Contes & Lumières
Mâcon's month of Christmas lights, parades, tales and concerts, free and open to all.
- Christmas
- Mâcon
- 1 h 16 from Beaune
- Free entry
€275one way from Beaune with a private driver
Book a driver for this dayAdd to calendar
At a glance
- Nearby
- Ursulines Museum, Mâcon
- Entry
- Free
- Organised by
- Ville de Mâcon
- Official website
- macon-tourisme.com
Getting there
Private driver from Beaune: 1 h 16 by road (103 km), €275 one way for the whole car.
Coming by train or plane? Transfers from stations and airports →
About the event
Contes & Lumières is Mâcon's Christmas festival: a month of illuminations, street parades, shows, storytelling, workshops and concerts across the town centre. It is aimed at families but pleasant for anyone passing through the Mâconnais in December.
What to expect
Expect parades through the streets, shows, storytelling for children, workshops and concerts, spread across the weeks before and after Christmas. In 2025 the season also brought a village of illuminated bubbles hiding small fairy-tale worlds on Place aux Herbes from late November, a Christmas market on Place Saint-Pierre and Place Saint-Nizier from 10 to 24 December, open until 8.30 pm on Fridays and Saturdays, and a 150 m² synthetic ice rink on Place Saint-Pierre.
History
The festival returns every December, with a new programme each year published by the town and its tourist office in the late autumn. The town presents it as its own Christmas season: in 2025 it opened on Saturday 6 December with L’Envol, an evening parade of herons, peacocks and swallows, lights and music by the Remue-Ménage company, while municipal teams dressed the main courtyard of the Hôtel de Ville in lights.
Good to know
Tips for the day
Most events are free; in 2025 a day pass for the ice rink cost 2 euros. The detailed programme appears in late autumn on the tourist office site. If you come by car, the free Monnier and Saint-Clément car parks on the edge of town are linked to the centre by the free N1 shuttle, every 9 minutes from Tuesday to Saturday until 7.30 pm. Mâcon is about an hour from Beaune; an evening visit for the lights and parades pairs well with dinner in town and a ride home.
Around here
What to combine with Contes & Lumières on the same day, nearest first.
- Christmas
Les Fééries de Noël de Dijon
Usually from the last Saturday of November to the first Sunday of JanuaryDijon
Pouilly-Fuissé
7 km awaySaint-Véran
9 km awayViré-Clessé
16 km away
Questions
Contes & Lumières 2026 takes place in Mâcon: Friday, 4 December 2026 – Sunday, 3 January 2027.
Did you know? The festival runs for a full month, from the first weekend of December into the New Year.
Sources
A private driver for the day
No parking to find, no one left as the designated driver: everyone enjoys a glass.