Destinations
Find The Best & Craziest Festivals Around The World
Visiting a festival is one of our 15 Things You Should Do On Your Travels. Though the trouble I have when backpacking around the world is that I seem to turn up to a destination just after a huge festival has taken place.
I created this festival finder to prevent the same happening to you; it helps you put the craziest, weirdest and best festivals around the world on your calendar, before you set off on your travels.
Just select where and when you are going, and if you wish, what type of festival you are interested in visiting, using the dropdown menus below.
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Aguman Sanduk Minalin, The Philippines
Type of Festival: Music, Art & Dance / Crazy or Weird
Usually Held: New Year’s Day
Straight men from the town of Minalin dress up as beauty queens and ride through town on festive floats.
Argungu Fishing Festival Argungu, Nigeria
Type of Festival: Crazy or Weird
Usually Held: Mid February
An annual four-day festival, which culminates in an hour-long fishing frenzy, where up to 35,000 fishermen jump into the muddy Malan Fada river and fight to catch the largest fish. Competitors may only using traditional fishing tools, with many catching fish using only their hands.
Balaton Sound Zamárdi, Hungary
http://www.sziget.hu/balatonsound_english
Type of Festival: Music, Art & Dance
Usually Held: July
Balaton Sound is one of Europe’s largest open air electronic music festivals, held on the southern bank of Lake Balaton, featuring live acts and DJ’s from all around the world.
Batalla del Vino Haro, Spain
http://www.wine-fight.com/
Type of Festival: Crazy or Weird/ Food & Drink
Usually Held: 29th of June
A festival involving wine drinking competitions and contests. The main event is the Battle of Wine; imagine a giant, children’s water fight, but replace children and water with wine and adults.
Battle of the Oranges Ivrea, Italy
Type of Festival: Crazy or Weird
Usually Held: February
A giant food fight with oranges. Unlike Spain’s La Tomatina, this food fight is very much a battle, with a considerable amount more aggression and strategy.
Beer Can Regatta Darwin, Australia
Type of Festival: Crazy or Weird
Usually Held: July
Participants create boats using empty beer cans, bottles, etc, which cannot be tested for seaworthiness before entering the water. The boats are sailed around a course and then the crews have to find an object that has been hidden under water somewhere along the course. The winner is the finder of the object.
Berlin Festival Berlin, Germany
http://www.berlinfestival.de/
Type of Festival: Music, Art & Dance
Usually Held: September
A two-day outdoor rock/ electro music event.
B’estfest Romania
Type of Festival: Music, Art & Dance
Usually Held: Early July
Music festival, featuring big name acts from the worlds of Rock, Pop, Electro, Dubstep, and Drum and Bass.
Bestival Isle of Wight, England
http://www.bestival.net/
Type of Festival: Music, Art & Dance
Usually Held: September
A four-day indie/ dance music festival held on the Isle of Wight, often praised for its non-corporate feel.
Boardmasters Festival Newquay, England
http://www.boardmasters.co.uk/
Type of Festival: Music, Art & Dance
Usually Held: Early August
A combination of live music and extreme sport. Music performances take place near Watergate Bay, whilst surf, BMX and skateboard competitions take place on Fistral Beach.
Boryeong Mud Festival Boryeong, South Korea
http://mudfestival.or.kr/english/festival/festival1.php
Type of Festival: Crazy or Weird
Usually Held: July
Mud from the Boryeong mud flats is transported to the Daecheon beach area, where events such as mud wrestling and mud sliding occur. The mud is celebrated as it is considered to be rich in minerals, and is used in many cosmetics products.
Boun Bang Fai Rocket Festival Throughout Laos
Type of Festival: Crazy or Weird / Religious & Cultural
Usually Held: The beginning of the wet season (May)
A ceremonial call for rain and celebration of fertility. Celebrations usually take place over three days, with the first couple of days involving music, dancing and floats, which often sport symbols and imagery of phallus’s. The third day involves competitive home-made rocket firing.
