European Festivals
2010 Calendar

Other Festivals: Arts Festivals | English Speaking

World Festivals | UK Music | Europe Map

29 Dec - 2 January

SCOTLAND Edinburgh's Hogmanay - one of world's best New year Celebrations, 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

FRANCE Paris Grand Parade - massive and colourful. Paris Photos 

SPAIN San Anton Festival in the village of Canillas de Albaida - a typical rural Andalucian fiesta for their patron saint San Anton, with lots of horses, music, dance and a parade. San Anton Festival Tours 

SWEDEN Kiruna Snow Festival - It's all white in the snowy north as reindeers race, dog sleds drift and artists sculpt ice into fantasy forms. Sweden Pictures 

31 January and
7, 14, 16, 17 February

ITALY Viareggio Carnival - Italy's maddest event with parades sporting huge puppets among the kaleidoscope folk, revelry of all sorts and fireworks...BUT mainly on successive Sundays.

13 - 28 February
[Wednesdays and week-ends]

FRANCE Nice Carnival, the Cote d'Azur - a brilliant event on the lovely promenade of a terrific city, but not every day and parades are basically the same so one is probably enough. And half an hour along the coast Menton is having a small but colourful Lemon Festival during approximately the same period. Le Carnaval de Nice

6 - 16 February

ITALY Venice Carnival - colourful, fascinating, funny and a superbly costumed environment in spectacular St Mark's Square and the misty, magical streets around. For the full flavour, buy a mask, rent a costume and go to a palazzo ball [the best is the Doge's Ball]. Carnival of Venice info

SPAIN Sitges Carnival near Barcelona - the wildest, gayest party of the year in Spain.

15 - 17 February 2010
7 - 9 March 2011
20 - 22 February 2012

GERMANY Cologne Carnival - Germany's answer to Mardi Gras, a huge event marking the beginning of Lent, local festivities and a monster Rose Monday [parade].

GERMANY Dusseldorf Carnival - another massive and outrageously kaleidoscopic occasion, Sunday is probably the best [wacky dress] parade.

ITALY Ivrea Carnival, Storico Carnevale di Ivrea, Piedmont district of Turin - another colourful carnival, but with a different ending as the whole town partakes in a monstrous orange fight. Wear a tall, red hat if you don't wish to participate [or was that don't wear a tall red hat...?].

14 - 16 February

BELGIUM Binche Carnival, Carnaval de Binche - one of Belgium's wildest parties, a UNESCO Heritage event, half an hour south of Brussels. Sunday and Tuesday are best.

IRELAND, Dublin St Patrick's Festival and St Patrick's Day Parade - a wild, green five days, including a huge parade. p.s. What's the difference between an Irish wedding and a funeral? There's one less drunk person at the funeral. Ireland Travel

SPAIN Fallas de Valencia [image top left] - a wild and explosive carnival/fiesta combination that will blow your socks off. Locals spend 5 days partying - parades, pageants and moderate fireworks then on the last night, they turn off all the city lights and set fire to hundreds of massive papier-maché statues stuffed with fireworks around the city. Kaboom. Spain Guide

HUNGARY Budapest Spring Music Festival - all sorts of arts, music, drama, dance, exhibitions, poetry and kid's stuff, local and international, in a pleasant European city. Budapest Pictures

ITALY, Florence Scoppio del Carro - festively exploding a cart in Piazza del Duomo on Easter Sunday, set off by a mechanical dove driven from the Altar during High Mass. What madness is this? Florence Pictures

SPAIN, Seville and Granada, Holy Week [Semana Santa] - hundreds of parades, torchlit processions and singing over the Easter weekend.

GREECE, Chios Island, Vrontados, Church Rocket War, Rouketopolemos - two rival churches will fire around 60,000 firework rockets at each other between 8pm on Saturday and midday Easter Sunday. Greece Guide

SPAIN La Feria de Abril [April Fair] in Seville - Seville's best party with traditional dress, parades, dancing and wild parties in a gorgeous environment. Seville Pictures

NETHERLANDS, Amsterdam Orange Festival [Queens Day], for lovers of the colour orange, beer and dope, this is a massive street and canal-boat dance party, starting the night before. Amsterdam Photos

FINLAND, Helsinki Vappu - a lively May Day celebration, particularly for students of alcoholic excess.

