Exciting and colorful celebrations of music, culture, art, history, and so much more take place throughout the year in unique locations across the globe. From the mainstream to the most unknown, each has its own unique style and traditions that are observed by locals and travelers from near and far. If you’re craving some authentic cultures and diverse experiences, one of these festivals might just be the place for you!

Floating Lanterns Festival

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Where: Honolulu, Hawaii

Hawaii’s Floating Lanterns Festival is held annually on Memorial Day.  The festival brings an estimated 50,000 to the south shore of O’ahu, as well as thousands more than tuned in through live streaming. This evening was created in order to honor loved ones, as well as create a collection of hope for the future.  It is a time when people come together to reflect, remember, and offer gratitude.

The Fiesta de Cascamorras

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Where: Baza, Spain

This festival takes place in the towns of Baza and Guadix in Spain, every year on September 6th. The two towns fight each other for the possession of a statue of the Virgen de la Piedad. Back in 2006, the festival has actually declared a First of National Tourist Interest of Spain.

Harbin Ice Festival

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Where: Harbin, Heilongjiang, China

This stunning picture is of the Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival. It takes place every winter and is the largest snow and ice festival in the entire world. It has grown to have a very international crowd, generating billions of dollars of revenue annually.

Jaipur Elephant Festival

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Where: Jaipur, India

Jaipur celebrates its annual Elephant Festival on the same day as the Holi festival of colors, and for a good reason. According to the traditions of Jaipur, elephants represent royalty, and the Elephant Festival is a day dedicated to celebrating these powerful animals. They are adorned from their trunks to their toes with fine fabrics, jewelry, and vibrant colors and parade through the town for the culmination of the day’s events.

Tomorrowland

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Where: Boom, Belgium

Tomorrowland is an unreal festival that has made its mark on social media in the Music Festival world.  It is one of the most well-known global music festivals, with ticket demand so incredibly high that it sells out right away every year, making it harder and harder to snag tickets every year.  You won’t want to miss it.

Holi Color Festival

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Where: India

The Holi festival originated in India, however, the concept has been remodeled by various cities around the world. As you could imagine, the symbolism behind the festival signifies all good things: the victory of good over evil, the arrival of spring, a day to play and repair broke relationships, and a celebration of happy days ahead. While the origins are largely religious-based, these days the festival has a more secular approach. The day consists of parties, parades, concerts, and more where participants become drenched in color by any and all means necessary.

Monkey Buffet Festival

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Where: Lopburi, Thailand

This annual festival celebrates the local monkey population in Lopburi, Thailand. Spreads of food are placed outside of the Pra Prang Sam Yot temple in Lopburi Province, and the city’s 2,000 monkeys are invited to indulge in the vast amounts of fruits, vegetables, and other assorted foods provided by the local community. This bizarre and delicious festival is one of the more unique celebrations in the small city.

Underwater Music Festival

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Where: Looe Key Reef, Florida

Just off the coast of the Florida Keys, something truly magical takes place below the ocean’s surface. For over twenty-five years, hundreds of divers come together for one day to put on an underwater concert. A playlist is streamed from underwater speakers while divers rock out with various instruments, and nearly all the songs are ocean-themed in some way. Sound travels 4.3 times faster in water than through air, so the audience is treated to a truly spectacular audio and visual experience.

Loi Krathong Festival

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Where: Thailand

Loi Krathong, which can be translated in English as ”to float a basket” is a Siamese festival that is celebrated every year throughout Thailand, as well as in nearby countries with southwestern Tai cultures.  The tradition comes from the making of decorated baskets, which are then floated onto a river. It is celebrated on the evening of the full moon on the 12th month in the Thai lunar calendar.  The exact date changes annually. 

Skagit Valley Tulip Festival

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Where: Skagit Valley, Washington

Each spring the fields of the Skagit Valley are draped with rows and rows of colorful tulips. Its origins are traced back to 1883 when George Gibbs, a recent immigrant to the US, purchased $5 worth of tulip seeds. By 1905, Gibbs was collaborating with the US government in an experiment to recreate tulip fields similar to those in Holland. With nearly one million visitors a year, the experiment proved to be a success.

Boomtown Fair

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Where: Winchester, United Kingdom

The Boomtown Fair is a unique 4-day music festival experience that takes place near Winchester, UK every August. A mock-town is constructed complete with streets, venues, unique districts, and of course, hired talent to help bring the town to life. Each year, the festival symbolizes a new “chapter” in its history and is themed accordingly.

Pohela Falgun

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Where: Bangladesh

This unique and exciting festival is held on the first day of Spring in the Bengali month Falgun, based on the Bengali calender.  It began in 1991 by the students of Dhaka University in the Faculty of Fine Arts, and usually falls on the 13th of February on the more commonly known calender. It is a day filled with vast color, where women traditionally wear yellow saris to honor this day. In the Bengali language the meaning of the name is Spring Festival.