Brighton Festival Brighton, England
http://brightonfestival.org/
Type of Festival: Music, Art & Dance
Usually Held: May
A 3 week celebration of music, theatre, dance, circus, art, film, literature, debate and outdoor events.
Brisbane Festival Brisbane, Australia
http://www.brisbanefestival.com.au
Type of Festival: Music, Art & Dance
Usually Held: September
A 3 week international arts festival, celebrating classical and contemporary music, theatre, dance, comedy, opera, and circus. The major event and finale is the Sunsuper Riverfire, a pyrotechnic and firework display that ignites the Brisbane City skyline.
Burning Man Black Rock Desert, Nevada, USA
http://www.burningman.com/
Type of Festival: Music, Art & Dance
Usually Held: The last Monday of August to the first Monday in September.
An annual art event and temporary community based on radical self expression and self-reliance. The name is associated with the ritual burning of a large wooden effigy on Saturday evening.
Bushfire Festival Swaziland
http://www.bush-fire.com/
Type of Festival: Music, Art & Dance
Usually Held: Late May
Acclaimed international music and arts festival held each year at House on Fire, an inspired and magical venue combining sculpture, mosaic and theatre built in the heart of the Ezulwini valley.
Byron Bay Bluesfest Byron Bay, Australia
http://www.bluesfest.com.au/
Type of Festival: Music, Art & Dance
Usually Held: Early April
Australia’s largest International Festival of Blues and Roots Music.
Calcio Fiorentino Piazza Santa Croce, Florence, Italy
Type of Festival: Crazy or Weird
Usually Held: June/ July
Calcio Fiorentino is an ancient and brutal form of football. The modern version now takes place at an annual festival featuring 3 games; within the rules are head-butting, punching, elbowing, and choking.
Carnaval Argentina, Brazil, Colombia & Uruguay
Type of Festival: Religious & Cultural/ Music, Art & Dance
Usually Held: Friday to Tuesday, before Ash Wednesday (February/ March)
A catholic festive season which occurs immediately before Lent and is widely celebrated across South America. The largest and most famous is Rio Carnaval, a parade filled with revellers, floats, dancers and samba music.
Carnaval de Binche Binche, Belgium
http://www.carnavaldebinche.be/home-eng.html
Type of Festival: Religious & Cultural
Usually Held: Sunday to Tuesday, before Ash Wednesday (February/ March)
A festival of history, craft & costumes, recognized as a “Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity” by UNESCO.
Carnaval de Oruro Oruro, Bolivia
Type of Festival: Religious & Cultural
Usually Held: The first week of February
A religious festival dating back more than 2000 years – it is one of UNESCO’s Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity – featuring folk dancing and a traditional parade.
Carnival of Viareggio Viareggio, Italy
Type of Festival: Crazy or Weird
Usually Held: Sundays around Lent
A parade of giant floats and caricatures alongside the local beach.
Cartagena International Music Festival Cartagena, Colombia
http://web.cartagenamusicfestival.com/
Type of Festival: Music, Art & Dance
Usually Held: January
World-renowned classical musicians and orchestras play in some of Cartagena’s most picturesque spots.
Cheese-Rolling Festival Cooper’s Hill, near Gloucester, England
Type of Festival: Crazy or Weird
Usually Held: Spring Bank Holiday (June)
A wheel of cheese is rolled from the top of a steep hill and competitors chase after it. The first person to catch the cheese, or more usually, the first person over the finish line at the bottom of the hill, wins the cheese. Due to the steepness and uneven surface of the hill there are usually a number of comical falls, and many injuries.
Chinese New Year China & large parts of South East Asia
Type of Festival: Religious & Cultural
Usually Held: January/ February
One of the most famous and largest celebrations around the world. Marking the last day of the lunar year, Chinese New Year festivities traditionally feature lion dances, fireworks, firecrackers, and lanterns.
Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival Indio, California, USA
http://www.coachella.com/
Type of Festival: Music, Art & Dance
Usually Held: Mid April
An annual music and arts festival, featuring many genres of music, including rock, indie, hip hop, and electronic dance, along with art installations and sculptures.
Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead) Mexico
Type of Festival: Religious & Cultural/ Crazy or Weird
Usually Held: October 31st – November 2nd
A holiday to remember friends and family members who have died. The dead are honoured with food, flowers, candles, parades, and decorative masks, skulls and skeletons.
Distortion Copenhagen, Denmark
http://www.cphdistortion.dk/
Type of Festival: Music, Art & Dance
Usually Held: June
Distortion is a week-long, annual party-tsunami over Copenhagen, with dancefloors in the streets, squares and warehouses.
Diwali India
Type of Festival: Religious & Cultural
Usually Held: October/ November
Also known as the festival of lights, an ancient Hindu festival that spiritually signifies the victory of light over darkness, knowledge over ignorance and good over evil. Celebrations include lighting decorations, fireworks, feasts and sweets.
Edinburgh Fringe Festival Edinburgh, Scotland
https://www.edfringe.com/
Type of Festival: Music, Art & Dance
Usually Held: August
The largest arts festival in the world, and a showcase for the performing arts, particularly theatre and comedy. Over 3 weeks there are at least 2,500 shows in around 250 venues.
Elephant Festival Jaipur, India
http://elephantfestivaljaipur.com/
Type of Festival: Religious & Cultural/ Crazy or Weird
Usually Held: Last full moon day of the lunar month Phalgun (February/ March)
Held on the day of the Holi festival, elephants are embellished with vibrant colors and jewellery. Events include Elephant polo and Elephant Dancing.
Exit Petrovaradin Fortress, Novi Sad, Serbia
http://www.exitfest.org/en
Type of Festival: Music, Art & Dance
Usually Held: Mid July
A major and award-winning summer music festival held in a Fortress. Exit has a wide of genres; including Rock, Electronica, Electronic Dance, Metal, Hip Hop, Punk, and Drum and Bass.
Feria de Cali Cali, Colombia
Type of Festival: Religious & Cultural/ Music, Art & Dance
Usually Held: Late December – Early January
A celebration of the region’s cultural identity, including horse riding parades and dance parties.
Festival y Mundial de Tango Buenos Aires, Argentina
Type of Festival: Music, Art & Dance
Usually Held: August
The world tango dance tournament.
Festival of the Virgen de la Candelaria Puno, Peru
Type of Festival: Religious & Cultural/ Music, Art & Dance
Usually Held: Early February
One of the largest festivals of culture, music and dancing in Peru, in honour of the Virgin Mary.
FIB Benicàssim Benicàssim, Spain
Type of Festival: Music, Art & Dance
Usually Held: 2nd week of July
An annual music festival, focusing mainly on pop, rock and electronica artists, with other elements including short films, fashion shows and art. The festival is noted for its proximity to several beaches, late performances (5pm – 8am) and party-orientated crowd.
Fuji Rock Festival Naeba Ski Resort, Japan
http://fujirock-eng.com/
Type of Festival: Music, Art & Dance
Usually Held: Last weekend of July
The largest outdoor music event in Japan. A three-day rock festival, featuring Japanese and international musicians.
Full Moon Party Koh Pha Ngan, Thailand
Type of Festival: Music, Art & Dance
Usually Held: Every Full Moon
The most famous backpacker “festival”; an all-night beach party, where revellers cover themselves with glow in the dark paint. Attractions include slides, fire shows and buckets of alcohol.
Glastonbury Festival Pilton, England
http://www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk/
Type of Festival: Music, Art & Dance
Usually Held: Last weekend in June
The largest greenfield festival in the world. A five-day festival of contemporary music, in addition to dancing, comedy, theatre, circus, cabaret, and other arts. One of the top festivals in Europe.
