We will be in Nerja, Spain this year during two days of their Feria (Fair) de Nerja. Also, we will be in Madrid during some events celebrating the 400th Anniversary of Madrid's Plaza Mayor. This made me reflect on some great memories of past festivals and want to ask you, "Which festivals have been some of your favorites?" "Did you plan these initially in your itinerary dates, or were they just pleasant surprises as you came closer to your trip?"
I'll share a few of ours in the comments below.
Fête de la Musique – June 21 in France. We were in Paris and enjoyed strolling around the neighborhood that evening to enjoy the multitude of various types of music being played on street corners or in squares.
MITO SettembreMusica in Milan & Torino, Italy. We were in Torino and loved the ambiance of the city during this event. We stopped in a few churches to hear excellent music, and the finale was a plaza filled with people. We were all given songbooks to participate in the largest spontaneous choir, singing funny, religious, cultural, Italian patriotic and opera songs! This was a very wonderful evening, and we felt the most “local” during all of these events.
La Notte Visibile della Cultura at Grosseto, Italy. I saw the poster for this in our Grosseto hotel. The Old Center of town had an open festival at night of many types of arts, and their historic museum was open for free. We listened to music in their cathedral, and folk music and more modern bands in the streets. They also had a cute children’s dance recital in a piazza. This was another event where we really felt like locals. I’m sure we were the only Americans there that evening.
Jungfrau-Marathon in Switzerland in September. We were in Wengen, and cheered the marathon runners as they ran through the town, along with locals & entertaining funny local bands. Everyone headed up to Kleine Scheidegg for the finale.
Venice Historical Regatta, the first Sunday in September. This is the only festival that I’ve planned ahead of time for us to see. Beautifully carved & painted neighborhood ships on parade, followed by lots of races, i.e. 2-man, single, etc. We enjoyed seeing this, but it’s the one festival where I felt more like we were outside observers than the previous festivals since we weren’t shouting for a certain person to win the race.
Maggio Musicale in Florence, Festival d'Avignon. Advance puchase essential, forget about walk ins.
Several come to mind...
The wine festival along the Mosel in Bernkastel-Kues is big, fun, and full of locals. Planned that one into our schedule.
The Cannstatter Volksfest in Stuttgart is what Oktoberfest used to be, it is more personal, fun, but still a big fest. That one was planned as part of an itinerary that included Oktoberfest and brewery visits.
On Mykonos the local historical society puts on a Harvest festival in September, it has been 10 years or so since we were there, but it was a wonderful day of music food and wine. Surprisingly at that time it was not very big, more like a celebration thrown by a big Greek family. That one was pure chance, but probably our favorite.
Another "event" to look for, and is a bit of chance, is traveling in Europe during either World Cup (FIFA) or Europe Cup. If you are fortunate enough to be in a country that is in the Quarter/Semi or Finals, then impromptu festivals spring up when the game is on. A number of memories from English Pubs, to small Italian towns, to big Plazas/Piazzas with jumbotrons.
The one that I am at. We were in Frankfurt in late May, just wandering around (our usual vacation thing). We came into a little square, and there was a festival of something, goodness knows what. They had food, wine, beer, and a band playing covers of Texas swing music (you know, exotic American music). It was fun. I learned again that when something looks odd, try to understand why. We order wine, paid, and it seemed more expensive than the menu. Of course it was!! There is a deposit fee in German venues. We returned our glasses before I remembered, and thus gave the festival 6 E extra.
One of my best surprise finds was a great festival in Budapest last year--I arrived early in the day and several markets I hoped to visit either weren't happening or I zipped through quickly and thus had time to kill before check-in, so headed back to my hotel neighborhood and there was a Museum Festival happening on the lovely tree-shaded grounds of the Hungarian National Museum, near the Kalvin ter metro station. It was free and full of locals--music, all kinds of food and drink, handcrafts to buy, cultural exhibits and demonstrations and pretty much every museum in Hungary was represented by a booth. I stayed a good 3 hours. It happens on the 3rd weekend of May every year and I hope to go again next year.
Django Reinhardt acoustic swing-jazz at the end of June outside Fontainebleu France on a tiny island in the Seine.
I planned these recent favorites initially in my itinerary dates
36 annual Jazz à Vienne, France 2016
43rd annual Umbria Jazz Fest, Perugia, Italy July 2016
Amsterdam Jazz Fest, November 2016
57th annual Jazz à Juan Les Pins/Antibes France July 2017
52nd annual Jazzaldia San Sebastian, Spain July 2017
Planned:
Stumbled upon:
And many smaller events found on posters and brochures locally - fireworks, concerts, yodeling competition, truffle market, art fair, etc.
