Les Francofolies de La Rochelle: the waterfront music festival not to be missed!

The Francofolies festival was founded in 1985. The project was the brainchild of an actor and radio presenter from La Rochelle, who wanted to promote and pay tribute to French chanson. So every July since 1985, tens of thousands of festival-goers have flocked to La Rochelle for 5 days of concerts and entertainment by the sea.

The festival's success has grown year on year, and it has continued to develop and evolve. Between 1985 and 2004, the Francofolies welcomed 1,075 artists and enabled young singers to launch their careers in the music industry.

Some big names have graced the Francofolies stage, including Laurent Voulzy, Léo Ferré and Etienne Dao a few years ago. More recent generations have included Tété, Joey Star, Vanessa Paradis, Orelsan, folk group The Do and legendary Marseille rap group IAM. The festival is very open to different musical universes, as long as they are French or Francophone groups.

The Francofolies programme is not confined to a single stage. In fact, the whole city of La Rochelle gets into the spirit of the festival. While the main stage, the Jean-Louis Foulquier stage, takes pride of place on the Saint-Jean-d'Acre esplanade in a magnificent setting under the Lanterne tower, the programme also unfolds in the city's concert halls, such as La Sirène and La Coursive, two emblematic venues in La Rochelle.

In addition to the paying programme, the Francofolies festival also offers a free programme for everyone. These are the FrancOffs, which take place all over the city, on free stages. The perfect opportunity to discover new musical talent in the bars, streets and restaurants of La Rochelle. The whole city is abuzz with free events, from 45-minute concerts to masterclasses and professional meetings. The full programme is unveiled every year on the official francoff.org website.

But the festival doesn't stop there, as part of its commitment to being an eco-citizen, the Village Francocéan is being created in 2019 as a social, environmental and economic initiative. This space offers a stage, in the broadest sense of the term (conferences, workshops, concerts, prevention...), exclusively dedicated to the discovery of environmental issues. It's a wonderful space that has been a great success for several years. Access is completely free. It would be a shame not to take advantage.

Given the success of the festival, it is re-scheduled every year (except in cases of force majeure) around 14 July and Bastille Day. What's more, every year, festival-goers who have booked their place on this date are lucky enough to be able to admire the traditional fireworks display fired from the Old Port, in a special setting high above the water.

👉 How do you get around during the Francofolies?

The first thing to do before taking full advantage of the wild concerts is to get to La Rochelle. It's easy to do, thanks to its mainline train station and airport. Once there, the city bends over backwards to make life easier, especially for festival-goers. In particular, by developing soft mobility and public transport.

To get to the Esplanade Saint-Jean-d'Acre, where the festival's main stage is located, you need to take the 19, 20 or 7 bus.