Marciac is a thirteenth-century bastide in the Gers with about 1,200 inhabitants, and for a fortnight each summer it hosts one of the most respected jazz festivals in Europe. A 6,000-seat marquee goes up outside the village for the evening concerts; the arcaded central square runs a free stage all day and a bodega all night, and the whole place smells of Armagnac and duck.
The festival has an unusual pedigree: it grew from a school jazz club founded by a local teacher in 1978 and still runs a music curriculum in the village school.
A rounded attendance figure circulates widely but without a year or a basis, so we record none rather than repeat it.
The Gers has no railway worth the name and little accommodation. Visitors camp, rent gîtes a year ahead, or drive in from Auch and Tarbes.
PlanningA long window from late July into August; the marquee concerts are ticketed, the village programme is free.