Arriving by air
The airports serving Montreux and its region:
- Geneva Airport GVA
Connections, terminals and transfer arrangements change — confirm them with the airline and the organiser rather than planning around a fixed transfer time.
All events & mapMusicMontreux Jazz Festival
Music, arts & food · Event guide
How to plan for Montreux Jazz Festival
The 61st Montreux Jazz Festival runs 2–17 July 2027 on the Lake Geneva shoreline. Tickets are sold per concert rather than as a festival pass, and several stages are free.
- LocationMontreux, Switzerland
- Edition timing2–17 July 2027 · 61st edition
- AccessPer-concert tickets; free stages alongside
01 · Event details
Edition and venue
Timing: 2–17 July 2027 · 61st edition
Venue or host area: Montreux, on the eastern end of Lake Geneva, with the main auditorium at the Convention Centre and free stages along the waterfront. The marker shows the town, not a venue.
Access: Tickets are sold concert by concert, with passes and packages offered as an alternative; the free outdoor stages need no ticket. The 2027 programme and prices had not been published at review, so no availability is claimed.
02 · Plan the visit
Plan around the official access route
Montreux is on the Swiss rail network, roughly an hour from Geneva airport by train, and the venues are within walking distance of the station and the lakefront. Accommodation in Montreux and Vevey fills early for the festival fortnight, and the free stages are outdoor and weather-dependent. Swiss prices apply to everything from hotels to a coffee, so budget accordingly.
- Confirm the edition: use the organiser’s latest date and venue announcement, not only a customary month.
- Confirm admission: check whether access is by purchase, ballot, qualification, application or free/public entry; do not assume a ticket includes every venue or session.
- Confirm local logistics: check current transport, accessibility, road closures and arrival instructions with the organiser and relevant local authority.
- Protect flexibility: compare cancellation terms before booking travel around a date or route that is not fully confirmed.
03 · Location
Getting to Montreux
A lakeside town on the eastern end of Lake Geneva, with a waterfront promenade and the convention centre a short walk from the station.
The venue
Montreux, on the eastern end of Lake Geneva, with the main auditorium at the Convention Centre and free stages along the waterfront. The marker shows the town, not a venue.
The catalogue marker shows Montreux, Switzerland at city or region level only — it is not an entrance, a gate, a course or a transfer route. For the event’s position among its category peers, open the Music overview and map.
04 · Overview
What this event is
A two-week jazz and popular music festival on the Lake Geneva shoreline in Montreux, with ticketed concerts in the Stravinski Auditorium and the Miles Davis Hall, and free stages along the waterfront promenade. The programme runs from jazz and blues to rock, soul, electronic and world music, and the free stages make the festival part of the town for two weeks.
Why it matters
Montreux is the jazz festival that stopped being only a jazz festival: its programme covers the widest range of any major festival, and it is where some of the most famous live recordings in music were made — Deep Purple's Made in Japan material and Nina Simone's 1976 set among them. The free lakeside stages make it an unusual hybrid: a paid festival with a public promenade anyone can walk.
History
Claude Nobs founded the festival in 1967, and it moved into the Casino de Montreux — later rebuilt after a fire in 1971, an event commemorated in Smoke on the Water. Nobs ran it until his death in 2013, and the festival has continued under his successor, adding the free stages and a parallel programme of workshops and competitions. The 2027 edition is the 61st.
| Founded | 1967 by Claude Nobs |
|---|---|
| 2027 edition | 61st, 2–17 July |
| Venues | Stravinski Auditorium, Miles Davis Hall, free lakefront stages |
| Location | Montreux, Switzerland |
| Character | Jazz to rock, soul and electronic |
05 · Research & credits
Sources and photo credit
Evidence and event information reviewed 2026-10-31. Published edition facts are separated from typical timing and historical context.
What we could not verify
- The 2027 programme, per-concert prices and pass options were not published.
- Free-stage line-up and locations for 2027 were not confirmed.
- Accessible seating and any venue changes were not verified.
- Montreux Jazz Festival — official site, 61st edition 2–17 July 2027
- Music Festival Wizard — Montreux Jazz Festival 2027 dates (secondary listing)
Photo credit
- Montreux Jazz Festival — Quejaytee · Moby at the 2026 Montreux Jazz Festival 19.jpg · CC BY-SA 4.0 · archival year 2026 · CSS-cropped to 16:10 overview cards and a 4:3 guide image
No affiliate links. This guide is for travel planning, not a guarantee of entry or event conditions.
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