Jazz + Travels, that explains your Forum name!
Paul, the Texas swing music reminds me of our first RS trip. We arrived at St. Goar the day before the trip started, ready to experience Europe! A guy was singing American music for a tiny outdoor Fireman's Benefit gathering. We were enjoying the evening with others, listening to the music. The translations weren't quite right. Johnny Cash's lyrics became "I felt into a burning rink of fire." We loved it and his enthusiasm!
Thanks for the replies and looking forward to reading many more for future trip ideas!
Despite the crowds, it's hard to imagine festivals that top Carnevale in Venice, with all those elegant costumed and masked figures, posing in front of Venetian architecture, bridges and canals. Carnivale counts as a festival, no?
We were on the Rick Steves My Way Germany, Austria, Switzerland tour which we scheduled so that we would be in Munich during Oktoberfest. The stop before Munich was in Salzburg. While we were there they were having the St. Rupert Festival. It was a fun festival in the central square with locals in lederhosen and dirndls, beer, roasted chickens and oompah music on a beautiful fall day. A great surprise that will be a fond memory for many years.
There are 3 that I love...
The Alpenhorn Festival in Nendaz, Switzerland...usually sometime in mid-July.
The Fringe Festival in Edinburgh...such a huge variety of performances every day.
The Avignon Festival...I love watching all the street performers advertising their shows in incredibly creative ways.
My favorite was probably the Fringe in Edinburgh, followed by Usadba-Jazz and Moscow Military Tattoo. With the exception of Usadba-Jazz, attending these required some planning.
Not too impressed with Oktoberfest; will not do Scarlet Sails in SPb again (unless maybe in another life, when I'm 20 again - and hopefully not a cat).
Am at my favorite fest this weekend, the Museums Riverbank Fest in Frankfurt.
For 7 € I get into 23 museums all weekend and they all have special programs happening. The river is lined with 600 stands, featuring ethnic foods, German foods, Spain, Asia, dancing, hand-made items, artwork, and there is dragon boat racing all weekend! Sunday night finishes with fireworks.
The Romans are camped out at the Archeological Museum, Picnics are featured at the Applied Arts Museum, Luther's Bible is the highlight at the Bible Museum with special workshops for kid to try their hand at the printing press, and there are free tours are in all of the museums. Organ concerts in the downtown churches on Sat. night and Choir concerts on Sun. There is truly something here for everyone.
The atmosphere along the river is simply grand. People are having so much fun. With culture! For me, this is the best of what Germany has to offer when it comes to festivals and I look forward to it all year long.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4yhYGVEbec
I prefer small scale events that really represent local life and two spring to mind. In March, we stumbled upon a hot bread and cheese festival in Vaqueiros in the middle of nowhere in Portugal, where we seemed to be the only non Portuguese people there. There were local crafts for sale and music all day.
I have been to another this weekend - Saddleworth Longwood Thump Rushcart, which happens every August Bank Holiday near Manchester. A rushcart weighs over a ton and is a pyramid of rushes standing over 10 foot tall, built this week by morris men (traditional dancers) from locally cut rushes. Morris men attend from all over the UK to push the rushcart around local villages and to perform dances. A man sits atop the pyramid whilst it is pushed around and he throws sweets to the children. Sunday morning is a church service, with the church floor strewn with rushes as in the olden days, the church had no heating. Sunday afternoon means entertainment including a gurning competition (face pulling) and more dancing, food and drink. So uniquely British!
Jennifer...what on earth is face pulling??? I have several versions in my head and none of them are pretty!! :)
Two that I really enjoyed when we lived in Germany were:
Heidelberg's Herbstfest
Bad Durkheim's Wein/Wurst fest
I'm not a fan of Oktoberfest, it's way too crowded for me and if you don't book a place in advance you might not even be able to get a beer. I much preferred the smaller fests, they're less crowded but just as much fun. Bad Durkheim's Weinfest (aka, Wurstfest) surprised me by how great the food was.
Because I love visiting Corfu island during summer I came across some interesting local festivals there. Especially in August every village has its own festival for one day with lots of Greek music, local foods and drinks. The announcements for these festivals are hanged near local supermarkets and everybody going there for a shopping is informed.
Another nice festival a have visited is International Jazz Festival in Bansko, Bulgaria every August. It gathers many locals, as well as tourists who come to visit the mountain village and to listen to some nice music.
Anita. You maybe best googling gurning as it's difficult to describe. The winner is whomever looks the most deformed/ugly. Those with false teeth take them out for a "better" look!
