Fête du Citron

The Fête du Citron is Menton’s winter festival of citrus fruit: floats and sculptures made of citrus fruit parade through the town and fill the Jardins Biovès for sixteen days in February. Its official site is published by the Menton tourist office, and it draws more than 250,000 visitors a year, according to its site. The 2027 festival runs from Saturday 13 to Sunday 28 February.

Citrus in every form at the Fête du Citron

The programme rests on three things: the parades, the gardens and the market.

• The Corsos des fruits d’or: parades of floats made of citrus fruit, led by bands, on Sundays.
• The night Corsos: parades in the evening, on two Thursdays.
• The Jardins Biovès: an exhibition of citrus motifs, with an orchid show, for the whole festival. Both are on tickets.

The lemon on the plate

The Fête du Citron is a show first, and its food side is the lemon itself and the market around it. The festival presents the Menton lemon as the “caviar” of gastronomy and lists chefs who cook with it: Ducasse, Robuchon, Bocuse.

• The craft market: free to enter from 13 to 28 February 2027, and in the organiser’s words “a must for food lovers”, for tasting on the spot or to take away.
• In town: lemon tarts, jams and liqueurs in the shops of the centre.

From a hotel garden to the 93rd edition

In 1929, when Menton was still the leading lemon producer of the continent, a hotelier staged a show of flowers and citrus fruit in the gardens of the Hôtel Riviera. It drew such crowds that the next year the show moved into the streets, with carts of shrubs planted with oranges and lemons. The Fête du Citron itself was born in 1934.

• 2027: the 93rd Fête du Citron, from 13 to 28 February.

The Menton lemon

• PGI since 2015: the Citron de Menton holds a protected geographical indication. The festival site sets it apart from its Italian, Spanish and Corsican cousins.
• In a starred kitchen: Mauro Colagreco, whose Mirazur was named the world’s best restaurant in 2019 by the “50 Best” list, tells the festival site that he grows 15 lemon trees in its gardens and picks the fruit as late as possible, sometimes after a year on the branch.