Travel Topics
The Dark Skies Festival returns this winter, inviting visitors to Yorkshire to slow down, look up and reconnect with one of nature’s most extraordinary spectacles. Running from 13 February to…
Whether you call it the carnival, Mardi Gras or simply a fête, the approach of Lent brings with it a wonderful explosion of colour and exuberance. Travel Begins at 40…
The N’cwala Ngoni First Fruits Ceremony is a vibrant annual celebration of the Ngoni people in Zambia. It honours the first harvest, pays tribute to ancestral spirits, and showcases traditional…
As January gloom sets in, Vilnius offers the perfect antidote: the Vilnius Light Festival, returning 23–25 January 2026. Celebrating the city’s 703rd birthday, the festival transforms the UNESCO-listed Old Town…
Could there be a better city anywhere in the world to stage a Freedom Week, dedicated to defending democracy around the world, than the German capital of Berlin? Under the…
The Ufulu Festival is Malawi’s vibrant Independence Day celebration, held every 6 July in Lilongwe. It bursts with music, dance, poetry, and art, showcasing the creativity of Malawi’s youth. This…
Moshoeshoe Day Celebrations in Lesotho honour King Moshoeshoe I, the founding father of the Basotho nation. The day bursts with cultural pride, traditional dances, parades and heartfelt tributes. On 11…
The Umhlanga Reed Dance is a vibrant cultural celebration held annually in Eswatini, Africa. It is a unique and colourful event where thousands of unmarried young women, known as maidens…
In July, the island of Saint Lucia will burst into life as Lucian Carnival returns. Organised by the Cultural Development Foundation (CDF) in partnership with stakeholders including Events Saint Lucia…
Discover the most magical Christmas festivals in Spain, Portugal, Andorra and Madeira — from historic nativity fairs in Seville to winter wonderlands in Lisbon, cosy alpine villages in Andorra and…
Two competitors collide against each other and crash into me, so keen are they to return to the fray. As a judge I feel tempted to brandish a yellow card…
The Carnival Calabar is Africa’s biggest street party, bursting with colour, culture and creativity. This annual five-day spectacle in Calabar, Nigeria, features grand parades, dazzling costumes, energetic music and unforgettable…
The Michigan Irish Music Festival is a three-day ceilidh, held by the waterfront in the sleepy little town of Muskegon, which borders Lake Michigan, is a real hoot of an…
The buzz of live music in the capital shifts up a few gears in mid-November with the advent of the EFG London Jazz Festival. Now in its 33rd year, the…
As the festive season approaches, Christmas markets across the UK begin to sparkle with twinkling lights, enticing scents and the joyful buzz of holiday shoppers. UK Christmas markets are not…
The Timkat Festival in Ethiopia is a stunning celebration of Epiphany, filled with spiritual significance, music, dancing and colourful processions. Starting on January 19, this Orthodox Christian festival marks the…
From the Day of the Dead to Christmas markets and Thanksgiving, November is a month that celebrates the emergence of winter. Here is our selection of the best festivals in…
Each October, the Catalan town of Sitges transforms into an epicentre of the macabre, the magical and the marvellous. Welcome to the Sitges Film Festival — or, to give it…
Thailand is famous for its festivals, but few are as mysterious, magical, and bewitching as the Bang Fai Phaya Nak, where myth and nature collide on the Mekong Every year…
Every December, Saint Lucia shines brighter than ever as locals prepare for the National Day Festival of Lights, celebrated on December 13, the feast day of Saint Luce, the island’s…
Every October, the island of Saint Lucia bursts into a sea of purple as locals gather to celebrate the La Marguerite Flower Festival, one of the country’s most cherished cultural…
Tampere Festival of Light (Valoviikot): Illuminating the Nordic Winter As the days shorten and winter sets in, Tampere in southern Finland bursts into colour with the Tampere Festival of Light…
Every autumn, the seaside town of Sitges comes alive with one of Catalonia’s most cherished celebrations: the Grape Harvest Festival (Festa de la Verema). Now in its sixty-fourth edition, the…
Each September, the skies above Colorado’s Roaring Fork Valley burst into colour as the Snowmass Balloon Festival takes flight. Now in its 50th year, this beloved tradition has become one…
We love a good festival or two at Travel Begins at 40, which is why we have devoted a whole section to it – along with events.
In addition to giving a round-up of the most esoteric worldwide festivals for 2019, we have unique pages on many of the best – and most quirky – festivals from around he world. From spiritual and nature festivals such as India’s colourful Hindu festivals Diwali and Holi, and the Cherry Blossom Season Japan, to the messy but fun Boryeong Mud Festival in Korea and the outrageous Songkran new year celebrations in Thailand, we’ll have it covered. It’s a good idea to check up on what festivals there are in the place you are going on your holidays before setting off, although the delight of wandering unwittingly into a major cultural event can not be overstated.
We also have details of some of the biggest events – or our favourites – in the UK. So whether you are going to the Edinburgh Festival or the Notting Hill Carnival in August, or fancy a Watercress Festival in Hampshire, we have just the place for you.
Edinburgh is, of course, one of the highlights of the festival season in the UK, and we have pages devoted to both it and the Edinburgh Fringe.
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