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Arts Festivals
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Explore can take you hundreds of colourful destinations and festivals. Visit Explore Tours, Request a Brochure or check their new Festival Holidays list. |
Arts Festivals focus on music, dance, drama and other art-oriented activities and are usually set in spectacular, interesting locations, often in Europe. They can be expensive; accommodation and even tickets may need to be booked well beforehand.
Maps: Europe | USA | Canada | Australia | New Zealand | Africa
Dates
are sometimes unconfirmed and occasionally
unreliable, so check before booking.
TBC [A] = to be confirmed [announced]
2008 Festival dates and information: Feb | March | April | May | June | July | August | Sept | Oct | Nov | Dec
January
2008
|
29 Dec - 1 January 2008 |
SCOTLAND Edinburgh Hogmany - a truly wild and wooly underwear occasion, with a torchlight procession, a Fire Festival, fireworks, concerts and much insobriety, in a city dark yet strangely light... Edinburgh Guide | Pictures |
| 31 December - 10 March 2008 |
AUSTRIA Vienna Balls - dazzling dances in a blizzard of snow and elegance, especially the New Year's Day Concert. Vienna Travel | Vienna Pictures |
| 5 - 26 January 2008 |
AUSTRALIA Sydney Festival - the biggest cultural event in the country, covering the arts from drama to music in international style but sadly lacking a mad Fringe. Sydney Travel | Pictures |
| 29 Feb - 16 March 2008 |
AUSTRALIA Adelaide Festival and Fringe - the country's primo arts festival mixes it with the unruly fringe. A huge, colourful event - Edinburgh in the sun. 1 month every 2 years [even numbers]. Adelaide Pictures |
| 14 - 30 March 2008 | HUNGARY Budapest Spring Music Festival - all sorts of arts, music, drama, dance, exhibitions, poetry and kid's stuff, local and international, in a pleasant city. Budapest Travel | Budapest Pictures |
| 1 May - 30 June 2008 |
AUSTRIA Vienna Festival - wide range of arts, especially music, naturally, but also dance and theatre, sometimes challenging pieces, all set in magnificent buildings. Vienna Guide | Photos |
| 12 May - 3 June '08 |
CZECH REPUBLIC Prague Spring International Music Festival - one of Europe's best music events. Prague Travel Guide | Prague Pictures |
| 15 May - 19 Oct [same dates every year] |
FRANCE Chaumont Garden Festival - 30 wonderful and sometimes wacky show gardens around a perfect chateau [castle], every year. France Guide |
| 24
May - 10 June 2008 |
ISRAEL Israel Festival [of music and performing arts], in Jerusalem. Dance, opera, drama and music from some of the world's most talented artists. Israel Travel Guide | Israel Pictures |
| June - July TBC |
GREECE Athens Festival - drama, dance and music in the 2,000 year old outdoor Odeion theatre at the base of Acropolis Hill. Location, location. Athens Guide | Athens Pictures |
| June TBC |
TURKEY International Istanbul Music Festival. An excellent month in a marvellous city, with everything from major concerts to traditional music. Turkey Travel | Turkey Pictures |
6 -14 June 2008 |
MOROCCO Fes Sacred Music Festival, in Fes [Fez] - not at all dull! Wide ranging music from Spanish gypsy laments to Sufi chanting in a perfectly evocative location. Morocco Travel | Morocco Photos |
| mid
June - mid July |
INDONESIA Bali Arts Festival, Denpasar [near Kuta Beach]. A very exciting month of traditional song and dance embraced by the whole island, with processions and performances of all kinds. Indonesia Travel | Indonesia Photos |
| 21
June '08 |
FRANCE Fete de la Musique, in Paris. Free! A monster musical celebration all over this lovely city. Professionals mix with amateurs playing different sounds in different locations. Paris Guide | Paris Pictures |
| 27 - 29 June 2008 |
ENGLAND Glastonbury Festival, Somerset, England - a massive, multiple music event, with different stages featuring different music, but heavy on soft/hard rock variations. The closest to Woodstock most of us will ever get. Camping is fine...but why does it always rain? Tickets are VERY difficult to aquire. Information | England Guide | England Photos |