Gnaoua Festival Essaouira, Morocco
http://www.festival-gnaoua.net/en/
Type of Festival: Music, Art & Dance
Usually Held: Mid June
A festival of music and dialogue from foreign artists and Gnaoua musicians. Gnaoua masters invite players of jazz, pop, rock and contemporary world music to explore new avenues. Unlike other festivals, many of the performances can be viewed for free
Golden Shears Masterton, New Zealand
http://www.goldenshears.co.nz/
Type of Festival: Crazy or Weird
Usually Held: Early March
The International Shearing and Woolhandling Championships is the World’s most prestigious sheep shearing event.
Harbin Ice Festival Harbin, China
http://www.icefestivalharbin.com/
Type of Festival: Crazy or Weird
Usually Held: January to February
An annual winter festival and the largest ice and snow festival in the world. The event displays illuminated, full size buildings made from ice and snow and activities include alpine skiing and winter-swimming.
Henley-on-Todd Regatta Alice Springs, Australia
http://www.henleyontodd.com.au/
Type of Festival: Crazy or Weird
Usually Held: Mid to Late August
An ironic boat race in the outback, mocking the famous British Henley Regatta. Held annually in the dry, sandy bed of the Todd River, “boats” are made from metal frames, and teams of “rowers” run their boats in races through the hot sand.
Holi India
http://www.holifestival.org/
Type of Festival: Religious & Cultural / Crazy or Weird
Usually Held: Last full moon day of the lunar month Phalgun (February/ March)
Known as the festival of colours or the festival of love, Holi is an ancient Hindu religious festival. Celebrations start with a bonfire, singing and dancing the night before, followed the next day with a carnival of colours, where participants play, chase and colour each other with dry powder and coloured water.
Il Palio Siena, Italy
Type of Festival: Crazy or Weird
Usually Held: July 2 and August 16
A horse race held twice each year, where ten horses and riders, dressed in the appropriate city ward colours, race bareback around the Piazza del Campo.
Igloofest Montreal, Canada
http://www.igloofest.ca/
Type of Festival: Music, Art & Dance
Usually Held: January/ February
An annual outdoor music festival, with ice-and-steel decor and striking architectural staging. It pulls some of the best local and international DJs in electronic music.
Inti Raymi Sacsayhuaman, Cusco, Peru
Type of Festival: Religious & Cultural
Usually Held: June 24th
Also known as the Festival of the Sun, it was a religious ceremony of the Inca Empire in honor of the god Inti, and a celebration of the Winter Solstice. Reconstructions take place today and involve ceremony, music, colorful costumes and the sharing of food.
Kanamara Matsuri Kanayama Shrine, Kawasaki, Japan
Type of Festival: Crazy or Weird
Usually Held: Early April
Translated to the Festival of the Steel Phallus; the penis is the central theme of the event, it is reflected in illustrations, candy, carved vegetables, decorations, and a parade.
Kerala Temple Festivals Kerala, India
Type of Festival: Religious & Cultural
Usually Held: Year Round
Kerala or ‘God’s Own Country’ has a large number of Hindu temples with unique traditions and most hold festivals on specific days of the year. The most famous temple festival is Thrissur Pooram (April/ May), packed with music, dancing, colours, shrines and elephants.
Krishna Janmashtami India
Type of Festival: Religious & Cultural
Usually Held: August/ September
An annual celebration of the birth of the Hindu deity Krishna, with prayers, singing, dancing, and enormous flower garlands and other decorations at local temples.
La Diablada Puno, Peru
Type of Festival: Crazy or Weird
Usually Held: Week leading up to 5 November
A festival with much drinking and dancing on the banks of Lake Titicaca. Locals pay their respects to ancient spirits by dressing as demons, whilst dancing like they’ve been possessed.
