Flea markets and antique fairs in Burgundy-Franche-Comté on 17 and 18 October: the chestnut festival in Diges, a die-cast car show at Micropolis and a sewing flea market in Domblans.
Saturday morning, in the Yonne. The village of Diges, in the Puisaye, opens its festival on October 17. Flea markets and antique fairs in Burgundy-Franche-Comté on 17 and 18 October: the chestnut festival in Diges, a die-cast car show at Micropolis and a sewing flea market in Domblans.
Diges, 45th chestnut festival
The Fête de la Châtaigne in Diges takes place on Saturday, October 17 (17/10/2026), for its 45th edition. The village has 700 inhabitants, and more than 13,000 visitors come, from the Yonne and from neighbouring départements. In the Puisaye chestnut trees grow on clay and silica soils, acid and damp, which geologists see as the northern extension of the Massif Central, and the chestnut has been a crop there for a long time. Before the potato arrived, it fed the peasants of the Yonne. The landscape is hedged farmland dotted with ponds, broadleaf woods and grazing meadows.
The Comité des Fêtes, a team of volunteers, runs the day, which starts early in the morning and carries on until late afternoon. Chestnuts roast in big perforated pans over embers. The stalls sell chestnut flour, preserves, creams and pastries, and local growers sell nets of fresh chestnuts.
The car boot sale, the toy fair and the craft market all take place the same day, with food on site. Free entry.
From Auxerre it is 25 km, from Toucy 15 km. Shuttles and car parks are laid on locally.
Toys, clothes sales and weekend flea markets
On Sunday, October 18, Micropolis in Besançon hosts the exchange fair for die-cast cars and vintage toys, 36th edition, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Dinky Toys, Corgi, Solido and Matchbox sit alongside electric trains, aeroplanes, boats and tin toys. Entry costs 3 euros, free for under-12s, and parking is free. In Seloncourt, the Maison Pour Tous holds its toy fair on Saturday morning, from 9 a.m. to noon: toys, board games and childcare items, free entry.
In the Jura, Arbois opens the charity clothes sale of the Pema association on Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., book sale included, with the takings going to charitable projects. The organic fair in Longchaumois brings together about fifty exhibitors on Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., with concerts on Saturday evening from 6 p.m. On Sunday, the village hall in Domblans hosts the sewing and creative hobbies flea market: fabric, wool, haberdashery, patterns and sewing machines.
Back to classic flea markets. In Mandeure, the wind band holds its flea market and car boot sale at the Jean d'Ormesson cultural centre, from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., free entry, in aid of its concerts and its music school. In Dijon, the Rousseau district fair, on the third Sunday of the month, brings together fewer than fifty professional antique dealers on rue Auguste Comte and rue Chaudronnerie, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
