European
Festivals are not as dull as they may sound! Italy's Venice Carnival,
for example, is one of the world's most colourful events, set in an exquisite
location and with little chance of armed robbery on your person. Or there's
the mad Edinburgh Arts Festival, another world-beating affair that will
knock your dull brown socks off. Europe rocks!
Calendar Dates
are sometimes unconfirmed and occasionally
unreliable, so check before booking. TBC [A] = to be confirmed [announced]
2010
Festival dates and information:
Feb | March | April
| May | June | July
| August | Sept | Oct
| Nov | Dec
January
Events 2010 Map
of Europe
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
|
| 17
January |
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
|
| 29 - 31 Jan |
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
|
February
2010
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
|
| 11 - 17 February |
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].
|
| 11 - 15 February TBC |
GERMANY
Dusseldorf Carnival - another massive
and outrageously kaleidoscopic occasion, Sunday is probably the best
[wacky dress] parade.
|
| 13 - 16 February |
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.
|
March
Events 2010 Map of Europe
14
- 17 March TBC
[Parade the 13th] |
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
|
15 - 19 March
[Same date every year] |
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
|
| 19 March - 4 April |
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
|
April
2010
| 4 April |
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
|
| 28 March
- 4 April |
SPAIN,
Seville and Granada, Holy Week [Semana Santa] - hundreds
of parades, torchlit processions and singing over the Easter weekend.
|
| 4 April 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
|
20 - 25 April 2010
10 - 15 May 2011
24 - 29 April 2012 |
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
|
30
April
[same date every year] |
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
|
30
April - 1 May
[same date every year] |
FINLAND,
Helsinki Vappu
- a lively May Day celebration, particularly for students of
alcoholic excess.
|
May
Events 2010 Map of Europe
| 14
May - 20 June |
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
|
| 30 May TBC |
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
|
| 10 May - 27 July TBC |
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 |
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
|
17
May
[same date every year] |
NORWAY,
Oslo Constitution
Day - celebrates independence from Denmark, with folk music,
parades, entertainment and people in traditional costumes. Norway
Pictures
|
| 25
- 29 May |
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.
|
28 May - 20 June [Festival]
19 June for the Parade |
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.
|
June
2010
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
|
| 15
- 19 June |
ENGLAND,
Ascot, Berkshire Royal
Ascot Horse Racing - The poshest of posh UK events, with mad
hats de rigeur for ladies and tails for gents.
|
| 18
June - 11 July TBC |
SWITZERLAND,
Zurich Festival - international artists
perform drama, music, opera. Zurich
Pictures
|
21
June
[same date every year] |
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!
|
21
June
[same date every year] |
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.
|
28 May - 20 June [Festival]
19 June for the Parade |
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.
|
| 23
- 27 June |
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.
|
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.
|
| June
- August TBC
|
SPAIN, Barcelona The Grec Summer Festival
- theatre, dance and music.
Photos
|

July
Events 2010 Map of Europe
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.
|
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
|
| mid
July TBA
|
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.
|
All
July - early August
|
SPAIN, Barcelona Summer Festival [del Grec]
- theatre, dance and music. Barcelona
Travel,
Photos
|
| Saturdays July to September in different
Rhine locations. TBA |
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
|
| 2 - 17 July |
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.
|
14
July - 18 August
TBC |
AUSTRIA ImPulsTanz - a dynamic and diverse dance
festival across the whole of regal Vienna.
|
| 9
- 11 July |
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
|
| 12
- 25 July |
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
|
| 25
July - 28 August |
GERMANY Wagner Festival [Bayeruther Festspiele] at Bayreuth - very expensive
and elitist, held in the unusual theatre that Wagner built.
|
| 23
- 25 July |
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.
|
25
July - 30 August
TBC |
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
|
| 29
July TBC |
SPAIN
Fiesta of Near Death Experience in As Neves, Galicia - lucky survivors get carried in their coffins in a
procession.
|
| 29
July - 1 August |
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.'
|
August
2010

| Saturdays July to September in different
Rhine locations. TBA |
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
|
10
- 12 August
every year [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
|
| 13 - 22
August |
SPAIN,
Malaga Feria de Malaga - the biggest
party in town with fancy dress, exotic food and dance, and fireworks.
Spain Guide
|
| Third Sunday August |
ROMANIA, Hora la Prislop in Maramures, Transylvania, a celebration of traditional popular songs and costumes. Hora la Prislop Festival Tour.
|
| 20 August - 5 Sept |
FINLAND, Helsinki Festival - an arts
festival including concerts, performance arts, parties and children's
events in Helsinki
|
1 week mid August
[3rd Sat. of every August]
16 - 24 Aug |
SPAIN,
Bilbao Aste Nagusia [Big Week
in Basque language] - a big basque celebration including free concerts,
fireworks nightly and strong man contests. Spain
Guide
|
| 16
- 22 August |
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.
|
| 11 - 12 September |
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
|
| 29
- 30 August [the last Sunday and Bank Holiday every year] |
ENGLAND,
London Notting Hill Carnival - fiesta
with music, dance, and parade by London's Caribbean community; sponsored
by London Pickpocket Support Group. UK
Travel
|
25
August
[last Wed. of every August] |
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. |
September
Events 2010 Map of Europe

4
September
[1st Saturday in Sept.] |
SCOTLAND,
the Braemar Gathering [Highland Games] - traditionally odd Scottish sporting events and massed
pipers in a scenic setting in Scotland.
|
| 18
Sept - 3 October |
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.
|
October
2010
| 13 - 17 October |
FRANCE,
Paris, Salon du Chocolat - every aspect
of the brown wonder-drug is explored at this lengthy celebration in
Paris' Port de Versailles.
|
November Events 2010
1
November
[same date every year] |
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.
|
5
November
[same date every year] |
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
|
Late
Nov - 23 Dec
every year |
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]....
|
December
2010
| All
December |
DENMARK, Copenhagen Tivoli Gardens
- special events for Christmas celebrations.
|
| 10-23
December TBA |
FINLAND,
Helsinki St Thomas Christmas Market
- including the Lucia parade on the 13th, crafts, special foods
etc...mainly at Esplanade Park.
|
29
Dec - 2 Jan
[Same days every year] |
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
|
| 31
December |
ENGLAND,
London New Year's Eve Fireworks
and general carousing.
|
Festivals Calendar 2010 © bugbog.com |