La Mercè Barcelona, Spain
http://www.barcelona-tourist-guide.com/
Type of Festival: Religious & Cultural / Crazy or Weird
Usually Held: End of September
A giant 5 day street party held in honour of Mare de Deu de la Mercè, the Patron Saint of Barcelona. Highlights include parades of papier maché giants, human towers and fire runs.
Las Fallas Valencia, Spain
Type of Festival: Religious & Cultural / Crazy or Weird
Usually Held: Mid March
A merger of tradition, satire, art and sentimentality, where Falles (monuments) are paraded and eventually burnt.
La Tomatina Bunol, Spain
Type of Festival: Crazy or Weird
Usually Held: Last Wednesday of August
Quite simply a food fight, where people throw tomatoes at others for fun.
Lake Of Stars Sunbird Nkopola Lodge, Lake Malawi, Malawi
http://www.lakeofstars.org/
Type of Festival: Music, Art & Dance
Usually Held: Late September
A three-day international arts festival of music, comedy, poetry and theatre, held on the shores of the third largest lake in Africa.
Les Dunes Electroniques Ong Jemel, Tunisia
http://www.dunes-electroniques.com/
Type of Festival: Music, Art & Dance/ Crazy & Weird
Usually Held: February
Electronic dance music revellers, party in the fictional Tatooine; the set from the Star Wars movies that still lies in the sand dunes of the Tunisian desert. Many festival-goers come equipped with light sabers and are dressed in themed costumes.
Loi Krathong Thailand
Type of Festival: Religious & Cultural
Usually Held: Full moon of the 12th Thai month (November)
Celebrated throughout Thailand and other parts of Southeast Asia. The main tradition is the making of buoyant, decorated baskets and floating them on a river, but the releasing of thousands of sky lanterns is probably what it is most synonymous with. The best place in Thailand to be for the festival is Chiang Mai.
Lollapalooza Chicago, USA
http://www.lollapalooza.com/
Type of Festival: Music, Art & Dance
Usually Held: July/ August
An annual music festival featuring popular alternative rock, heavy metal, punk rock and hip hop bands, dance and comedy performances, and craft booths.
Mardi Gras New Orleans, USA
Type of Festival: Religious & Cultural/ Music, Art & Dance
Usually Held: Two weeks before and through Fat Tuesday (Mardi Gras in French), the day before Ash Wednesday (February/ March).
A carnival celebration with float parades, balls, and king cake parties. Float riders toss “throws” to the crowds; the most common throws are strings of colorful plastic beads, with many “flashing” in an effort to catch more beads and throws.
MassKara Festival Bacolod City, The Philippines
Type of Festival: Music, Art & Dance
Usually Held: Third week of October
MassKara involves energetic and colourful displays of street dancing and carnivals to the beat of Latin music. Other attractions include beauty pageants, food festivals, sports events and musical concerts.
Melbourne International Comedy Festival Melbourne, Australia
http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2014/season/
Type of Festival: Music, Art & Dance
Usually Held: March/ April
The third-largest international comedy festival in the world, and the largest cultural event in Australasia. Featuring hundreds of shows over the 4 week festival, including stand-up, cabaret acts, sketch shows, plays, improvisational theatre, debates and musical shows.
Melt! Ferropolis, Gräfenhainichen, Germany
http://www.meltfestival.de/en.html
Type of Festival: Music, Art & Dance
Usually Held: Mid July
Electronica and rock acts perform each year, at one of the most unique event locations in the world – a giant, open-air, industrial museum filled with wheel excavators, dredgers and stackers.
Mendoza Wine Harvest Festival Mendoza Province, Argentina
http://www.mendozawinetoursandtravel.com/
Type of Festival: Food & Drink/ Music, Art & Dance
Usually Held: First week of March
Celebrating the national grape harvest, featuring hundreds of dancers and performers, and a large fireworks display.
