Situated on the Côte d’Azur in the Alpes Maritimes, the town of Menton could be forgiven for just becoming a playground for the rich, like neighbouring St Tropez and Monaco. Instead, however, it came up with the highly innovative and colourful La Fête du Citron (Lemon Festival), which attracts thousands of visitors annually and is an intensive labour of love for its citizens.
The region of Menton is a producer of high quality lemons thus was the lemon festival conceived by a Menton Hotelier in 1929. The first festival took place in the grounds of the Hotel Riviera in Menton in 1934. It has continued annually since then, except for World War II and also in 1991 because of the Gulf War.
The Menton Lemon Festival has become a feast of colour and imagination. With stunning displays, floats and sculptures from the outset, the ever increasing popularity of the festival has amplified its imaginative themes, with shows introduced in the evening as well as during the daylight hours.
The Gardens of Light, which allowed visitors to walk around the Biovès Gardens for the first time, was introduced in 2007, and has proved popular ever since.
At the end of the last decade, such subjects as the Menton Lion King, displayed at Paris Disney after the Fête du Citron, Tintin and Alice in Wonderland were great successes and delighted thousands of children. This century, such themes as Carnivals from around the World with a particular emphasis on India, together with Broadway and Bollywood have proved very popular.
As can be imagined, an event of this complexity involves many hours of commitment from those contributing to the festival and a great many kilos of citrus fruit – 140 tonnes of fruit for the gardens and flowers, and 18 tonnes for the displays. Two hundred artists, dancers and musicians take part throughout the event and, of course, there is a strong police contingency for security.
La Fête du Citron 2025 Programme
Highlights of the festival and details of Covid precautions can be found here.
When is La Fête du Citron 2025?
The exhibition of Citrus Patterns will run from 15 February to 2 March in the Biovès Gardens.
Where is La Fête du Citron 2025?
Menton in Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, France
La Fête du Citron (Lemon Festival) Photo Gallery
Flights to Nice
Several budget airlines fly to Nice and are very reasonably priced. Menton is 30km from Nice. Flights to Monaco are also very well priced and the distance to Menton is only 12.6 kilometres.
Accommodation in Nice
If you are looking for accommodation in Menton book early.
More information on La Fête du Citron (Lemon Festival)
Further information can be found here. All photos on this page c. Ville de Menton.
