The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes – Marcel Proust
Whether they are about music, art, food, drink or religious traditions, festivals allow travellers a way into the heart of a new culture. Some festivals are so enlightening, fun and unusual that they are worth travelling across the world for! Here’s our pick of the best ones you should put at the top of your festival bucket list.
Rio De Janeiro Carnival – Brazil
The biggest carnival in the world, with two million people a day partying in the streets, Rio’s carnival is an event that attracts people from across the globe for a parade of floats from 200 samba schools in the city. It’s one of the planet’s biggest and most lively parties, with music playing for six days and dancers showing off their moves. If you want to boogie all night long, this is the festival for you!
Songkran Water Festival – Thailand
Every April, the New Year Festival in Thailand is celebrated by people getting each other as wet as possible by any means! People use buckets, water guns and hoses to drench one another in the streets – the water drenching symbolising cleansing and bodily rejuvenation. The water fight couldn’t be better timed – it coincides with the hottest time of year in Thailand, so everyone welcomes the cooling off!
Holi - India
India’s spring festival is one of the most colourful around. Based on an ancient Hindu tradition, Holi sees people gather in the streets and cover each other with bright rainbow colours from dry powder and coloured water inside water guns and balloons. While the colour fight is going on, there’s music, singing and dancing – it’s one big kaleidoscopic celebration of spring!
Burning Man – USA
Each year nearly 70 000 people from around the world create a community in the middle of nowhere – the Black Rock Desert of Nevada – forming one of the planet’s greatest alternative gatherings. Burning Man is more than just a festival – it’s a week-long experiment in a different way of living: a celebration of creativity, where participants are behind the art, music and performances and adhere to an economy run not on money, but gifting. The crazy parties, art works, amazing music performances, and giant art cars (anything from a pirate ship to a building-sized snail) cruising around the desert make Burning Man one of the most unique and mind-blowing events in the world.
Harbin Ice and Snow Festival – China
India’s spring festival is one of the most colourful around. Based on an ancient Hindu tradition, Holi sees people gather in the streets and cover each other with bright rainbow colours from dry powder and coloured water inside water guns and balloons. While the colour fight is going on, there’s music, singing and dancing – it’s one big kaleidoscopic celebration of spring!
La Tomatina – Spain
If you don’t mind being covered in tomato juice, this is one festival you have to experience. Held in a small town in Spain every year, La Tomatina is one big food fight (and a large a large amount of fun): an hour-long tomato throwing event in which the whole town is covered in tomato juice from 145 000 kilograms of tomatoes.
Fez Festival of World Sacred Music - Morocco
The Moroccan medieval city of Fez is the beautiful setting for a music festival with a difference – a celebration of sacred and spiritual music from around the world. Centuries-old palaces and Andalucian gardens are the venues for incredible performances – everything from whirling dervishes from Turkey, dancers from Bali, singers from Uzbekistan and chanting Sufi mystics from Iran.
Dia de los Muertos – Mexico
Dia de los Muertos (or Day of the Dead) is a holiday celebrated throughout Mexico to remember loved ones who have passed away. Family and friends gather together, and build altars, honouring their dead with offerings of food, drinks and gifts. The dead are also celebrated with parties and parades, where many people dress up as skeletons and skulls.
Oktoberfest – Germany
The world’s largest beer festival is held every year over 16 days in Munich, attracting over 6 million people with millions of litres of German beer, festive parties, traditional Bavarian food, amusements rides and live music. If you’re a beer lover, this is one festival not to miss!