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There is a tourism magnet whenever the globe celebrates its most amazing festivals. People travel to attend the electrifying sights, sounds, and traditions that characterize each festival. Cities become live hubs for the activity; here, visitors can immerse themselves in diverse aspects of local culture, including music, food, and artistic expression. Attending the best festivals in the world are for most tourists more than sight-seeing; it is also building a bond with a place and its people. The combined effect of festivity and exploration makes festival tourism one of the most exciting means in the world to travel.
Top 10 Best Festivals In The World
Here are ten of the best festivals in the world, attracting millions of visitors each year:
1. Carnival (Brazil)
Photo: Hiroki Ogawa / Wikimedia Commons
Carnival in Brazil is one among the renowned global festivals held each year before Lent. It is with parades replete with samba dancers, grand floats, and wild street parties that Rio de-Janeiro Carnival has become famous. While Carnival has deep roots in both Portuguese and African traditions, it very interestingly combines elements of European masquerade with Afro-Brazilian music and dance into an electrifying spectacle. The Sambadrome parade is indeed the occasion for all the fun, where samba schools perform in a competitive manner. The festival attracts millions of tourists, thereby facilitating Brazil’s economy and cultural tourism.
Popular Locations: Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Salvador, Recife
Timings: 5 days before Lent (February or March)
2. Oktoberfest (Germany)
Photo: Manele R. / Wikimedia Commons
Oktoberfest is the biggest beer festival in the world, which is celebrated every year in Munich, Germany. It was started in 1810 to celebrate the royal marriage and became globally recognized over the years and developed into a massively popular event that attracts millions of visitors. The festival is hosted in numerous beer tents with Munich’s old breweries. Visitors can enjoy traditional Bavarian beer, pretzels, sausages, and roasted meat accompanied by folk music and lively performances. These fairgrounds called Theresienwiese are also decked out with various amusements, parades, and cultural exhibitions.
Popular Location: Munich, Bavaria
Timings: Mid-September to early October (16–18 days)
3. Diwali (India)
Photo: Udayaditya Barua / Unsplash
Diwali, the Festival of Lights, is one of the most important and widely known festivals of India. It is the embodiment of famous Hindu mythology, symbolizing the victory of light over darkness, and good over evil. All homes and streets are decorated with oil lamps (diyas) and electric lights; families perform puja to Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth. Diwali is celebrated with fireworks and feasts, and exchange of gifts, creating a festive atmosphere. In different areas of India, the festival takes on different mythological significance.
Popular Locations: Delhi, Jaipur, Mumbai, Varanasi, Ayodhya
Timings: October or November (varies by lunar calendar)
4. Chinese New Year (China)
Photo: Balon Greyjoy / Wikimedia Commons
In China, the most significant traditional festival is the Chinese New Year, also known as the Spring Festival. It denotes the occasion on which the lunar calendar begins. This old, age-old custom festival observes the reunion of families, ancestor veneration, and a welcome greeting with fortune in the new year. Homes, as well as public spaces, are decorated with red items, implying good fortune. Fireworks and dances performed by dragons help to ward evil spirits. Each year is represented by one of the different animals according to the Chinese Zodiac, which has an impact on the festivities and related superstitions.
Popular Locations: Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore
Timings: January or February (first day of the lunar new year)
5. La Tomatina (Spain)
Photo: Revolution_Ferg / Wikimedia Commons / Image For Representation Only
La Tomatina is the biggest food fight festival in the world, which is celebrated in Spain. Thousands of participants across the globe gather in a cacophony of chaos and fun to throw ripe tomatoes at each other. La Tomatina was born in 1945 when a street brawl led to a playful food fight, which became official in 1957. The ceremonial kick-off is the palo jabón when everyone climbs up a greased pole to reach the ham before the tomato-slinging starts. More than 100 tons of tomatoes are used in their annual hour of battle turning the streets into rivers of red pulp.
Popular Location: Buñol, Valencia
Timings: Last Wednesday of August
6. Holi (India & Nepal)
Photo: Adam Whitlock / Unsplash
Holi is undoubtedly one of the happiest and most colorful festivals celebrated by Hindus, especially in India and Nepal. Traditionally, Holi marks the end of winter and the onset of spring and is celebrated in memory of the legend of Prahlad and Holika. Bonfires are lit to celebrate Holika Dahan the day before Holi, thus symbolically burning away greed, hatred, and other vices, leaving hope for something good. The next day, people assemble to put gulal on each other, splash colored water all over, and dance to both modern and traditional songs.
Popular Locations: Mathura, Vrindavan, Jaipur, Kathmandu
Timings: March (full moon day of Phalguna month)
7. Mardi Gras (USA)
Photo: Carol M. Highsmith / Wikimedia Commons
Mardi Gras or as popularly termed ‘Fat Tuesday’ is that time of the year when New Orleans morphs into a solemn setting before Lent. It is a French and Catholic tradition, established in the early 1700s with the establishment of French settlers here. This festival is celebrated through fancy parades, masquerade balls, or street festivities, with the paradigm colors of Mardi Gras: purple, green, and gold, representing justice, faith, and power respectively. A float carrying masked performers tosses beads, coins, and trinkets into the crowd as the crowd cheers, to the music, mostly jazz, that is New Orleans.
Popular Location: New Orleans, Louisiana
Timings: Tuesday before Ash Wednesday (February or March)
8. Edinburgh Festival Fringe (Scotland)
Photo: ewanmcandrew / Wikimedia Commons / Image For Representation Only
The city of Edinburgh comes agog in August, for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe-the largest arts festival in the world. The Edinburgh Fringe was set up in 1947, and since then, it has come to be a global platform for performing artists. The Fringe, is an idiosyncratic gathering of diverse acts from theater to comedy, dance to music, and from experimental performance art to street theater. Artists from countries worldwide congregate, wherein they present their craft at reputable venues as well as unconventional sites such as streets, bars, and churches.
Popular Location: Edinburgh, Scotland
Timings: August (3 weeks long)
9. Gion Matsuri (Japan)
Photo: Marie-Sophie Mejan / Wikimedia Commons
Among the festivals of Japan, the Gion Matsuri is preferred, celebrated during the month of July in Kyoto. It has its origin from the ninth century as a ritual for appeasement of the spirits during the time of epidemic. The festival is best known for the great Yamaboko floats, which are elaborately decorated and moved through streets. These floats, towering up to 25 meters, are masterpieces of traditional craftsmanship. The festival also presents deeper features, including processions, shrine rituals, cultural performances, and so on. On the night of the main parade night, these streets become animated fairs with food stalls, traditional music, and locals in yukata (summer kimonos).
Popular Location: Kyoto
Timings: July (main parades on 17th and 24th)
While festivals may be a contorted means of seeing the cultures of different countries by blending traditions with arts and celebrations, they provide something unforgettable. With all the parades, performances, or rituals that last for hundreds of years, these events create amazing travel experiences. Want to catch up on such magic firsthand? Here is where you can plan your travel with TripXL to avail amazing offers, expert guides, and smooth travel experiences.
Cover Photo: Suchandra Roy Chowdhury / Unsplash
