Summer music festivals are a huge thing in Europe, but it isn’t just the big names that are worth attending. Pretty much every town seems to have a little festival. Even Blois had just finished a festival the night I arrived. Cognac, France is an even smaller town than Blois with only 25,000 people. For the namesake of my favorite alcoholic beverage, that’s a lot tinier than I expected! Either way, Cognac is home to a summer music festival known as Blues Passions, and one of my favorite singers (LP, check her out) was performing!

Where I Stayed

Due to the fact that I was dealing with 6 other people in my host family in Orléans, I wanted a lot of privacy on this little getaway. I also didn’t want to have to worry if I wound up coming back super late or something from the festival.

I chose this Airbnb, which was a little more expensive than any of the others I’d previously stayed at. It was really lovely and I fully enjoyed my stay, although be warned (like a lot of places in France) there are a ton of stairs. The owner was super lovely, honestly, and left me completely alone unless I needed anything. He even wound up going to pick me up at the train station but missed me because I’d arrived early and I didn’t know! His mother owed a shop just next door when I was there and she was very helpful and the shop was cute!

If you’re interested in booking a stay in an Airbnb I’d appreciate if you sign up through this link! It will get you $40 off and I’ll get a kickback as well, win-win <3

Things to Do in Cognac, France

Cognac, France is a very tiny town, but they do have a lot dedicated to the production of Cognac. Cognac is a sort-of aged wine. I very much enjoyed the Cognac museum. And not just because it kept me cool for an hour or two in the blistering French heat. The museum takes you through every step of the cognac production process, from the grapes to the bottles. My favorite section was definitely where they displayed all of the super expensive and super fancy bottles of Cognac! They were all super pretty and fun to look at. I don’t think I was allowed to take pictures or maybe I just forgot. I recommend checking it out, it’s a 5 euro entry fee but as a student I think I got in for 1euro. Can’t really beat that!

Some of the grape varieties growing just outside the museum! I believe this one is Ugni Blanc, an Italian grape.

I also shopped around in Cognac and purchased two fun bottles of cognac for my mini-collection. For those curious, my favorite is still the D’ussé brand which can be bought in the US.

The Concert

I had actually never been to a concert prior to this because I had always been told to make my first concert count and go for someone I really loved. LP was that person, no doubt about it! While I was at the concert specifically for her, there was a pretty nice setup. I’ve decided I really quite like the smaller venue idea for concerts as you can get soooo much closer to the person you’re actually interested in. While LP is an American artist she’s actually much better known in places like Greece. At the time was not well known in France. Thus, I was maybe a row or two from the front the whole time!

About 10 minutes before the concert was to begin, the crowd stayed about this size the whole time!

Not only that, but she had just gotten engaged to her girlfriend the day before!! We were literally the first fans to know. Of course, the concert itself was super lovely. Her voice is exactly as it sounds on her album. While I wandered around to some of the other venues, LP was definitely my highlight. It was well worth the confusing three trains I took to get there!

Conclusion

Music festivals in France seem like a really fun, fairly inexpensive way to add on to one’s trip. I think the tickets cost around 45euros, which did not seem too bad. It is also a nice way to see more of the country you’re visiting, that you may have had no other reason to see. The best parts of my trip to France were Blois and the music festival in Cognac. Let me know if you’ve been to any festivals in Europe and give me some recommendations! I’m highly interested in eventually getting to Budapest for the Sziget festival, it looks like a ton of fun.