What’s on in January 2023?

Here are some French events to add to your calendar this month – from comic festivals to horse racing and the property exhibition

The French Property Exhibition

After a short gap in its 30+ year history due to the pandemic, the popular and free French Property Exhibition returns to London, bringing estate agents, legal, financial and tax advisers, currency companies, builders, removals specialists and more together under one roof.

28th-29th January 2023

Festival des Lanternes, Montauban

Discover the banks of the River Yangtse in southwest France! The fifth edition of the festival will feature traditional scenes of Chinese life with thousands of colourful Chinese lanterns and paintings.

1st December 2022 – 5th February 2023

Fabulous French Food Live Event

Winter has arrived here in France, so Masterchef Australia’s Andrew Prior says it’s time to fill our stomachs with some delicious and comforting French classics, just perfect for this time of the year. On this live web event you can expect melted cheese and carbs… but most importantly fabulous French dishes that will warm you up, as well as fill you up. It’s free to attend France Today Live events

19th January 6:30 Paris time

Montreux Comedy Fait du Ski, Les Gets

Head to Les Gets for a week full of laughter on the slopes. The best of the French and British stand-up scene will pass the torch to each other with a single objective: to make the audience laugh. In co-production with the famous Montreux Comedy Festival in Switzerland.

14th-21st January 2023

Dunkirk Carnival, Dunkerque

One of the biggest festivals in northern France with bands playing in the streets, the carnival started as a feast for local fishermen before they sailed to Iceland cod-fishing. Don a comic costume and catch one of the hundreds of smoked herrings thrown from the balcony of the town hall on the Sunday before Mardi Gras!

La fête de la Truffe, Sarlat-la-Canéda

Discover the unique taste of Périgord Noir truffles at this annual festival in Dordogne. The markets are the centre of the action but there are also cooking workshops and demonstrations, an opportunity to watch a trained dog hunt out truffles, and wine-pairing lessons.

14th-15th January 2023

The Spirit of Rue Dauphine Live Event

Veteran Paris writer Jeffrey T Iverson takes us on a tour of one of the most characterful streets of the Left Bank, the place where Paris was reborn after WWII in an outpouring of jazz clubs, galleries, bookshops and cafés. Between Boulevard Saint-Germain and the Pont Neuf, Rue Dauphine is an historic walkway trodden by everyone from Henry IV to Hemingway to Miles Davis, where today a band of booksellers, gallerists, musicians and shop owners are keeping alive the spirit of Saint-Germain-des-Prés.

22nd January 6:30pm Paris time

Soldes d’Hiver

The state-regulated winter sales are an opportunity for shops across France to clear their stock ready for the new season, and the perfect chance for you to bag yourself a bargain.

3rd-31st January 2023

Festival International de la Bande Dessinée, Angoulême

The International Comic Strip Festival sees 200,000 enthusiasts from all over the world descend on Angoulême for four days in which there are conferences, competitions, screenings and signing sessions.

26th-29th January 2023

Horse Racing meetings

Throughout January these courses hold meetings that are often reasonably-priced or even free (such as Pau and Toulouse) with discounts for seniors and free entry for children. See France Galop for updated agendas (Trot meetings are written in italics)

1 January – Cagnes-sur-Mer, Vincennes

2 January – Mauquenchy, Pau, Vincennes, Marseille-Vivaux

3 January – Toulouse, Vincennes, Pornichet-la Baule

4 January – Pau, Vincennes, Cagnes-sur-Mer

5 January – Cagnes-sur-Mer, Vincennes, Lyon-La Soie

6 January – Pontchateau, Cagnes-sur-Mer, Cabourg, Deauville

7 January – Pau, Vincennes, Deauville, Toulouse

8 January – Cagnes-sur-Mer, Vincennes, Pornichet-La Baule

9 January – Pau, Vincennes, Toulouse

10 January – Bordeaux, Vincennes, Marseille Vivaux

11 January – Angers, Pau, Cagnes-sur-Mer

12 January – Nantes, Cagnes-sur-Mer, Lyon-LaSoie

13 January – Pau, Vincennes, Deauville

14 January – Chantilly, Vincennes, Mauquenchy, Cagnes-sur-Mer

15 January – Pau, Vincennes, Lyon-La Soie

16 January – Nantes, Cagnes-sur-Mer, Mauquenchy

17 January – Pau, Vincennes, Toulouse

18 January – Cagnes-sur-Mer, Marseille Vivaux, Vincennes

19 January – Cagnes-sur-Mer, Vincennes, Toulouse

20 January – Cordemais, Pau, Cagnes-sur-Mer, Deauville

21 January – Chantilly, Vincennes, Lyon-La Soie

22 January – Cagnes-sur-Mer, Vincennes, Toulouse

23 January – Agen-La Garenne, Cagnes-sur-Mer, Vincennes

24 January – Cagnes-sur-Mer, Lyon-La Soie, Vincennes

25 January – Cagnes-sur-Mer, Pau, Marseille Vivaux

26 January – Cagnes-sur-Mer, Vincennes, Pornicher-La Baule

27 January – Saint-Brieuc, Pau, Cagnes-sur-Mer, Deauville

28 January – Pau, Vincennes, Deauville, Saint-Galmier

29 January – Nantes, Vincennes

30 January – Cagnes-sur-Mer, Vincennes, Toulouse

31 January – Bordeaux, Cagnes-sur-Mer, Marseille Vivaux