Free Tree Open Air Festival is a bit more mainstream culture (alcohol, bands on stage) than many of the small festivals that we include on our calendar but hey, each to their own.. A friend described the festival as: “A Green Event with lots of different Music Acts of all genres, poetry Slam, Travel Stories, […] » read more
(2020 dates to be confirmed) The Old Saw Mill Garden Party is held in a secret location and there are only 500 places available. Details of what the festival is about are few and far between but isn’t it nice to be surprised? The festival organisers say: “This Is Not Your Average Garden Party! ‘As […] » read more
(2019 dates to be confirmed) Read the book? Small is Beautiful from E.F Schumacher? We’ve looked at the back cover blurb a number of times and made plans to read it one day when intelligence upgrades can be downloaded at will, but if you were a thinking person and are looking for a festival where […] » read more
We love this one. Contact improv in the Carpathian Mountains of the Ukraine. Looks like a really cosy, intimate, special CI festival at a time of year when not much else is going on! The organisers say: ‘Seven days of contact impro jams and laboratories, snowboarding, skiing, music, bodywork, sauna singing, tea ceremonies, art and […] » read more
(2020 dates to be confirmed) Whereas many travellers are anxious to distinguish themselves from tourists, ‘nomads’ have gone one better and are earnestly trying to create an identity as dumpster-diving, hitchhiking, couchsurfing, telecommuting wanderers who come together every now and then to share tips and stories of living on next to nothing in the First […] » read more
If you’re a musician and you’re free in July you should be in the What is Music Gathering in the north of Spain. Imagine being with a whole troupe of creative people from musicians to artists to dancers doing workshops on flamenco rhythms, clowning, creating music with the voice, Indian melodies and more. Looks like […] » read more
For many of us the original Burning Man in the US is just a bit too far away and perhaps there’s a feeling that we wish we’d gone 20 years ago… Much of the founder Burning spirit might be found however in the regional Burns which now reach as far even as Austria where the […] » read more
Space of Love Festival is held on the Swedish isle of Oland and so is a great place to meet some Scandinavian hippies running workshops from family constellation to yoga to African dance. “There we celebrate and create, meet new and old friends, and try new paths to discover more about ourselves, one another and […] » read more
The Es Amor Festival (You Are Love Festival) has the motto Explore Explain Express and is unusual as most festivals go in that the only tickets are moneyfree – you register and you get a ticket but no money changes hands. Set outside an ongoing community project in Portugal, it’s the usual mix of yoga, […] » read more
Tantra (Sanskrit: तन्त्र) is an ancient Indian tradition of beliefs and meditation and ritual practices that seeks to channel the divine energy of the macrocosm or godhead into the human microcosm. Here we have a festival for gay and bisexual men keen to go deeper into themselves, to delve into becoming something new, and to push their […] » read more
The Green Gathering is an alternative festival par excellance powered by alternative energy (wind and sun) and featuring a plethora of alternative culture with acoustic music, workshops, skill sharing, radical cinema and the usual totems of a stone circle and faerie glade. Yes, there will be people with long beards and flowers in their hair and […] » read more
The Green Vibrations Festival looks like one wild Saturday with all kinds of music. As the day darkens the after-party kicks off and it doesn’t stop until four in the morning. We’ll let their video from 2015 take it away. The organizers say: “Green Vibrations moved from its humble beginnings as a party organised by […] » read more
Back when we were young and frying our brains on liquid LSD, trance music was all about the inner journey, turning the dance floor into one big shamanic space and seeing just how far you could push your consciousness. Not many of us survived, unsurprisingly, and these days trance festivals often seem to blend the […] » read more
How many musicians have a festival named after them? Django Reinhardt is held in a special kind of awe not only for being such a great guitarist despite missing a few fingers but because he made music that combined many genres. Want to learn more about him? You can start from here and then listen […] » read more
(2020 dates to be confirmed) Who doesn’t love a bit of Balkan music? Who doesn’t love a a bit of Balkan music at a trumpet festival with thousands of drunk Serbians singing, dancing and for once honouring gypsy musicians coming together to make brass band mayhem? Sounds like a lot of fun. The organisers say: […] » read more
Yes, going by the video you wouldn’t be judgemental to deduce that they seem to take themselves a little too seriously but if you want to go dancing in the mountains close to Barcelona (we think) there’s the Spiritual Dance Festival offering yoga, tai chi, chi kung, contact improv, reiki, meditative dance and…we think you […] » read more
Some years ago we ran our own travel storytelling and film festival in Berlin before giving up on the idea as being far too much work. So it’s nice to see other people picking up the idea and making the Travel Storytelling Festival in Belgium. The organisers say: ‘The idea behind the TSF is to […] » read more
Dates To Be Announced What can one say about contact festivals that hasn’t already been said? You move about, you make contact with other humans, rolling on the floor happens, smiles emerge, and everyone goes home feeling rejuvenated about dancing their name. We’ll just let their video take it away: The organizers say: “We want […] » read more
Dates To Be Announced The gist is you’re in the woods, there’s music and camping, and it’s a family-friendly atmosphere. A barn may or may not be involved, and the exact location is only given out a couple days before the event kicks off. The organiser’s 2012 promo video gives some idea of what sort […] » read more
Green Man is an alternative music festival set in Wales ‘where mystical ley lines meet amid ancient Welsh oak trees’. It’s primarily a place to catch great concerts and recent years have seen the likes of Fleet Foxes, PJ Harvey, Father John Misty… There are up to 1500 multi-arts acts performed across 17 stages, as […] » read more
