sète

 

Every year in Sète, the Oursinade, a large open-air guinguette, attracts visitors who come to taste the best that the Thau Basin has to offer: sea urchins, but also oysters, mussels, tielles and other gastronomic and wine-making delights of the region.

 

Each year, by leaving their mark on the walls of the city, they enrich the Musée À Ciel Ouvert (MACO) in Sète, which offers an artistic and picturesque stroll all year round, dotted with mural works. But the highlight of the K-Live Festival is at the beginning of June, when urban arts, visual arts and contemporary music concerts converge in the streets of the city centre and in the famous Théâtre de la Mer.

 

When you think of Fernande, you think of the most gently impertinent festival in Sète. A real nose-thumbing to the wise, this festive event brings together the best artists of the current scene and seduces with its songs and various stage performances. Georges, for sure, would appreciate the tribute.

 

By accompanying the fishermen along this fervent procession, come and feel the feeling of communion that takes hold of the public gathered in homage to Saint Peter, around the old port and the Marine district in Sète or in Mèze and Bouzigues.

 

Marseillan, Loupian, Montbazin, Frontignan, Bouzigues, Mèze, Mireval, Balaruc-les-Bains, Sète... One date = one town to taste wines and local products! Les Estivales de Thau, it is, every Thursday, a warm atmosphere favourable to greediness: tielles, shells, cakes, chocolates, ice creams... You will be spoilt for choice and will only want to come back the following week.

 

The Sun'Sète festival allows you to get up close and personal with famous directors and actors, but also to see or re-see magnificent works of the 7th art on several large screens scattered around the city. The must: an evening screening with your feet in the sand.

 

The Worldwide festival makes the port of Sète resound with the sounds of a crazy eclectic electro programme. In the morning, the party starts in the cafés and continues in the afternoon on one of the city's beaches. In the evening, the Théâtre de la Mer is the place to be for wild night-time celebrations.

 

The great names of today's jazz are summoned for beautiful moments of open-air music and to celebrate the diversity of a musical genre that has no borders. Fans of world music will note the excellent programme of another festival, Fiest'A Sète.

 

The Voix Vives de Méditerranée poetry festival is a delicious cultural UFO that brings together numerous poets from all over the Mediterranean every year. A hymn to tolerance, it introduces the art of poetry through reading and listening to texts. Streets, squares, gardens and heritage sites of Sète are taken over by the artists for a moment shared with the public.

 

This is the biggest event of the year and it sets the pace for the life of all Sétois. Let's face it, the Saint Louis festivities have a wild atmosphere, which is maintained by street shows, workshops, cycle races, bodegas and the famous jousting tournaments: All this under the benevolent gaze of Louis, the patron saint of the city of Sète, who has been celebrated every year since the creation of the port in 1666.

It's a festival. It is popular. It's joyful. In the end, it's a beautiful tribute to our friend Brassens, which is held every autumn, during the anniversary season of the birth and death of France's most famous Georges. The event, which is totally free of charge, is entirely dedicated to his songs, which are played and sung by more than 100 artists, in various languages and musical styles.

 

Make Escale à Sète your own and take in this exceptional event, which brings together some of the most beautiful ships in the world every two years around Easter, on which you will even have the opportunity to climb aboard! Internationally popular, the event is also an excellent excuse to extend the discovery of the priceless maritime heritage of the Thau Archipelago.