Without a doubt it is the Chianti Classico wine festival in Greve in Chianti which is between Florence and Siena Italy. For just €10 you get a commemorative wine glass and a punchcard to try eight different wines at the local merchants booths at the event. To be honest with you won't even get through the eight punches on your card because the merchants will give you a free taste in hopes of you buying a bottle of their wine. This is a great local event in a great little town in Italy
http://www.greve-in-chianti.com/en/2010_wine_festival.htm#.WaQUBnT3ahA
My favorite is the Mistfest in Vienna, or Garbage Festival. It is run by the 48er's, the city's famous garbarge collectors and the waste management office. Kids get to sit in garbarge trucks of all kinds, fun games, music, food and interesting info about waste. Lots of free stuff and the kids LOVE it.
Holy Thursday in Zaragosa and the April Fair in Seville.
Another that was pretty great was the fall fest in Bonn. It's like Oktoberfest but very local. The name, as I recall, is something Marktplatz.
The three I recall were all ones we stumbled on. When we travel, I tend to lose track of dates, so it took me a while to figure out what was being celebrated in St. Quentin-le-Poterie, near Uzes. When we passed the Mairie, we saw town officials grouped around one who was reading a proclamation. Then, they marched off, accompanied by a brass band. Later, when leaving, we saw large crowd partying under a roofed pavilion. There was food, wine, and live music. Many, many people of all ages were dancing to the music. Lots of flags and tricolor banners. Suddenly, it clicked. It was May 8, VE Day. It was touching to see an entire village come out to celebrate a poignant event in their history.
Another time we happened upon the festival of truffles in St. Paul Trois Chateaux. Again, food, wine, live music. Fun!
The third was in one of the wine route towns of Alsace. We had discovered, to our dismay, that there was to be an amateur choirs festival the next day, when we were leaving. However, the singers were already in town, and had taken up positions in various outdoor spots. They sang all through the day. Food and drink stations had been set up all around. At one point, we saw a woman lean over her balcony and throw flowers down on the choristers.
So enjoy reading all of your responses!
I'd never heard of a gurning contest, Jennifer!
The annual Hanseatic Days of New Time festival is worth a look. It rotates between former Hanseatic League cities (northern Europe, from Belgium to Russia and Scandinavia). I happened on the 2014 event in Lubeck. The next event is in 2018 in Rostock. The festival was like many others; unique foods, customs & historic traditions. What set it apart were the variety of participating cities from 16 countries.
We were in venice a few years back, late september/early october, customer told me about bardolino grape and wine festival (festa dell uva e del vino) on lake garda. rented a car for 2 days in venice, a hotel in bardolino and we're off on a sunday morning. Absolutely fabulous, gorgeous views of the lake, lots of people, food and wine booths, music, shows, dancing, tasting, craft booths, fireworks later that evening, wine wine everywhere (dedicated to the king of red wine of lake garda. We paid 15euros for a necklace wine glass holder, walked all over, tasting, eating the good food. Take small denominations of euros to pay for your things. Met so many nice people from different areas of the world. Had a great fun time, sat outside of restaurant/cafe having an appetizer and wine to watch the fireworks late at night. Next morning took a ride up along the lake, small cute little towns and villages. If you are in the area stop by and have fun. happy travels
aloha princess pupule
Maybe not a festival per se, but we spent a fascinating day at the Highland Games in Pitlochry, Scotland. If you are in Scotland during the games season I highly recommend finding one near you and checking it out.
Pentecost in Barcelona. We were there a few days early for the RS Barcelona - Madrid tour, and stumbled across the amazing celebration in the Cathedral Plaza. There were gigantes - giant puppets who danced wonderfully, and castells, the famous Catalan human towers. Wonderful! And the next day (Sunday) there was sardana dancing in the square that lasted for hours. What a wonderful find.
Because I'm allergic to crowds when traveling, I tend to only go to local festivals, but luckily this is Germany so we have a lot of them!
Canstatter Volksfest and it's springtime cousin, Fruhelingsfest are IMO the best beer festivals in Germany. The fun of Oktoberfest without the hassle and ridiculously high room rates.
The Stuttgarter Weindorf is a great wine festival (going tonight for a friend's birthday!) with all the delicious Swabian food you could want.
The Esslingen Zweibelfest has amazing food in a perfect setting.
I'm really fond of the "Fasnet" carnival celebrations in/near the Black Forest. Very pagan and different from the Cologne style. Weil Der Stadt and Calw's celebrations come to mind, as does Basel's HUUUUUGE celebration.
Ulm's Nebada is something else entirely - everyone jumping into handmade floats on the Danube, floating down, then having a huge party! There's also a light parade on the river at night as part of the 3 day festivities for Schwoer Monntag but the Nebada was my favorite part.
