Having a blast, experiencing the culture and celebrating with locals doesn’t have to cost an arm and a leg. Keep all of your limbs and enjoy these free festivals, which are the biggest – and some of the best – in the world.
Carnival
February in Brazil
Rio de Janeiro’s Carnival is one of the biggest parties in the world. The population of the city swells by around two million when the event takes place every year before Lent (so sometime during February), as people from all over the world come to take in all the colourful floats, samba and exposed skin the carnival is famous for. If you’re not into the huge parade – though it is an incredible spectacle – simply wandering aimlessly is sure to find you a killer street party.
Songkran
April 13-15 in Thailand
Get down and dirty in Thailand as part of their huge Thai New Year celebration, which takes place every year on April 13-15. You’ll find water fights – even if you’re not looking for them – all over Thailand, but Bangkok is the ultimate destination.
In Bangkok you’ll find locals and tourists, pumping music, cheap beer and most shops firmly closed to protect their wares from the liquid massacre. Before too long you’ll be waterlogged with exposed skin covered in clay smeared on by passers-by as a blessing. According to the Thai beliefs, the water itself washes any misfortunes or bad luck from the previous year away, while blessing with happiness for the new year.
Tip: buy a water gun so you have a weapon to retaliate and leave your dry-clean-only clothes at home.
King’s Day
April 27th in the Netherlands
If you hate orange stay away from this one. The Dutch embrace their national colour like nothing you’ve ever seen on the 27th of April each year. Formerly called Queen’s Day until the beloved Queen abdicated the throne in 2013, King’s Day is the national celebration of the King’s Birthday – and it’s a good one.
Celebrations begin the night before when the grown-ups come out to play, before waking to do it all again the next day. King’s Day starts slowly, with families and those running market stalls popping up first, and the hungover stragglers steadily joining the fun until streets and canals are covered in a swarming sea of orange.
Laws are relaxed for this one day every year to allow anyone to sell anything on the street. Marketeers sell second-hand clothes, books, toys, food and drink (not second hand), jokes, magic tricks, opera glasses, tea cups – you name it. There’s plenty to entertain and something for everyone, whether you are looking for a dance party, a street party, a boat party, activities for the kids, excellent people watching or a bargain from a roadside pop-up market.
Holi Festival
Spring (usually sometime in March) in Nepal and India
The Holi Festival, or Festival of Colour, takes place on the last full moon of the winter season in Nepal and India, and essentially involves everyone being decorated with coloured powder and coloured water to the point of being barely recognisable. Holi is a celebration of good triumphing over evil, the arrival of spring after winter, and is generally simply a festive day to play and laugh.
Certain delicacies are peculiar to the festival. Bhang, a traditional ingredient made from cannabis leaves (if it’s traditional, it must be OK), is mixed into drinks and sweets to make the day all the more fun.
If you can’t afford the airfare, Holi One bring the fun to major cities around the world, though their version tends to include DJs and beer. Check out their website here [link to http://www.holione.com/en/home.html] to find out if Holi One is coming to your city.
San Fermin Festival
July 6-14 in Spain
Most famous for the running of the bulls, San Fermin is actually a week-long festival of traditional and folkloric events. The annual festival brings around one million people to Pamplona in Spain to participate in events such as the Chupinazo, a rocket launch that opens the festival, El Struendo (The Roar), which involves participants gathering in the town square to make as much noise as possible for several hours, the giants and big-heads parade held every morning, and traditional sports such as stone lifting and wood cutting.
The running of the bulls is the biggest draw for thrill-seeking tourists, who must be 18 years old and sober to take part. Runners attempt to outrun a herd of six bulls and nine steers – and the danger is real. Though fatalities are rare, every year between 200 and 300 injuries are recorded, mostly due to falls.
The running of the bulls itself is held every morning at San Fermin from 6-14 July at 8:00am.
Oktoberfest
September in Germany
No list of popular festivals would be complete without Oktoberfest, which somewhere along the way started to take place in September without anyone noticing. Or maybe everyone did notice and simply agreed not to complain as it means the crowds get to enjoy their steins that little bit earlier.
Whatever the timing, Oktoberfest will teach you to drink beer if you don’t already, guaranteed. The festival has been running for almost 200 years and is held over 16 days in Munich. Lederhosen and Bavarian beer maid outfits are pretty much compulsory.
Courtney Gahan is a serial expat, traveller and freelance writer who has bartered with Moroccan marketeers, seen the sun rise at Angkor Wat and elbowed her way through crowds on NYE in NYC.