ENGLAND, Gloucestershire, Cheltenham International Jazz Festival - the UK's top jazz fest in a lovely location. England Guide

AUSTRIA Vienna Festival - this 5 week event offers a wide range of arts, especially music, naturally, but also dance and theatre, sometimes challenging pieces but all set in magnificent buildings. Vienna Photos

BELGIUM, Mons, Battle of Lumecon and the Procession of the Golden Chariot, Le Doudou - Saint George fights the dragon and everybody pushes a vast and holy chariot around town.
Belgium Guide

RUSSIA, St Petersburg, the White Nights Festival in gorgeous, romantic and endlessly light St Pete. The "Stars of the White Nights" [21 May - 19 July 2010] with a series of opera and ballet performances is the most important part of the Festival. St Petersburg Pictures

CZECH REPUBLIC Prague Spring International Music Festival - one of Europe's best music events in medieval Prague

12- 23 May

FRANCE Cannes International Film Festival - the world's most glamorous film festival, every year. Festival de Cannes

29 May - 19 Oct
[same dates every year]

FRANCE Chaumont International Garden Festival - 30 wonderful and sometimes wacky show gardens around a perfect chateau [castle], every year. France Guide

NORWAY, Oslo Constitution Day - celebrates independence from Denmark, with folk music, parades, entertainment and people in traditional costumes. Norway Pictures

ENGLAND, London, RHS Chelsea Flower Show - 11 acres of the UK's [and arguably Europe's] best flowers and gardens event, with plenty of original, even wacky ideas.

ENGLAND, Somerset Bath International Music Festival - classical and other musical styles in this, the most classical of all UK cities. Bath Pictures.

GERMANY Christopher Street Day [Berlin CSD Parade] and Lesbian and Gay Festival [Berlin Pride Festival] in Berlin - probably the biggest European gay parade and street party.

31 May
[same date every year]

ENGLAND Cooper's Hill Cheese Rolling near Brockworth in Gloucester - dozens of borderline bonkers men fling themselves down a precipitous hill attempting to catch huge rounds of cheese. It's illegal and bones get broken, so this is a remarkable sight in the nanny state of England.

5 -25 June TBC

FRANCE, Festival de Musique de Strasbourg, an international contemporary music festival.

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 Pictures

ENGLAND, Ascot, Berkshire Royal Ascot Horse Racing - The poshest of posh UK events, with mad hats de rigeur for ladies and tails for gents.

SWITZERLAND, Zurich Festival - international artists perform drama, music, opera. Zurich Pictures

ENGLAND, Wiltshire Stonehenge Summer Solstice - midsummer night ritual with all sorts of druids, hippies and new age wackos. Fascinating, especially if the weather is OK!

FRANCE, Paris Fete de la Musique - free! A monster musical celebration all over this lovely city. Professionals mix with amateurs playing different sounds in different locations.

GERMANY Christopher Street Day [Berlin CSD Parade] and Lesbian and Gay Festival [Berlin Pride Festival] in Berlin - probably the biggest European gay parade and street party.

ENGLAND, London Wimbledon Tennis Championships - the most prestigious tennis event in the world. UK Sports

ITALY, Florence Festival of Saint John - parades, dances and more. Florence Pictures

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 acquire.

SPAIN, Granada International Festival of Dance and Music - a superb event in varied, amazing locations such as the Alhambra. Spain Travel Guide

24 - 26 June

ITALY, Florence, Calcio Storico - crazed and brutal but traditional 15thC costumed football matches with 4 teams, 27 players each side and no effective referee. Florence Photos.

SPAIN, Barcelona The Grec Summer Festival - theatre, dance and music. Photos

30 June - 7 July TBC

TURKEY Kirkpinar Oil Wrestling Festival in Edirne - 1,000 oily fat boys get a good slapping. Turkey Photos but not Kirkpinar.

2 - 31 July

FINLAND Savonlinna Opera Festival - a grand classical celebration in the Finnish lake district, set in magnificent 15thC St Olaf's Castle, Finland

4 - 26 July 2009
2010 TBA

FRANCE, Avignon, Festival d'Avignon, a dynamic and diverse Arts festival, boasting over 50 official productions and many more fringes in this stunning historic city; Avignon Photos

1 - 21 July TBA

FRANCE, Aix-en-Provence, International Festival of Lyric Art [Festival d’Aix-en-Provence], a popular summer arts festival, especially for classical music.

