Top 10 festivals to visit

2 min summary When to visit Top festivals Bhutan Festivals Day of the Dead Diwali Gerewol Festival Nadaam and Eagle Festivals Timkat Festival Voodoo Festival World Nomad games Responsible tourism

Top 10 festivals map & highlights

Festivals take place all over the planet, from the biggest of cities to remote locations. In some places, getting to the festival site can involve a day or two of travel once in the host country. Travel is typically by road, sometimes across open steppe or dry desert, but the effort of getting there is rewarded with a celebration you won’t forget. An organised tour will take care of travel logistics, any supplies or camping equipment needed, accommodation or entry passes. Plus, travel with a responsible tour operator and local guides who understand the festival and its importance to the people attending, so you can enjoy the celebrations respectfully and learn more too.

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Responsible Travels top festivals world map

Day of the Dead, Mexico

The sugar skulls and smoking skeletons of Mexico’s Day of the Dead might have made their way into Halloween celebrations, but they’re but a shadow on the real Dia de los Muertos. This three-day festival honours dead ancestors with a heady mix of sombre, smoky wakes and festive feasts where the dead – and you – are welcomed to the family table.

Gerewol, Chad

A beauty pageant in which the men apply makeup and fine robes, before performing dances to attract a new partner – Gerewol in Chad is the annual and ancient courtship festival staged by the Wodaabe people of the Sahel. It’s remote and a revealing peek into some of the deep traditions of Saharan Africa.

Harbin Ice & Snow Festival, China

Following the ‘if life gives you lemons, make lemonade’ logic, this festival makes the most of the freezing winter weather in northeastern China. Talented snow sculptors and ice carvers descend to create buildings, animals, lanterns and even a Ferris wheel from frozen chunks of the Songhua River. Wrap up warm and explore by day and night, when lights illuminate the ice from within.

Naadam & Eagle Festivals, Mongolia

Mongolia celebrates the ‘three games of men’ – archery, horse racing and wrestling – in its annual Naadam. It’s a few days of sport and socialising in July that’s central to Mongolian life. In the far west, visit the eagle festivals that have been gaining popularity here, to witness the Kazakh people hunting the ancient way – with a trained golden eagle.

Uchal Festival, Pakistan

Held in the beautiful Kalash Valley, the Uchal Festival in August celebrates the harvest, and is one of Pakistan’s most important cultural get-togethers. Expect lots of traditional song and dance, not to mention lashings of dairy produce, as you drop in on a tour of the country’s remote mountainous regions. Sports more your thing? Take the same trip in June to catch the Shandur Polo Festival instead.

Rio Carnival, Brazil

Fancy seeing Rio de Janeiro at its most colourful? Then you’ve got to go at carnival time with a tour operator that can book you into the best events. You’ll shake it with the samba dancers in the streets, admire the floats parading down the Sambadrome, and salute the sunset with caipirinha. Sleep can wait.

Timkat Festival, Ethiopia

The Timkat Festival is an Epiphany like no other. Celebrating the baptism of Jesus, the day kicks off with a pilgrimage down to blessed springs. That’s where you’ll find the Talbot – a replica of the Arc – which gets paraded back to church against an ecstatic soundtrack of song and dance. It’s the churchgoers who make the festival, with their elaborate robes and jewel-bright umbrellas.

Tshechus, Bhutan

Bhutan does festivals (tshechus) like no other nation, with one taking place somewhere in the country every month, typically on the tenth day. Most happen in the grounds of monasteries or Buddhist learning centres and celebrate the introduction of Buddhism to the country in the 8th century. Monks dance, leap through burning arches and impart blessings, while families watch, picnic and become a little more enlightened.

Voodoo festival, Benin

Benin is the birthplace of Voodoo – or Vodun – a West African religion which believes various spirits and divine essences govern the earth. At the annual Voodoo Festival in January, local churches travel to Ouidah on the coast to perform in fantastic costumes, dancing to incessant drum beats in a trance-like state. You’ll see fetishes, too – all part of this incredible event.

World Nomad Games, Kazakhstan

The World Nomad Games is a new event on the global festival scene; a bigger and beefier alternative to the Olympics, which takes place every two years. Nomads from across Central Asia and beyond gather for traditional sports – from every kind of regional wrestling to the infamous headless goat polo – plus the chance to feast, socialise, wear traditional dress and enjoy a pinch of proud patriotism.