Dour Festival

The festival

"Doureuuuh!": the rallying cry of festivalists says the fervor that surrounds the Dour Festival, created in 1989 in the Borinage, the former mining country of Hainaut. Set up on the plain of the Fire Machine — named after an old steam machine of coal mining — it is the largest festival in French-speaking Belgium and one of the most famous in Europe for the discoverers: we come to Dour to see today the headlines of tomorrow.

For five days, his scenes with cult names — the Last Arena, the Boombox, the Cavern, the Lab, the Prairie House — were followed by hip-hop, rock, electro, reggae, dub, song and world music, from legends to the very first concerts. The 2026 edition, from 15 to 19 July, included Orelsan, Damso, Sean Paul, Pendulum and Amelie Lens.

The campsite in Dour is a legend of itself: a joyful ephemeral city stuck to the plain, which makes the festival a parenthesis of five days out of time, at prices that remain soft. The next edition will be held in mid-July 2027; the dates will be announced on the official website.

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To see around the festival

The Grand Hornu — the former UNESCO mining complex, which became a centre for contemporary art, ten minutes away. The Belfry of Mons — the only baroque belfry in Belgium and its carillon. The Mundaneum — the "archives of the world" of Paul Otlet, a Belgian ancestor of the web.