Menton Lemon Festival

Menton is a French Riviera town of around 30,000 people, close to the border with Italy. Since 1934 Menton has held a two week “Fête du Citron” festival in February/March each year celebrating the local citrus fruits, and it is famous around the world. In fact over 200,000 visitors travel to Menton for the Fête du Citron each year and pay to watch the parade.

It is hard to believe that a town the size of Menton can put on such a world-class event, among the finest of carnivals anywhere. The succession of floats, dancers, musicians, acrobats and more goes on for over two hours. The floats are huge and largely made of real citrus fruits! The 2024 Menton Lemon Festival was the 90th event, and had an “Olympics from Antiquity to the Present” theme.

We took a train from Villefranche-sur-Mer to Menton, about a 30 minute trip with stops including Monaco, and wandered into town seeking a good vantage point. Access to the town centre cost 15 Euro per adult, and for the best view you can book seats in temporary grandstands along the parade route at a higher cost.

We walked along a busy street until the crown thinned and we saw a vacant table on the footpath outside a café. Time for lunch!

Within ten minutes, as more people arrived, we realised this was right next to the starting point of the parade, so no need to move and lunch became a lengthy affair! The crowds grew but no one pushed in front and blocked the view of people at tables – everyone was so polite – and it tuned out to be the perfect viewing spot. The floats were spectacular but the acrobats and trapeze artists took it to another level, quite an amazing show.

As the parade ended it was time to head for the train station, which was predictably overflowing with people. But the railway staff were well organised and we were on a train within 20 minutes – top marks to Menton!

NOTE: Menton streets are lined with citrus trees with round orange fruit about the size of a mandarin. I picked one, peeled it and ate a couple of segments. Super sour – they are actually mandarin-coloured lemons :-Q