Renaissance/Medieval Fairs

Almost every castle in Germany has a group of "re-enactors" who have adopted it and then go once a month to practice their medieval skills and live the life for a couple of days. These groups then have festivals in their town with their castle and invite all the other groups. Thus, there are a plethora of medieval fests happening all year round all over Germany. (can't speak for the other countries and their castles)

Some of my favorite medieval fests have been in Büdingen (they camp out in the dry moat along the city walls) http://www.buedingen.info/sehenswertes/historisches-buedingen.html
in Gelnhausen and in Ronnenburg Castle http://www.burg-ronneburg.de/mittelalterliche-burgfestspiele/
The Witches Market in Idstein. http://www.idsteiner-hexenmarkt.de/index.php/aktuelles.html
Went to the market at Burg Rheinfels and though it was in a great setting and we enjoyed it, there was hardly anything to eat and drink there which was a bit odd for a fest.
Loved the medieval Christmas Market in Esslingen! https://www.esslingen-marketing.de/mwm

This is the website that I use to find medieval markets near Frankfurt.
http://frank66furt.de/burgen/termine.htm

For other fests, one of the top festivals in Germany is the Museums Riverbank Fest in Frankfurt that takes place the last weekend in Aug. each year. We had close to 2.5 million visitors at the fest this year. It is the largest cultural fest in Germany. Coming next spring is the Luminale in Frankfurt (it happens every 2 years) Art installations made with light fill the city. We had 180 installations at the last one. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXNTmBn43JY

Thanks Jo,

I'm starting to plan second sweeps through areas. My second visits will be timed to coincide with local fairs, that I missed the first time through, whenever possible.

This one, as far as I can tell is called "Das MPS in Hamburg Ojendorf". To the extent I can read a photo of a sign there, it bills itself as the largest middle ages festival in the world. I'm not sure if the name means it's in Ojendorfer park and I don't get what MPS means (maybe the M is Mittlealter?).

http://www.englandsmedievalfestival.com/

Fab!

For me, nothing beats the Landshuter Hochzeit just north of Munich.
http://www.landshuter-hochzeit.de/

From wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landshut_Wedding):

The Landshut Wedding (German: Landshuter Hochzeit) is one of the largest historical pageants in Europe. Countless visitors from all over the world have taken part, or have been spectators of the "Landshuter Hochzeit 1475", a pageant held in Landshut, Bavaria (Germany). More than 2,000 participants in medieval costumes bring the festival to life to recreate the Late Middle Ages. It commemorates the wedding between Hedwig, the Polish King's daughter, and George, the son of the Duke of Bavaria at Landshut.
The original medieval wedding is re-enacted every four years, and everyone gets carried away with medieval jousting, pageantry, feasting and wedding processions for a short period in the summer.

DJ

More info for Reinassance fairs in CATALONIA:

TORTOSA: website - video - when?: second half of July
MONTBLANC: website - video - when?: last week in April

... and for more historical fairs elsewhere in Catalonia: calendar.

Also, if interested in Roman re-enactments: TARRAGONA: website - video - when?: mid May

We very much enjoyed the medieval fair at Sooneck Castle (Middle Rhine). I think it usually takes place at the beginning of July. The castle itself and its amazing views over the Rhine Valley are worth a trip.

http://artmarketservices.com/index.php?title=Niederheimbach_-_Sooneck_Castle