Monkey Buffet Festival Lopburi, Thailand
Type of Festival: Crazy or Weird
Usually Held: Late November
A festival held to promote tourism, involving the placing of fruits and vegetables in front of temples for the local population of 2,000 monkeys.
National Cheese Festival Trujillo, Cáceres, Spain
Type of Festival: Food & Drink
Usually Held: Early May
A 5-day festival, transforming Trujillo into a mini cheese village, made up of hundreds of stands displaying the finest local and national cheeses.
Noche de los Rábanos Oaxaca City, Mexico
Type of Festival: Crazy or Weird
Usually Held: 23rd of December
The Night of the Radishes, is a vegetable festival, where craftsmen carve radishes into human figures and other vivid forms.
Nyepi (Balinese New Year) Bali, Indonesia
Type of Festival: Religious & Cultural/ Crazy or Weird
Usually Held: The Lunar New Year (first new moon (mid-March))
The day before Nyepi is the ‘Day of Great Sacrifices’, with ceremonies, music and offering gifts of food and flowers to the ogoh-ogoh – huge monster dolls. The ogoh-ogoh figures are paraded through the streets to frighten away all the evil spirits.
Please note Nyepi day itself is a day of silence, fasting and meditation for the Balinese, so try to be respectful.
Oktoberfest Munich, Germany
Type of Festival: Food & Drink
Usually Held: Late September to the first weekend in October
The world’s largest funfair, a 16-day festival, where 7 million litres of beer is consumed. Other attractions include amusement rides, sidestalls and games, plus a wide variety of traditional food.
Outlook Festival Pula, Croatia
http://www.outlookfestival.com/
Type of Festival: Music, Art & Dance
Usually Held: Late August/ Early September
A bass music festival held in a fort, with surrounding beaches. The sound systems and stages are erected in various tunnels and even the moat of the abandoned ruins.
Phuket Vegetarian Festival Phuket, Thailand
Type of Festival: Religious & Cultural/ Crazy or Weird
Usually Held: Late September/ Early October
A celebration of spiritual cleansing involving gruesome rituals, such as walking on burning coals and extreme piercings of cheeks with swords and spears.
People’s Feast (Þjóðhátíð) Vestmannaeyjar, Heimaey Island, Iceland
Type of Festival: Music, Art & Dance
Usually Held: First weekend in August
A celebration of the ratification of the country’s constitution. Four days of big stage concerts, bonfires, fireworks, singing and plenty of vodka.
Primavera Sound Barcelona, Spain
http://www.primaverasound.com/?lang=en
Type of Festival: Music, Art & Dance
Usually Held: Late May
A music festival noted for focusing on independent and newly established international and domestic acts, from alternative, rock, indie, dance, electronic and hip hop genres.
Puck Fair Killorglin, Ireland
http://puckfair.ie/
Type of Festival: Crazy or Weird
Usually Held: 10th of August
One of Ireland’s oldest fairs, every year a group of people go up into the mountains and catch a wild goat. The goat is crowned the “King Puck” and put into a small cage on a high stand and reigns over town for three days, afterwards being brought down to be led back to his mountain home. Other festivities include concerts, storytelling, traditional music & dance, fireworks, and of course lots of drinking.
Rhythm & Vines Gisborne, New Zealand
http://www.rhythmandvines.co.nz/
Type of Festival: Music, Art & Dance
Usually Held: 29th December – 1st January
A New Years music festival, held at a vineyard, featuring domestic and international acts.
Running of the Bulls (San Fermín) Pamplona, Spain
Type of Festival: Crazy or Weird
Usually Held: 6th – 14th of July
A week long celebration involving traditional and folkloric events. The major attraction is the release of 12 bulls, which people then proceed to run from, down a stretch of narrow streets.
