In Pau, it's impossible to be bored! To the delight of the visitor, there is a constant string of events. At the Zénith you can enjoy Sting and Noir Désir, or theatre and opera. At the Beaumont palace and the St Louis theatre you'll find chamber music. Whoever goes there in July can enjoy the eclectic programme of the Festival of Pau, under the direction of Roger Hanin. There is the Tour de France, for whom this city in the Béarn is the third favourite town but then again, the Pau city golfing Grand Prix might be a preference. Summer in Pau includes Ciné Cité and the Laü Ciné-concerts, where the whole town comes alive with open-air films and shows.



Cinema forever ("Cinéma toujours"), the festival of gay and lesbian films, holds the headlines in January.
In February the Bearnais Carnival invades town. In March and April, dance steals the scene with the Festival of dances in plural and Flamenco Week. That great English/Pau passion for horses follows in hot pursuit with the Equestrian Meeting in spring and the full International Competition in October. Then again, you mustn't miss the blazing Palais des Sports for the basketball players of the Élan Béarnais.



What about the 70 year-old racing-car Grand Prix, the only one in France in the centre of town! Other very popular events are the trade shows and fairs.
The commercial Autumn Fair, the Book Fair, the Habitat Exhibition and the Wedding Salon between them draw 600,000 visitors annually to the Parc des Expositions (the exhibition centre). There are three national museums that are open to visitors all year round - the Henri IV château, the musée des Beaux-Arts (museum of fine arts) and the Bernadotte house. All year round, from January 1st to December 31st, there's always something happening at Pau .