Experience
Festivals & Events
Festival travel times the trip to the event — a music, arts, or film festival that takes over a place for a few days and shows it at full voltage. The destination and the calendar matter equally; the same town is a different trip during its festival.
Where to stay →Best places to stay for festivals & events
Ranked by global recognition — how widely each place is read about across Wikipedia's language editions. Never paid placement, prices, or reviews.
Venice
Veneto · ItalyVenice is a lagoon city in northeastern Italy, built across 126 islands threaded by canals and crossed by the Grand Canal at its centre.
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro · BrazilBetween the mountains and the South Atlantic sits Rio de Janeiro, the second-largest city in Brazil, founded in 1565.
Gothenburg
Västra Götaland County · SwedenGöteborg is Sweden's second-largest city, a major port on the west coast where the Göta älv river meets the Kattegat.
Des Moines
Iowa · United StatesThe gold dome of the Iowa State Capitol crowns Des Moines, a prairie capital in Iowa known for the Pappajohn Sculpture Park and its river parks.
Cannes
Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur · FranceThe sea shines below Le Suquet at Cannes, a resort city on the French Riviera in the Alpes-Maritimes, home of the Cannes Film Festival.
Perugia
Umbria · ItalyPerugia holds a ridge above the Tiber valley in Umbria, an Etruscan hill capital, known for the Fontana Maggiore and the Rocca Paolina.
Gasteiz / Vitoria
Euskal Autonomia Erkidegoa · SpainTrade lanes ring the almond-shaped hill of Gasteiz / Vitoria, Basque capital on the Llanada Alavesa, known for its cathedral and the Anillo Verde.
Gdynia
Pomeranian Voivodeship · PolandGdynia rose from a fishing village into a planned modernist seaport on the Baltic in northern Poland, part of the Tricity beside Gdańsk and Sopot.
Veracruz
Estado de Veracruz-Llave · MexicoSea air fills the harbour at Veracruz, a port city in Estado de Veracruz-Llave, known for San Juan de Ulúa and its carnival.
Bayreuth
Bavaria · GermanyBayreuth is the capital of Upper Franconia, a baroque town on the Red Main in the valley between the Franconian Jura and the Fichtel Mountains.
Zielona Góra
Lubusz Voivodeship · PolandVineyards climb the hills of Zielona Góra, the wine city of western Poland and a seat of the Lubusz Voivodeship, gathered below Saint Hedwig Cathedral.
Notting Hill
London · England · United KingdomNotting Hill is a district of West London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, known for the Notting Hill Carnival and Portobello Road.25 more Festivals & Events destinations, by country
Belarus (1)
United States (4)
Poland (2)
Malaysia (1)
Germany (3)
Philippines (1)
Mexico (1)
Denmark (1)
Egypt (1)
North Macedonia (1)
New Zealand (1)
Finland (3)
Sweden (1)
United Arab Emirates (1)
Common questions
How should I plan around a festival?
Book far ahead — beds vanish and prices climb around a major festival — and decide whether you want the event or the place, because during the headline days you rarely get both quietly. Shoulder dates around the peak can split the difference.