GERMANY, Love Parade - no longer in Berlin, but in the city of Duisberg for 2010 and Gelsenkirchen for 2011. The wackiest of local festivals, a weekend of ecstatic body-baring by 1.5 million techno- ravers. Google translation from German: The Love parade lives. Diagonally, schrill and color-gladly...Sounds about right to us.

SPAIN, Barcelona Summer Festival [del Grec] - theatre, dance and music. Barcelona Travel, Photos

ITALY, Siena, Il Palio - a costumed pageant begins a brief but totally insane bareback horse race around the city's main square. Also August 16. Calgary Stampede vs Il Palio!, Il Palio Info

GERMANY Rhine in Flames down the Rhine river from Linz to Bonn on summer nights - a massive and amazing co-ordinated fireworks display from boats, stately buildings and the surrounding countryside. Germany Travel

6 - 14 July
[same date every year]

SPAIN, Pamplona, Los Sanfermines [Bull Running] - don't be bored, be gored! Six bulls are released into the streets every morning of this seven day Basque rite-of-manhood party. You too can battle the big horns. See the excellent Sanfermin site. Spain Guide

SWITZERLAND Montreux Jazz Festival - all sorts of non-classical music featured, in spite of the name, in an appealing location on the shore of Lake Geneva in Montreux.

DENMARK, Copenhagen Copenhagen Jazz Festival

AUSTRIA ImPulsTanz - a dynamic and diverse dance festival across the whole of regal Vienna.

NETHERLANDS [HOLLAND], Rotterdam North Sea Jazz Festival - perhaps the biggest jazz gathering in the world with over 20,000 visitors a day. Lots of big name acts. Rotterdam Pictures

IRELAND, Galway Galway Arts Festival - Ireland's biggest arts jamboree, with all kinds of entertainment, street, theatre, music, kid's, exhibitions, concerts... Ireland Travel Guide

3 - 25 July

FRANCE, Tour de France - a three-week cycling race for 3,500km [2000 miles] over the country [the route changes annually]. The world's most famous French sporting event.

13 - 14 July
[same date every year]

FRANCE, Paris Bastille Day - parties, parades, fireworks, picnics.

17 - 18 July
[the third weekend every year]

ITALY, Venice Festa del Redentore - the Festival of the Redeemer celebrating the end of the plague involves hundreds of beautifully decorated and illuminated boats full of beautifully decorated Venetians that gather around sunset, have dinner on board or beside the Giudecca canal, then watch one of Europe's best fireworks displays at 11.30pm on Saturday night. Venice Pictures

GERMANY Wagner Festival [Bayeruther Festspiele] at Bayreuth - very expensive and elitist, held in the unusual theatre that Wagner built.

ENGLAND, Charlton Park, Malmesbury, Wiltshire WOMAD - [World of Music Arts and Dance] impressive world music festival, with 70 artists from 30 countries on 7 stages. Family friendly.

AUSTRIA Salzburg Festival - opera and concerts. 'Europe's most prestigious summer musical event.' Very large, very expensive. Every year in Mozart's pretty home town of Salzburg. Austria Guide

SPAIN Fiesta of Near Death Experience in As Neves, Galicia - lucky survivors get carried in their coffins in a procession.

ENGLAND, Cambridge, Cambridge Folk Festival - the real deal for the folks who like the music. 'A festival with a prestigious reputation for quality music in intimate surroundings.'

IRELAND, Waterford Spraoi Street Festival - 3 days of free music, street theatre, parade and fireworks in the biggest street party. Ireland Travel

GERMANY Rhine in Flames down the Rhine river from Linz to Bonn on summer nights - a massive and amazing co-ordinated fireworks display from boats, stately buildings and the surrounding countryside. Germany Travel

IRELAND, Kilkenny Arts Festival- music, theatre, dance, exhibitions set in superb surroundings.

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

13 August -5 Sept. [International]
6 - 30 August [Fringe]

SCOTLAND Edinburgh International Festival, and Edinburgh Festival Fringe - over a thousand shows of all kinds, ranging from opera to stand-up comedy, from near porn to mere corn. A true European art attack in great Edinburgh city. Not to be missed. Edinburgh Festival Pictures

ITALY, Siena, Il Palio - a costumed pageant begins a brief but totally insane bareback horse race around the city's main square. Also July 2nd. Calgary Stampede vs Il Palio!, Il Palio Info

SPAIN, Malaga Feria de Malaga - the biggest party in town with fancy dress, exotic food and dance, and fireworks. Spain Guide

ROMANIA, Hora la Prislop in Maramures, Transylvania, a celebration of traditional popular songs and costumes. Hora la Prislop Festival Tour.