Saidai-ji Eyo Hadaka Matsuri Saidaiji Temple, Saidaiji-naka, Japan
http://www.jnto.go.jp/
Type of Festival: Crazy or Weird
Usually Held: Third Saturday of February
Also known as “The Naked Festival”, it celebrates the blessings of a bountiful harvest, as well as prosperity and fertility. Thousands of men wearing only thin cloths struggle fiercely with one another over a pair of lucky, sacred sticks.
Sanja Matsuri Festival Asakusa, Tokyo, Japan
Type of Festival: Religious & Cultural
Usually Held: Third Saturday in May
The wildest and largest of the three great Shinto festivals in Tokyo, with parades of portable shrines, along with traditional music and dancing.
Sauti Za Busara Zanzibar, Tanzania
http://www.busaramusic.org/
Type of Festival: Music, Art & Dance
Usually Held: Mid February
An African music festival, featuring hundreds of artists and several other activities, such as fashion shows and a carnival parade.
Secret Garden Party Abbots Ripton, England
http://secretgardenparty.com/
Type of Festival: Music, Art & Dance
Usually Held: Last Weekend of July
An independent arts and music festival, and alternative to the established mainstream music festivals. Held on the grounds of a Georgian farm house, with its own lake, river and landscaped gardens.
Semana Santa Throughout Latin America & Spain
Type of Festival: Religious & Cultural
Usually Held: Holy Week (last week of Lent, the week immediately before Easter.)
Easter celebrations in Spanish speaking countries, with displays of tradition, music, culture, theatre and religion.
Snowbombing Mayrhofen, Austria
http://www.snowbombing.com/
Type of Festival: Music, Art & Dance
Usually Held: Early April
Combining winter sports and music, attracting international acts from EDM, indie and rock genres, with themed parties in unusual locations.
Songkran Thailand
Type of Festival: Religious & Cultural / Crazy or Weird
Usually Held: 13th to 15th April
Thailand’s traditional New Year’s Day is one big water fight; throwing of water is meant to symbolise the washing all of the bad away and water is sometimes fragranced with herbs.
Soundwave Tisno, Croatia
http://www.soundwavecroatia.com/
Type of Festival: Music, Art & Dance
Usually Held: Early August
Set in a secret cove in an idyllic fishing town, Soundwave is one Europe’s finest independent music festivals.
St. Jerome’s Laneway Festival Australia & New Zealand
http://lanewayfestival.com/
Type of Festival: Music, Art & Dance
Usually Held: Late January – Early February
An indie/ rock festival that originated in a short, quiet and narrow, 4 metre wide, laneway in Melbourne, that has now expanded to five Australian cities (Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and Fremantle), Auckland and Singapore.
Summer Sonic Osaka and Chiba, Japan
http://www.summersonic.com/2014/english/
Type of Festival: Music, Art & Dance
Usually Held: Early August
A rock festival held at the same time in two Japanese cities. The majority of acts play at both venues over the 3 day festival. Line-ups contain mainly Japanese rock musicians, but there are also international acts.
Tet Nguyen Dan Vietnam
Type of Festival: Religious & Cultural
Usually Held: First day of the lunar new year (January/ February)
Marking the Vietnamese New Year, it’s the most important celebration in Vietnamese culture. Streets are decorated and filled with people trying to make as much noise as possible using firecrackers, drums, bells and gongs to ward off evil spirits.
Thaipusam, Batu Caves, Malaysia (and other countries with Tamil Hindu populations)
Type of Festival: Religious & Cultural/ Crazy or Weird
Usually Held: On the full moon in the Tamil month of Thai (January/ February)
A Tamil Hindu festival, with one of the most elaborate celebrations being at Batu Caves. Devotees carry offerings, held in place with skewers, which pierce the skin of the bearers torso. After a 15 kilometres journey to the caves from a temple in Kuala Lumpur, ash is sprinkled over the hooks and skewers piercing the devotees’ flesh before they are removed.
