Big Events worth making a trip around.

I went to Shetland for Hamerfarin, Christmas markets, and a half marathon in Dublin.

Had tickets for baseball MLB in london for Cardinals vs cubs but Covid canceled the event.

Events I would like to go to would be football/soccer in England match and a formula one race.

Kim

Past trips:
Bayreuther Festspiele for a week of Wagner and The Ring of the Niebelungen.
2 nights in Munich for Oktoberfest.
Venice for the opening weekend of Carnival. Purely accidental that one, but a happy accident.

Does music count?

I have built an upcoming 13 day trip to England around tickets to a concert. Then I also booked a 2 day trip to one country in Europe from another country in Europe just to attend a concert (it was cheaper than trying to attend any available U.S. concert from my location in the U.S.).

I'm a quilter and have been to two quilt shows in France and a quilt retreat in the Netherlands. One of the quilt shows is in really cute villages in Alsace and I don't think I ever would have gone to that area if not for the quilt show. The other one is in Nantes which is also nice but a very different vibe. I usually travel solo so having these events to go to means that I have a little structure in my trip planning and I know that I'll chat to some people at the shows. (I always enjoy my trips and meet/talk to plenty of people, but while planning, I tend to worry that won't happen!)

Sometimes it can be a small event, but with big meaning. My sister planned a trip to the Orkney Islands to attend a 100 year commemoration of the Battle of Jutland at Kirkwall. She was invited as a descendant of a sailor who had been in the battle. ( my grandfather and two of his brothers were in the Royal Navy and all were in this battle).

It was a very special experience for her as high ranking government officials, royalty, and descendants of both officers and ordinary seamen joined together to remember the incredible sacrifice made by so many. She has several meaningful stories of her interactions and participation.

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/battle-jutland-memorial-held-orkney-8090549

Hi James, after I pick which country to visit, I will look up festivals or music events which will set the dates I travel. They aren’t as prominent as the ones you’ve mentioned, but here’s some of them that set previous dates:

Venice Regatta
Stresa Music Festival
Arezzo Jousting Festival
Verona’s Opera Season
I happened to be in Nice in 2019 during the Ironman World Championship which made a fun environment before & during the day of the competition.

And this year, the Luminara di San Ranieri in Pisa and Spello’s Infiorate.

I guess my deciding factor would be the crowd size of an event.

Spain has quite a few, festivals are a big part of our culture!

Fiestas de San Isidro, Madrid
Fiesta de San Fermín, Pamplona
Gràcia Festival, Barcelona
La Mercè, Barcelona
Dia de los Reyes Magos (Three Kings Day parades all over Spain)
Las Fallas, Valencia
Semana Santa
Feria de Abril (April Fair), Sevilla

In the United States I think that Comic-Con in San Diego is a spectacular event worth to visit from around the world!

Passion Play in Oberammergau is another event every 10 years.

We hit Easter at the Vatican twice in 3 years.

Several years ago travelled with friends to 4 countries in Asia culminating in Bhutan for the Jambay Lakhang Tshechu. Dancing, fire, music in the courtyard of the monastery. Was "blessed" with a Bhutanese name.

Edinburgh Festival and Festival Fringe in August several years ago - what a wonderful time to be there!

Brittany a year later - bi-annual Maritime Festival in Brest, and annual Festival de Cornouaille in Quimper, both in July. It was the absolute best time to stay in Quimper, or Kemper, as the local Celts would say.

The Rose Festival in Kazanluk, Bulgaria … almost. We were there that day years ago, driving on a daytrip from Veliko Tarnavo, and we decided to drive back before it got dark. So we missed the Rose Queen crowning ceremony, and whatever activities went on that evening.

Then there are four days of Tour de France race stages in three different years. As it’s a 3-week race, you can experience a snippet of the Tour and continue your travels. It’s truly an event that should be experienced in person, festive, competitive, a bit commercial for some, intensely engaging for everybody. Vive Le Tour!

If there is something really big going on to my left, I go right.

I have learned to check for festivals or big events where I plan to travel. Too often, I don't check and then when I look for accommodations they are either sold out or overpriced.

The older I get, the less I like crowds.

I love planning a trip around an event. So, I have already mentioned this in several threads, but I am getting psyched!! KISS at the Roman Arena in Nimes, France on July 5 (just 6 weeks away). That is a bucket list kinda thing. I originally saw a Metallica concert from the arena on TV and said "I gotta get there". This clip is the intro that hooked me https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aRADAxFpY0..... It's going to be epic.

