Dinan’s Fête des Remparts is one of the oldest medieval festivals in France. Created in 1983 and held every two years, it fills the walled upper town, the ramparts and the castle gardens with a medieval market (about 130 artisans in 2025), costumed camps, a knights’ tournament with jousting, parades, street theatre, children’s workshops, a book fair and a tavern stage with concerts, storytellers and musicians through the weekend.
The festival is run by the volunteer Association Fête des Remparts with around 500 volunteers and more than 700 re-enactors. Its 25th edition on 19–20 July 2025, which also marked the festival’s 40th anniversary, carried the theme ‘Arts et Cultures – Éclats Médiévaux’; the town hall counted about 110,000 visitors over the weekend and 45,000 paid tickets were sold. The festival now falls in odd years, so there is no edition in 2026.
Access to the animated sites and the tournament is ticketed: in 2025 tournament seats cost €13–15 and site passes €13–20, with reductions for under-10s, students and disabled visitors. The association has opened its call for artists (15 May–30 September 2026) for the 26th edition, which listings sites give as 24–25 July 2027; the official website has not yet published the dates. Between editions the same association runs Arsonora, a medieval and early-music concert series in Dinan in October.
Dinan is 30 km south of Saint-Malo, with TER rail links via Dol-de-Bretagne. Much of the old town is steep and cobbled, and on festival days the upper town is closed to cars.