That Luang Festival Pha That Luang, Vientiane, Laos
Type of Festival: Religious & Cultural
Usually Held: Full moon of the twelfth lunar month (November)
The most important Buddhist festival in Laos. After three days of religious ceremonies, involving carrying incense and candles as offerings, there is a week of festivities, of folk and popular music, and drama performances.
The Galaxidi Flour Festival Galaxidi, Greece
Type of Festival: Crazy or Weird
Usually Held: Clean Monday, Eastern Orthodox Christian Lent (February/ March)
People dance in the streets and throw tonnes of coloured flour at one another.
The Hermanus Whale Festival Hermanus, South Africa
http://www.whalefestival.co.za/
Type of Festival: Music, Art & Dance
Usually Held: Late September – Early October
An enviro-arts festival, with performers, musicians and whale watching.
The Knysna Oyster Festival Knysna, South Africa
http://www.oysterfestival.co.za/
Type of Festival: Food & Drink
Usually Held: July
A festival with more than 100 lifestyle and sporting events spread over 10 days, with diverse gourmet offerings.
The Melbourne Festival Melbourne, Australia
https://www.melbournefestival.com.au/
Type of Festival: Music, Art & Dance
Usually Held: October
A 17 day celebration of the arts of theatre, dance, visual arts, opera and music.
The Vienna Festival Vienna, Austria
http://www.vienna.info/en/
Type of Festival: Music, Art & Dance
Usually Held: May/ June
A five or six weeks cultural festival of theatre, music and art from around the world.
T in the Park Strathallan, Scotland
http://www.tinthepark.com/home.aspx
Type of Festival: Music, Art & Dance
Usually Held: Mid July
A 3 day music festival catering to all types of genre.
Tomorrowland Boom, Belgium
http://www.tomorrowland.com/global-splash/
Type of Festival: Music, Art & Dance
Usually Held: Late July
The largest of all electronic music festivals around the world.
Tunarama Port Lincoln, Australia
http://www.tunarama.net/
Type of Festival: Crazy or Weird
Usually Held: Late January
A regional festival with stalls, rides, seafood, art and music. The main event is the World Championship Tuna Toss competition, where competitors toss a 8-10kg plastic tuna fish as far as they can.
Umhlanga (Reed Dance) Lobamba, Swaziland
Type of Festival: Music, Art & Dance/ Religious & Cultural
Usually Held: Late August / Early September.
Unmarried and childless Swazi girls and women participate in the eight-day event to try and find a partner. The women gather reeds, bundle them together and bring them to the Queen Mother. The women sing and dance as they parade in front of the royal family.
V-Festival Hylands and Weston Parks, England
http://www.vfestival.com/
Type of Festival: Music, Art & Dance
Usually Held: Penultimate weekend of August
A 2 day, predominantly rock and pop music festival, held simultaneously in two parks; artists perform at one location on Saturday and the other on Sunday.
Way Out West Festival Slottsskogen, Gothenburg, Sweden
http://wayoutwest.se/
Type of Festival: Music, Art & Dance
Usually Held: Second weekend in August
A three-day music festival, mainly from the rock, electronic and hip-hop genres, featuring after-hours gigs at various venues around the city.
Wilderness Festival Cornbury Park, Oxfordshire, England
http://www.wildernessfestival.com/
Type of Festival: Music, Art & Dance
Usually Held: Early August
A 4-day celebration of the outdoors, combining live music, contemporary arts and an array of theatre, craftsmanship and dining experiences.
World Bodypainting Festival Pörtschach am Wörthersee, Austria
http://www.bodypainting-festival.com/en/
Type of Festival: Crazy or Weird
Usually Held: July
An extremely colorful festival, displaying the very best in bodypainting art.
World Bogsnorkelling Championships Llanwrtyd Wells, Wales, UK
http://www.green-events.co.uk/
Type of Festival: Crazy or Weird
Usually Held: August Bank Holiday weekend (late August)
A sporting event where competitors complete two consecutive lengths of a trench bog in the shortest possible time.
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