Traveling solo a lot I site see very early in the day and go party with the world jazz cognoscenti afterwards.
The good thing is that it is never really crowded at jazz festivals except the summer one in Umbria

Umbria Jazz Orvieto, Italy winter 2015
Umbria Jazz Orvieto, Italy winter 2016
Transition Jazz Festival Utrecht, Netherlands Spring 2016
Keukenof Spring Garden Lisse, Netherlands Spring 2016
Jazz in Vienne, France summer 2016
Umbria Jazz Perugia, Italy Summer 2016
Jazz Juan les Pins, France Summer 2017
Donostia/San Sebastian Jazz Fest Spain Summer 2017
Mirtha Jazz Festival Liege, Belgium Spring 2017
Mirtha Jazz Festival Liege, Belgium Spring 2018
Jazz Ahead Festival Bremen, Germany Spring 2018
Three Kings Day Parade, Malaga, Spain 2019 (Just happened to be there)
Keukenof Spring Garden Lisse, Netherlands 2019
New Years Eve Fireworks Show, Collioure, France 2019
Cosmo Jazz Fest in Chamonix, France Summer 2021
Bern International Jazz Festival Switzerland May 2022

We happened to be in Barcelona for La Merce in 2017. A few years before that we were in Bruges for the Procession of the Holy Blood also not intentionally. Both were fine but as people who dislike crowds we'd probably plan to avoid big events.

We have twice scheduled our trips to the UK specifically to attend the Chelsea Flower Show. We visit the Netherlands during the Keukenhof’s season. And we went to Tennessee only to see the eclipse a few years ago.

I have done Carnivale di Venezia twice. Would do it again in a heartbeat given the opportunity.

Our first trip to Europe was born of wanting to see Queen in Concert at the O2 in London. After a failed attempt to secure tickets on the day they went on sale, and tears, I was able to secure them a week later and our BIG Europe trip was planned. At 40 neither my husband or I had traveled overseas. We entered the world of getting passports, trip planning, research and I loved it all. We tore it up!

We lived 50 miles from Munich and did the Oktoberfest three times and loved it.
However, generally, I would not plan a trip around any of these events, due to all the negative aspects of massive numbers of tourists/people at the location and the increased cost once there.

We lived near Washington, DC when the World Cup was in the USA and games were held in DC. We could have seen a game, I think Switzerland was one of the teams (no big name team in the game) and the ticket costs were way too much for us to go to the game.

Planning a motorcycle road trip around the time of Oktoberfest. Will be able to visit a few days in Munich during the festivities before heading out on our week long ride through the Alps of Austria, France, Germany, Liechtenstein, & Switzerland. Two events in one visit works for me.

I generally try to avoid big events for obvious reasons. I thought about the Tour de France but it's crowded enough as is. I can't imagine quadrupling the number of people, but then again I seem to like crowds less as I grow older, absent the occasional sporting event.

Very modest by comparison, I tried planning the stay in Vienna in the summer so that the Saturday of my multi-day trip there coincides with the event of the "Blasmusikfest," this singular cultural event with bands from all over Austria playing traditional folk melodies, melodies native to the band's province (Steiermark, Kärntnen, Tyrol, Upper Austria, etc), marching songs, even some movie themes, etc.

Sports events. Usually I plan a vacation and if a game happens to be on, I'll go, but I'd definitely plan a trip around the World Cup, or the the Rose Bowl. I've been to a Winter Olympics-actually, they came to me, Calgary 1988 so maybe that doesn't count. My wife and I will probably go to London for Christmas one year, but it's not at the top of the list. Other than that, festivals don't really interest me.

It is more of a pleasant surprise when you happened to arrive in a city at the time a particular festival, , a yearly special event in that city.

My first post-retirement trip in 2009 took place during such a well-known yearly event in this city...Kiel. This is the event, "Kieler Woche" which I happened to encounter on a day trip , this time, from Hamburg. I get there and see all this music, German bands, and festivity going on, well attended, if not crowded.

I had always heard of this popular, well attended Kieler Woche event with its display ships, (Kieler Regatta) and all that from reading the brochures. Be in Kiel the later part of June, you'll see the festivities. I've seen more of it on subsequent trips to Kiel, I timed my stay to be there while it's going on.

As a general rule, we avoid events like these because of the crowds and increase in hotel rates.

The only time we planned a trip around an event was when the Pittsburgh Penguins played two of their preseason games in Stockholm. We have friends there so we stayed with them and all went to one of the games together. It also happened to coincide with a race my husband and son wanted to run in -- the Lidingoloppet. Neither event had much of an impact on crowds.

There is also the time we went to Grassington, England during their 1940s weekend. I didn't discover this until after I had finalized my itinerary. My husband loves 40s music and we are both into WWII history, so it was a serendipitous occasion. It added a fun element to our stay, and we had a blast.