IRELAND, Tralee Rose of Tralee International Festival - a massive party celebrating romance!

FINLAND, Helsinki Festival - an arts festival including concerts, performance arts, parties and children's events in Helsinki

SPAIN, Bilbao Aste Nagusia [Big Week in Basque language] - a big basque celebration including free concerts, fireworks nightly and strong man contests. Spain Guide

IRELAND Fleadh Cheoil - a huge celebration of Ireland's music, dance and arts, with over 10,000 musicians roaming and playing all over the place. Hosted by a different town every year; 2010 in Cavan.

ENGLAND, Bognor Birdman in Bognor Regis, West Sussex - wildly costumed nutters jump-fly off Bognor pier attempting to win a big distance prize, or just 15 seconds of celebrity. Audiences chill on the beach. England Travel Guide

ENGLAND, London Notting Hill Carnival - fiesta with music, dance, and parade by London's Caribbean community; sponsored by London Pickpocket Support Group. UK Travel

SPAIN La Tomatina at Buñol town in Valencia - a huge and incredibly messy public fight with 25 tons of tomatoes, one day. Big kids should get down to Bunol and let rip.

SCOTLAND, the Braemar Gathering [Highland Games] - traditionally odd Scottish sporting events and massed pipers in a scenic setting in Scotland.

GERMANY, Munich Oktoberfest mainly about downing vast quantities of beer and bratwurst, then behaving badly with your neighbours. Key requirements: 1] Love beer 2] Love sausages 3] Love drunk Germans.

IRELAND, Galway International Oyster Festival - with fun events of all sorts. Ireland Guide

9 - 18 October 2009
2010 TBA

HUNGARY Budapest Autumn Festival - all sorts of arts, music, drama, dance, exhibitions, poetry and kid's stuff in interesting Budapest. Budapest Photos

15 Oct - 1 Nov 2009
2010 TBA

IRELAND, Wexford Opera Festival - a small but perfectly formed and positively regarded event in a brand new Opera House on a new date. Ireland Guide

FRANCE, Paris, Salon du Chocolat - every aspect of the brown wonder-drug is explored at this lengthy celebration in Paris' Port de Versailles.

ROMANIA Halloween - A spooky Halloween costume party in Dracula's birth place – the Medieval Citadel of Sighisoara, Transylvania, with witch trials, folk singers, local cuisine and wines. It's a howl! Romania Travel Guide, Romania Map, Halloween Party in Transylvania.

ENGLAND, London to Brighton Veteran Car Run [LBVCR] - the world's longest running mortoring event. Ancient car lovers will need to find a comfortable viewing location for this London [Hyde Park] to Brighton [Madeira Drive] event for hundreds of pre-1905 vehicles; it starts at dawn and motors will begin to fart across the finish line from about 10 am.

ENGLAND, Devon, Ottery St. Mary Tar Barrels - huge flaming barrels are carried around this little rural town. The procession and fireworks are on the Saturday before the 5th of November.

21 November
[same date every year]

ITALY, Venice, La Salute - a religious festival at the beautiful Basilica Santa Maria della Salute. Venice Pictures

GERMANY, nationwide, Christmas Markets. This chilly winter country has a history of wonderfully warm, colourful and fattening Christmas markets set in spectacular locations. Some of Germany's best are: Esslingen [medieval costumes and carols]; Wurzburg [snow probable]; Berncastel-Kues [arguably the prettiest]; Hamelin [Pied Piper's home so kid friendly!]; Heidelberg [lots of kid's stuff]; Lubeck [UNESCO World Heritage Site]; Regensburg [superbly lit and romantic]; Rothenburg [medieval Disneyland]....

DENMARK, Copenhagen Tivoli Gardens - special events for Christmas celebrations.

FINLAND, Helsinki St Thomas Christmas Market - including the Lucia parade on the 13th, crafts, special foods etc...mainly at Esplanade Park.

SCOTLAND Edinburgh's Hogmanay - one of world's best New year Celebrations, 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

AUSTRIA Kaiserball at Hofburg Congress Center in Vienna- a stunning, glamorous, lively winter Ball at the magnificent Hofburg Palace, every year. Vienna Photos

ENGLAND, London New Year's Eve Fireworks and general carousing.