If I could recommend one local music festival on the Côte d’Azur after the grand events for Jazz à Juan, Fête de la Musique and Nice Jazz Festival, it would be Nuits Carrées.
Image logo copyright Nuits Carrées
Since it’s inception, Nuits Carrées is firmly one of my favourite weekends of music for various reasons including:
- Entry price – no huge entry fee, it costs just 10€ for one evening, or 16€ for both nights. A low price doesn’t mean a dip in music quality either – the range and duration of artists is top level.
- Location – amazing setting in the amphithêatre at Fort Carré in Antibes
- Eco-responsible – they make efforts for a sustainable and eco-friendly approach
- Accessible to all – people of all levels of mobility can come here; the venue entrance, refreshments area and toilets are wheelchair-friendly. The amphithêatre itself has graduated steps but you can still find a place to view the acts.
- Music – a fantastic cross-section of musical tastes including electro, hip-hop, funk, jazz. It’s an aural rollercoaster and I love it.
festival crowd, Nuits Carrées
Nuits Carrées is an eco-festival of sorts; you purchase a reusable ‘eco cup’ when you arrive and refill it through the evening to recycle at the end. No discarded styrofoam cups or aluminium cans littering the ground here.
You will appreciate that the toilets are eco-friendly; instead of those horrible smelly Portaloos with chemicals that are regular features at music festivals. The toilets are constructed of chip-board and there are buckets of sawdust – yes, sawdust – to tip into the bowl afterwards. No odour and much more pleasant. If you have reduced mobility there is a wheelchair-accessible toilet with ramp.
This year the festival billing includes Dukebox Champions, Saint Michel, DJ Kentaro, Lords of the Underground, Submotion Orchestra, and Sweatshop.
Would you like to be here enjoying music at this festival as the sun sets?
WHAT: Nuits Carrées
WHEN: Friday 27 June and Saturday 28 June, doors open from 7pm until late
WHERE: Amphithêatre at Fort Carré, avenue du 11 novembre, 06600 Antibes
How to get there:
By car: There are two free public carparks nearby the festival entrance, though limited carpark spaces.
By train: Antibes train station is less than 10 minutes walking distance to the festival. Exit the train station, and at the traffic lights just outside the station walk downhill on the road to the left, then follow the footpath to Fort Carrée.
By bus: From Antibes Old Town, a navette bus (number 13) runs every 10 minutes up to 10.50pm (here is the timetable Ligne13_oct13reed_web ). It travels a route from the entrance to Antibes port to a stop by the carpark across from the festival entrance.
From Cannes, take bus 200 and there is a temporary stop in Antibes on boulevard Vautrin as the new Passerelle bus interchange at Antibes is not open yet. From here, you can cross the railway overbridge and walk to the festival from the train station. The bus stop looks like this below, it is opposite a computer repair shop:
Bus 200 Cannes to Nuits Carrées, get off at the temporary stop on boulevard Vautrin in Antibes
From Nice, take bus 200 and there is a temporary stop at Antibes as the Passerelle bus station is not open yet. The stop is outside Hotel Le Collier, there is a small sign ‘Arret Provisoire’. Get off the bus here and cross the road to Antibes train station, follow the directions above from the train station.
My tips: Take a small torch for later in the evening, the toilets have no lighting. Take cash for the bar and restaurant.
Visit the festival website for details on where to purchase tickets and the line-up for both nights www.nuitscarrees.com
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