Each winter, the city of Nice slips into costume. From February 11 to March 1, 2026, the French Riviera’s capital of light becomes a capital of joy, hosting one of the oldest and most spectacular carnivals in the world. Over three weeks, Nice unveils a theatrical dreamscape where folklore, satire, and Mediterranean flamboyance meet in the streets.
The heart of the celebration beats in and around Place Masséna, where monumental floats—some grotesque, some poetic—parade by in both daylight and moonlight. The theme for 2026, “Long Live the Queen!”, promises a series of irreverent, baroque, and humorous creations. At night, the illuminated processions lend the event a surreal glow, transforming the city into a mobile stage set between the sea and the hills.
Equally cherished are the Flower Parades, or batailles de fleurs, where performers in embroidered costumes shower spectators with mimosas, roses, and lilies from richly adorned floats. It’s not just a show—it’s a fragrant, living homage to the region’s floral heritage, a sensory dialogue between art and nature.
Yet the Carnival is more than spectacle. It is ritual. Each year, a giant effigy of the Carnival King presides over the festivities, only to be ceremonially burned on the final night, in a burst of fireworks over the Baie des Anges. The act is playful but ancient: a nod to rebirth, to transition, to the passage of seasons.
Throughout the city, music reverberates—brass bands, samba troupes, percussions from faraway continents. The atmosphere is one of shared mischief. Children wear glittering masks, locals disguise themselves as caricatures of royalty or revolution, and visitors quickly learn that the only dress code is joy.
For eleven days, Nice becomes something rare: not just beautiful, but uninhibited. The Carnival is not a memory of the past. It is a living pulse—generous, chaotic, precise, and dazzling. A celebration of the absurd, yes, but also of life at its most alive.