Coupe Icare Paragliding Festival — The Complete Guide
The Coupe Icare paragliding festival is the world’s largest free flight event. Every third week of September, Saint-Hilaire-du-Touvet transforms into the global capital of free flight. What began in the early 1970s as a hang gliding precision landing competition has, consequently, grown into a six-day gathering that draws over 100,000 visitors from every continent. Every discipline is represented: paragliding, hang gliding, paramotor, wingsuit, speed riding, and hot air balloon. The 2026 edition runs 15–20 September.
What Is the Coupe Icare Paragliding Festival?
The Coupe Icare paragliding festival is part flying event, part film festival, part trade show, and part carnival. Moreover, it all happens simultaneously on a plateau above Grenoble, with a 700m vertical drop as the backdrop. It’s impossible to describe accurately. However, the closest comparison is to say that it’s what happens when a global community of pilots decides that flying deserves a proper celebration.
For visiting pilots, it’s one of those events you put on the calendar once and rearrange the rest of your life around. For non-pilots, meanwhile, it’s one of the most visually extraordinary spectacles in the Alps.
The Coupe Icare Festival Programme
The Icarnaval — Costumed Flights
The centrepiece of the Coupe Icare paragliding festival is the Icarnaval. Specifically, it’s a costumed flight competition that has to be seen to be believed. Pilots spend months engineering outfits that somehow have to fly. Dragons, robots, a man riding a flying fish, a full Madagascar ensemble airborne simultaneously. They launch from the North takeoff. As a result, the crowd watches from the plateau and from the landing field 700m below. There is no other event like it in aviation.
L’Icare du Cinéma — Aerial Film Festival
Running since 1983, the Icare du Cinéma is a world-renowned aerial film festival. In addition, it features around a hundred entries competing across seven categories each year. Screenings run throughout the week in the evenings. In other words, it’s an extraordinary combination of flying by day and cinema by night.
The Testival — Demo Days
The Coupe Icare paragliding festival opens on Tuesday and Wednesday with the Testival. This is, consequently, the best opportunity of the year to demo the newest paragliders, harnesses, and instruments. If you’re in the market for new gear, there is no better context — back-to-back comparisons, expert advice on hand, and the launch right there.
The Trade Show
From Thursday to Sunday, the trade show opens with 230-plus professional exhibitors. Furthermore, it covers every corner of the free flight world — wings, harnesses, instruments, clothing, travel, and more. If it exists in paragliding, it’s there.
Morning Hike-and-Fly to the Dent de Crolles
For pilots who want to start the festival week properly, a morning hike-and-fly to the Dent de Crolles (2,062m) is part of the Coupe Icare tradition. Specifically, it involves an early start, a two-hour approach, and a flight back to the landing field. It’s the best possible way to earn your festival wristband.
Practical Guide for the Coupe Icare Paragliding Festival
Airspace During the Event
The Coupe Icare paragliding festival is officially an airshow. As a result, the airspace above Saint-Hilaire is heavily regulated during the main weekend. Expect queues at takeoff and pre-registration requirements for certain flight slots. Therefore, if your goal is to stack as many flights as possible, this is not the week for it. If your goal is the spectacle, however, there is nothing else like it.
When to Arrive
The atmosphere builds progressively through the week. Tuesday and Wednesday are consequently the quietest days — ideal for the Testival and for getting flights in before the main crowds arrive. The weekend, meanwhile, is when the Icarnaval runs and the plateau is at its most spectacular.
Accommodation
Accommodation books up months in advance for Coupe Icare week. Therefore, plan early. If you leave it late, Grenoble is the practical base — 30 minutes by car from the plateau. See our Saint-Hilaire travel guide for full accommodation options and contacts.
Getting There
Parking on the plateau is extremely limited during the festival weekend. As a result, the organisers run dedicated shuttle services from Grenoble and from several valley car parks. For current logistics, check the official programme at coupe-icare.org.
The 2026 Coupe Icare Paragliding Festival
The 2026 edition of the Coupe Icare paragliding festival runs 15–20 September 2026. For the full programme, registration details, and practical information, visit coupe-icare.org.
Flying at Saint-Hilaire Around Festival Week
If the Coupe Icare paragliding festival is part of your itinerary, consider arriving a few days before it starts. The site is at its best in mid-September — the summer crowds have thinned, the light is extraordinary, and thermal conditions are still excellent. In other words, you get quality flying days before the festival takes over, and the event itself as a finale.
For tandem flights before or after the festival, see our tandem flights page. For coaching and XC clinics, visit our coaching guide.