Festivals near Avignon

Avignon lives to the rhythm of its stone: the walled City of the Popes has had theatre in its blood ever since its famous festival turned July into a cultural pilgrimage. Yet beyond the Palais and the bridge that halts mid-Rhône, an entire musical Provence stirs once the warm season arrives. Half an hour away, the Roman theatre of Orange lends one of Europe's finest settings to the Chorégies d'Orange, a century-old operatic ritual where arias rise beneath the stars, while in Arles Les Suds à Arles fills lanes and gardens with world music.

Come summer, the region never eases off: the Roman arena and the banks of the Rhône in Arles host Les Escales du Cargo and their pop headliners, while the Luberon turns pitch-black for Insane Festival, a high mass of metal and extreme music on the doorstep of Apt. To keep your bearings between the antique and the electric, FestT works out your FestiScore — how closely a lineup matches your favourite artists — and keeps dates, headliners and ticketing updated in real time, from Avignon to the Alpilles.