Montreux Jazz Festival
Two weeks each July when jazz drifts across Lake Geneva after dark.
Montreux turns its lakeside promenade into an open-air stage every July. The festival began in 1967, when Claude Nobs, Géo Voumard and René Langel organised three days of concerts at the Montreux Casino. Nearly sixty editions later, it runs for two weeks along the shores of Lake Geneva and draws close to 250,000 visitors.
The main concerts happen inside the Stravinski Auditorium, part of the Montreux Music & Convention Centre, reopening in 2026 after a three-year renovation. Outside, free stages line the lakefront: Music in the Park runs from midday into the evening, and late sets continue at the Rock Café once the ticketed halls close. The programme reaches well past jazz now, into blues, rock and pop, though the name has stayed the same since 1967.
The free stages fill early. The ticketed evening concerts sell out months in advance.