I have been in Seville for Santa Semana. It was interesting but I could not see a thing. It is standing room only, and I am short. I just saw the shoulders and backs of other spectators. So I now avoid any event that is standing room only.

Have only made a trip around 1 event so far ... Oktoberfest in Munich (twice) ... usually will plan the trip and, during my research, will find an event or festival going on during that time (for example, went to the Fiddler's Festival in Ribeauville during our France trip) ... have 2 trips planned for later this year and next year with some events happening during the trip that I kinda planned around (ChocolART in Tübingen during our Germany Christmas Market trip ... and the Flower Parade / Keukenhof in the Netherlands and the Blue Forest in Hallerbros ... I do have several events that I am hoping to plan a trip around within the next 5-10 or so years ... Edinburgh for the Military Tattoo ... Midnight Mass at The Vatican ... New Years in Sydney ...

So how does one find out about festivals anywhere in Europe? Is there one website or do you have to look up each place individually?

@ diveloonie aka Tammy, to find the festivals, I usually Google the country + “festival”, then a specific month w/ festival & the cities or region I am considering. Any annual ones of interest to me, I keep to refer to them for another trip.

Also, city specific sites are usually helpful. For instance, this one was how I found out about the Nerja Feria we attended in Spain in 2017:

http://www.explorenerja.com/fiestas.htm

Some of the festivals are the same date each year. One I am attending in Pisa is the same day number each year. Others are the same day-of-the-week, i.e. Venice Regatta is the 1st Sunday of September.

Rick Steves himself has a great page on this site tracking upcoming festivals, here's the one from Spain - https://www.ricksteves.com/europe/spain/festivals

and for Poland (another great place for festivals)

https://www.ricksteves.com/europe/poland/festivals

Thank you, Carlos! That’s a lot easier to see the main ones! I bookmarked that location.

Not exactly a day/festival, but I booked Netherlands to go see tulips (specifically changing dates to avoid King's Day), and the south of France for the lavender. I booked a trip to New York around a U2 concert. We hit Munich for a day of Oktoberfest, but didn't really do anything special. I do want to hit Christmas markets some year, and would love to do Carnival in Venice and/or Nice.

First trip across the pond was to go to the 1983 Frankfurt Auto Show. Second trip across the pond was for our honeymoon and a trip to the Geneva Auto Salon. Yes, I know how lucky I am to have a spouse agree to such a thing. Since those first two trips we have not planned our trips around events outside of a Christmas Market tour a few years back. Our last few trips over have been about researching family tree and visiting where our grandparents and relatives lived and/or served in WW2.

James E - another interesting subject you have posted here.

As far as planning trips around events, I have done that in the past and actually planned my August-September 2022 Scotland trip around some events. Granted, most of my listings are local to where I live, but I counted them because I often do mini staycations.

Past events:
Honolulu to see Phantom of the Opera with my sisters; I lived in Hilo at the time
Othello, WA for Spring Sandhill Crane migration (I am a birder)
Sienna, IT for the Palio race, but I was too early and planning didn’t work out
Mount St. Helens, WA for Spring flowers and hiking (in July, lol)
Umtanum Ridge, Yakima, WA for Spring birding/hiking
Vashon Island, WA for sheepdog herding trials
Enumclaw, WA for Highland Games

Events coming up:
Braemar Highland Games, Scotland
Edinburgh Fringe Festival

I once planned a trip around the return of the cows festival to Eggiwil Switzerland, an ancestral village. Since it was a Thursday and an event for locals, we were the only English speakers there except for a lone Israeli who loved these events. There was a small market for agricultural items, cow maintenance, and some food vendors. The crowd dispersed quickly after the cows were put to pasture where we followed for photos. We discovered they made a beeline to obtain lunch. We had to cool our heels waiting for a table, but we have great pictures of flower bedecked cows!

Some memorable events;
Dog Sled Race, Priest Lake, Idaho (husband participated)
Outrigger Canoe races, Kihei, Maui
Turtle Release, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
Fairy Penguins, Kangaroo, Is., Australia
La Mercè, Barcelona
Batabano Carnival, Cayman Is.
Mahogany & Merlot, Chelan, WA
Venice Regatta
Venice Film Festival, Lido

We planned our 2018 trip to Ukraine so that we could attend Independence Day celebrations in Kyiv on August 24, and our 2019 trip so we could attend BookForum in Lviv.

BookForum is the biggest book fair in Ukraine, held every September, lasts about 10 days, featuring author readings, book launches, performances, and much more and of course hundred of vendors selling Ukrainian books. For a retired librarian and a retired archivist/historian - well, let’s just say our suitcases were pretty heavy coming home.