And now that Ireland's glut of visiting luminaries is tapering off, its time for the dedicated jazz twitcher to think about a few welltimed excursions to the continent.

Various pretexts may be manufactured to persuade accompanying friends, spouses and children, but the bottom line is the opportunity to tick a few superstars off the list and get a sun tan at the same time, a pleasure most assuredly unavailable at our own damp affair in Cork.

The Vienne festival in southern France takes place in an open air Roman theatre from 28 June until 13 July, with a line up including the superb Pat Metheny-Brad Mehldau Quartet (4 July) and the star-studded San Francisco Jazz Collective featuring Joe Lovano (10 July). Pretexts for non jazzers should centre around the region's superb Rigotte de Condrieu cheese and a glass of Cote -Rotie.

The SF Jazz Collective are also making a stop at the most exotic of the European festivals . . . which even the most hardened of jazz opponents will be loath to pass up . . . the Funchal Jazz Festival on the island of Madeira, a few hundred miles west of Morocco, which runs from the 5 to 7 of July. Also on the bill are Brazilian pianist Eliane Elias and Toots Thielmans.

The weekend of 6 July is the start date for most continental festivals: Ghent in Belgium features trumpet pedant Wynton Marsalis and vocal athlete Kurt Elling; Copenhagen, long a stopover for senior jazz figures, plays host to saxophonist Joshua Redman, pianist Kenny Werner and keyboard master Joe Zawinul;

Estoril, near Lisbon, has bassist Dave Holland (technically a European but a US resident since the late '60s), as well as Elling and Redman; and father of them all, the Montreux Jazz Festival has the Metheny-Mehldau Quartet, pianist Chick Corea and vibraphonist Gary Burton.

But last, and by all means most, 6 July sees the opening night of the Umbria Jazz Festival in Perugia, Italy. Even without the music, 10 days in Umbria is a no-brainer, but when you add a festival programme that includes piano genius Keith Jarrett's Standard's Trio, trumpeter Dave Douglas, and two certifiable legends of the saxophone in Sonny Rollins and Ornette Coleman, Perugia starts to look like paradise on earth.

Pretend to the non-jazzer in your life that you have suddenly discovered a passion for olive oil.

Pretexts are slightly harder to come by for the northern European events, so perhaps a solo run to Rotterdam for the North Sea festival on 13 July is called for. The event, recently moved from the Hague, is one of the most intense musical experiences known to man, with over 100 acts playing in just three days in a single venue and a programme that includes just about everyone who is on the road this summer. For those who don't like it too hot, there are also well programmed festivals in Pori, Finland (14-22 July), Molde, Norway (16-21 July) and Stockholm, Sweden (17-21 July).

The pick of this year's festivals though has to be the Marciac Jazz Festival in south western France.

A town of barely 1,000 people, Marciac pitches a tent on the local rugby field and invites the very best to come and play. Rollins, Marsalis, Metheny and Mehldau are all slated for this year. Tell the rest of the family you are thinking of buying a house in the area. Oh look, darling, there's some kind of music festival on too. What luck!