9 Best & Most Famous Festivals in Europe to Experience in 2024

Europe is quickly emerging as one of the top backpacking and affordable destinations worldwide. Thousands of people are expected to stream into the region, not to visit museums or game parks, but to attend and get a glimpse of the parties, nightlife, and festivals! So, if you are considering a trip to Europe, backpacking Europe or a couples vacation, familiarise yourself with these top 10 festivals to experience on your Europe honeymoon package! You must add them to your list of places to visit and activities to do during your holiday.

9 Most Famous Festivals in Europe

• Edinburgh International Festival – Edinburg, Scotland
• Halloween festival – Transylvania, Hungary & Romania
• Running of the Bulls, Pamplona, Spain
• La Fête Nationale, Champes Elysees avenue, Paris
• Sziget Festival, Budapest, Hungary
• Oktoberfest, Munich, Germany
• La Tomatina – Valencia, Spain
• La Battala Del Vino – La Rioja, Spain
• Pinkpop Festival – Landgraaf, Netherlands

1. Edinburgh International Festival – Edinburg, Scotland

8th to 31st August

Edinburgh International Festival is a world-renowned festival of performing arts featuring artists from all over the world. It brings the very best in classical music, dance, theater, visual arts exhibitions and opera from across the world for three exciting weeks of August and is one of the best and the famous festivals to explore on Europe Tour Packages!

While here, you’ll love taking in some unbelievable street performances, great shows and the world’s famous Military Tattoo right in the shadow of Edinburgh Castle. The festival also hosts a series of talks and workshops.

2. Halloween festival – Transylvania, Hungary & Romania

30 October – 1 November

There’s no better place to spend Halloween in Europe than in Dracula’s Transylvania. The festival, which is one of the most famous festivals in Europe which takes place in October every year and involves masked Halloween party in a mountain lodge in the middle of Transylvania Mountains.

During the festival, the atmosphere at the mountain is just mysterious, spooky and magnificent and features people with fancy dresses and fake blood pouring from eye sockets, following Dracula’s trail past mountain chalets, castles, quaint local villages and fortified churches. If you need one in a lifetime adventure, then this festival perfectly suits you.

3. Running of the Bulls, Pamplona, Spain

July 6 – 14

The Running of the Bulls, one of Europe’s most well-known and beloved events located in Spain, takes place annually from July 6 to 14. Participants dash in front of a group of bulls released onto a designated route within Pamplona’s streets. The Chupinazo, also called the opening ceremony, typically takes place at 12 noon on July 6 and distinguishes the day from others during the festival. The festival will feature spectacular fireworks and lively celebrations starting at 11 pm and lasting all night. If you plan your Europe Trip around July, you must add this experience to your Europe family package!

4. La Fête Nationale, Champes Elysees avenue, Paris

July 14

Known by the English-speaking countries as Bastille Day, La Fête Nationale is celebrated on France’s National Day and is one of the most famous festivals in Europe. The festival comprises the oldest and largest military parade in the continent, held on the morning of July 14. The parade passes down from the Arc de Triomphe to the Place de la Concorde. You wouldn’t want to miss the public concerts and dances on the night before, and the fireworks in the evening of the festival.

5. Sziget Festival, Budapest, Hungary

9 – 16 August

This is one of the largest cultural and music festivals in Europe that is held every August in the northern Budapest, on the Old Buda Island (budai-sziget) in the middle of Danube River. Featuring over 1000 acts and performances, the festival has won several awards and is dubbed by many as the “European alternative to Burning Man”. For festival fans, this event is seen as an amusement park as it bursts with various colourful and exciting distractions from reality. You can book your Central Europe package and enjoy this wholesome experience !

6. Oktoberfest, Munich, Germany

16 September – 4 October

Oktoberfest Germany is the world’s most popular beer festival which takes place every year from mid-September to October in Munich Germany. While here, you’ll enjoy yourself with hundreds of other people drinking, singing, dancing, and having fun in beer tents. The festival is organised by Munich’s largest and most traditional breweries and is one of the best and most sought-after festivals in Europe. You’ll love drinking beer by the litre, but if you are a teetotaller, you don’t need to worry; water and sodas are available too.

7. La Tomatina – Valencia, Spain

 August 30

ZNMD make all its fans to add La Tomatina as one the their bucket list experience. La Tomatina festival is a tomato (food) fight festival held in the Valencian town of Bunol, 30 km from the Mediterranean on the Wednesday of August every year, and goes on for a week. Considered as the world’s biggest food fight, the festival involves a fight in which participants throw hundreds of metric tons of over-ripe tomatoes in the streets. Additionally, the festival features parades, music, fireworks and dancing and is one of the best and most famous festivals in Europe.

8. La Battala Del Vino – La Rioja, Spain

29 June

If you thought La Tomatina is the craziest festival in the world, then wait till you have a glimpse of La Battala. La Battala is one of the best and the most famous festivals in Europe that is held every year on the 29th of June, in which thousands of locals and hundreds of lucky tourists climb a mountain in the village of Haro, Spain and throw wine on each other. Rather than drinking and savouring red wine, the locals prefer splashing it all over the place. Everyone gets wet and sticky as they all turn into a beautiful shade of purple. You should book a Europe group tour around the time of this festival and experience the madness.

9. Pinkpop Festival – Landgraaf, Netherlands

3 – 5 June

Pinkpop festival is one of the best festivals in Europe which takes place on the grounds of a former horse-racing track in rural Landgraaf every year during the Pentecost weekend – seventh Sunday after Easter (early June). The festivals involves creaming masses and guitars and frantic, electric performance. The participants dye their hair pink and wear pink T-shirts and pink plastic glasses, making the scene appear like a pink sea. While staying true to its guitar-shredding heroes, the crowd screams, sing, arm flail and jump up and down. This is must attend festival in Europe in June.

Don’t miss out on these Europe packages from different departure cities:

Europe Tour Packages from Pune | Europe Tour Packages from Hyderabad | Europe Tour Packages from Delhi | Europe Tour Packages from Mumbai | Europe Tour Packages from Bengaluru | Europe Tour Packages from Chennai | Europe Tour Packages from Ahmedabad

Inspired and ready to set off and take part in these famous festivals in Europe? Check out various Europe Packages and at Pickyourtrail and choose the one that suits you best and book away!

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