Festival calendar: the world's great festivals, month by month

A festival can be the best reason to pick a month, or a reason to avoid one if you would rather have a quiet city. Some fall on fixed dates. Others follow the lunar calendar or Easter and move by a few weeks from year to year, so check the exact dates for the year you travel. Rooms in festival towns go early; book as soon as your dates are set.

January

• Harbin Ice and Snow World in Harbin, China: whole buildings carved from river ice, lit at night, from late December to February. It is often below −20°C.
• Chinese New Year falls between late January and mid February. Lanterns, temple fairs and fireworks across China and in Chinese communities everywhere, although many shops close for the first days.

February

• Carnival before Lent, in February or early March: the parades of Rio de Janeiro, the masks of Venice, and Mardi Gras in New Orleans.
• Sapporo Snow Festival in Hokkaido, early February, with huge snow sculptures in Odori Park.
• Québec Winter Carnival in Québec City, with night parades and an ice palace.
• Lantern Festival, on the fifteenth day of the lunar new year. In Taipei, people release sky lanterns at Pingxi.

March

• Holi, the festival of colours, at the March full moon. Rajasthan and Varanasi are among the most famous places to see it.
• Holy Week (Semana Santa), in March or April. In Seville the processions run through the night for a whole week.

April

• Songkran, the Thai New Year, from 13 to 15 April. In Bangkok and Chiang Mai the whole city turns into a water fight.
• Feria de Abril in Seville, two weeks after Easter, with flamenco dresses and casetas.
• King's Day in the Netherlands on 27 April, when Amsterdam's canals fill with boats and everyone wears orange.
• Paro Tsechu in Bhutan, with masked dances at the dzong, usually in March or April.

May

• Aoi Matsuri in Kyoto on 15 May, a procession in Heian-period costume.
• New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, over two weekends from late April into May.
• Madeira Flower Festival in Madeira, usually in late April or May.

June

• Inti Raymi, the Inca festival of the sun, in Cusco on 24 June.
• Midsummer in Sweden, on the Friday between 19 and 25 June, with maypoles, flower crowns and the longest day of the year around Stockholm.
• Dark Mofo in Hobart, Tasmania, a midwinter arts festival in June.

July

• Gion Matsuri in Kyoto, all July, with the great float processions on 17 and 24 July.
• Naadam in Mongolia, from 11 July: wrestling, horse racing and archery.
• Hemis Festival in Ladakh, masked dances at Hemis monastery, in June or July.
• Guelaguetza in Oaxaca, Mexico, regional dances on the last two Mondays of July.

August

• The Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Edinburgh, the largest arts festival in the world, for most of August.
• Obon in Japan, mid August, with bon dances, lanterns and the bonfires on Kyoto's hills on 16 August.
• Notting Hill Carnival in London, the late-August bank holiday weekend.

September

• Oktoberfest in Munich, from mid or late September to the first Sunday of October.
• Thimphu Tsechu in Bhutan, in September or October.
• Mid-Autumn Festival, at the full moon in September or early October: mooncakes and lanterns across East Asia.

October

• Diwali, the festival of lights, in October or November. Across India, from Delhi and Agra to Rajasthan and Varanasi.
• Dashain and Tihar, the biggest festivals in Nepal, usually in October.
• Jidai Matsuri in Kyoto on 22 October.

November

• Day of the Dead (Día de Muertos) on 1 and 2 November, with altars, marigolds and candlelit cemeteries in Oaxaca and Mexico City.
• Loy Krathong and Yi Peng, at the November full moon. In Chiang Mai, thousands of paper lanterns float up into the night sky.
• Pushkar Camel Fair in Rajasthan, around the same full moon.
• Christmas markets open in the last week of November.

December

• Christmas markets in Vienna, Prague, Kraków and Munich, and in Strasbourg and Colmar in Alsace. Most stay open until Christmas Eve or a little after.
• Hogmanay in Edinburgh, three days of New Year celebrations with a torchlight procession and a street party.
• New Year's Eve on Copacabana beach in Rio, where crowds dressed in white watch the fireworks over the sea.

Tips

• Moving festivals (Chinese New Year, Holi, Diwali, Easter, Carnival) change date every year. Look them up before you book.
• For the biggest events, a hotel just outside the centre is often easier to find and a short ride away.
• Some festivals close things as well as opening them: Chinese New Year and Obon shut shops and fill trains.