| 4 - 19 July 2008 |
SWITZERLAND Montreux International Jazz Festival - all sorts of non-classical music featured, in spite of the name, in an appealing location on the shore of Lake Geneva. Switzerland Pictures |
| 14 - 19 July 2008 |
MOROCCO Marrakesh [Marrakech] Popular Arts Festival - Morocco's most interesting city hosts the country's best arts festival, with hyperactive Djamaa el Fna [square] going into orbit at this time. Morocco Travel | Marrakesh Pictures |
| 10 July - 10 August '08 |
AUSTRIA ImPulsTanz - a dynamic and diverse dance festival across the whole of lovely Vienna. Vienna Guide | Vienna Photos |
| July - August |
TUNISIA International Festival of Carthage in Tunis, the country's biggest arts event, mixing local and international sounds in the old Roman amphitheatre. Tunisia Travel Guide | Tunisia Pictures |
| Generally the last two Mondays in July |
MEXICO Guelaguetza at Oaxaca - a lively and historic folk dance, music, and costume festival featuring Oaxaca state. Mexico Travel | Mexico Photos |
| mid July TBC ? | GERMANY Loveparade in Berlin - the mother of all street parties for lovers of wacky dress, wild dancing crowds and techno music. Berlin Travel |
| 18-20 July '08 |
GERMANY Christopher Street Day in Berlin - more summer madness in the monster Gay Pride parade and street party. Berlin Guide |
| 25 July - 28 August '08 |
GERMANY Wagner Festival at Bayreuth - very expensive and elitist, held in the unusual theatre that Wagner built. |
| 27? 30? July - 3 August '08 |
CANADA Montreal Pride - a huge performing arts festival, gayish, but not exclusively so. Parade, concerts, shows of all kinds, parties - and all exquisitely arranged, natch. Canada Travel | Canada Pictures |
| 26 July - 31 August '08 |
AUSTRIA Salzburg Festival - opera and concerts. 'Europe's most prestigous summer musical event.' Very large, very expensive. Every year in Mozart's pretty home town. Austria Guide | Salzburg Pictures |
| July - August |
TUNISIA International Festival of Carthage in Tunis, the country's biggest arts event, mixing local and international sounds in the old Roman amphitheatre. Tunisia Travel Guide | Tunisia Pictures |
| 10 - 12 August '08 [International] |
IRELAND Puck Fair in Killorglin, County Kerry. A large and loony street fair with plenty of singing, dancing and horse shows, and all overseen by King Puck - a goat. Ireland Guide |
|
8
- 31August [International] '08 |
SCOTLAND Edinburgh International Festival and Fringe Festival - over a thousand shows of all kinds, ranging from opera to stand-up comedy, from near porn to mere corn. A monster art attack in a spectacular city. Not to be missed. Edinburgh Festival Photos | Edinburgh Travel | Festival | Fringe |
| 17 - 24 August '08 |
IRELAND Fleadh Cheoil - a huge celebration of Irish music, dance and arts, with over 10,000 musicians roaming and playing all over the place. Hosted by a different town every year; 2005 in Letterkenny, County Donegal. Ireland Travel |
| 25 - 28 August TBC |
ISRAEL Red Sea Jazz Festival in Eilat. Excellent open air music in a dramatic environment. Israel Travel Guide | Israel Pictures |
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| 19 - 21 September '08 | USA Monterey Jazz Festival in California. This, the oldest jazz festival in the world, always hosts some big names but also has workshops, exhibitions and other appropriate entertainment. USA Travel | SW USA Pictures |
| 14 - 23 October TBC |
HUNGARY Budapest Autumn Music Festival - all sorts of arts, music, drama, dance, exhibitions, poetry and kid's stuff. Budapest Travel | Budapest Photos |
| 16 October - 2 Nov '08 |
IRELAND, Wexford Wexford Opera Festival - a small but perfectly formed and positively regarded event in a brand new Opera House on a new date. Ireland Travel |
| 31 December | AUSTRIA Kaiserball in Vienna - a stunning, glamourous, lively winter Ball at the magnificent Hofburg Palace, every year. Vienna Guide | Photos |
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