Local Festivals That Our Travelers Love
6 min readMajor festivals like Carnival or Oktoberfest are a fun impetus for a trip—but what we find our travelers recall most fondly are smaller, local festivities that invite you into the soul of a place, often connecting you directly with its residents rather than spectating from the sidelines. Such events aren’t easy to find—if word’s already ...
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Major festivals like Carnival or Oktoberfest are a fun impetus for a trip—but what we find our travelers recall most fondly are smaller, local festivities that invite you into the soul of a place, often connecting you directly with its residents rather than spectating from the sidelines.
Such events aren’t easy to find—if word’s already gotten out, you can bet there will be more tourists participating than locals—so you need a well-connected destination expert to clue you in. And if you do want to attend one of those better-known festivals, the right local fixer will know how to get you the best vantage point for the spectacle.
Read on for our travelers’ favorite festival memories; you’ll also find intel on how to attend such celebrations yourself in many of our our Insider’s Guides to destinations around the world.
Wondering how to incorporate a local festival into your next trip? Ask us via the black button below.
Welcoming spring in India with Holi’s riot of colors
Ron Klausner, his wife, and two friends joined in India’s festival of Holi.
“My wife and I went to India for three weeks with another couple in March. Although we were between earning WOW Moments, I feel Sanjay made our entire trip a WOW Moment. In Varanasi we had private sunset and sunrise boat cruises on the Ganges River, and a sitar concert at the home of Ravi Shankar’s cousin. We also participated in Holi, where we celebrated spring by joining different groups of locals and covering each other with paint and water and then dancing together in joy.
Andrea Klausner celebrating an engagement with local women. Photo: Traveler Ron Klausner
One of our most memorable moments occurred when we saw a bunch of women, all dressed in magnificent yellow, dancing on a side street. One of the women gestured for my wife to join her. The women were celebrating because one of them just had a daughter who got engaged. They went down the street knocking on doors, and neighbors kept joining. My wife had a wonderful time.” —Ron Klausner
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Dressing the part for a medieval festival in Umbria, Italy
Traveler Andrea Phillips and her family dressed in traditional Umbrian festival costumes.
“My family had a wonderful and action-packed trip to Italy covering Umbria, Tuscany, Florence, Bologna, Lake Como and Milan, planned with Maria. We were surprised with our WOW Moment early in this trip. We were given a special opportunity to be dressed up for the night in the Foligno Quintana traditional costumes for their festival later in the week. That was a unique experience and one that we would never have been able to arrange, or even be allowed to do, without Maria’s network in Italy.” —Andrea Phillips
To get your own WOW trip, start with our trip questionnaire, reached via the black button below.
A perfect balcony view for Semana Santa in Seville
A Spain specialist on The WOW List arranged for this view of Seville’s Holy Week. Photo: Traveler Julie Heimark
“My husband had been to Holy Week in Seville thirty years ago and wanted to share this unique experience; our 18-year-old son’s bucket list includes seeing the Barbary macaques of Gibraltar. Iván was able to secure us a private balcony just across from Seville’s City Hall to view the Semana Santa processions. It was incredible. We had the best views from the comfort of a gorgeous apartment with a guide (a penitent herself) to explain everything. It is difficult to fully convey the spectacle of tens of thousands of robed penitents, the enormous gilded and flower bedecked shoulder-borne palanquins.
We then spent two nights in Jerez, with day trips to Cadiz and Gibraltar. Gibraltar was most definitely only on our son’s list, not ours, but it turned out to be the most fascinating day. We finished the trip in Ronda, where we spent a day with a local winemaker in his tiny village.
Thanks to Iván, we feel that we made our our own personal procession through Andalusia this Semana Santa: from the epic and grandiose crowds of Seville with all the pomp and circumstance and ceremony to the smaller celebrations of Jerez and then culminating with the most intimate procession of children in Benalauría carrying the passos and making the stations of the cross.” —Julie Heimark
To get your own WOW trip, start with our trip questionnaire, reached via the black button below.
Celebrating New Year’s Eve with the Maasai in Tanzania
A Maasai procession near the Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania. Photo: Traveler Jeannie Mullen
“I just returned from a trip to East Africa planned by Cherri and her team. On New Year’s Eve I was at andBeyond Ngorongoro Crater Lodge in Tanzania. At the conclusion of a tribal dance ritual at the north lodge, we all followed their torch-lit procession (singing, chanting and dancing the entire way) down to the south lodge, where the Maasai then put on a spectacular dance demonstration which told the story of their customs and rituals.” —Jeannie Mullen
To get your own WOW trip, start with our trip questionnaire, reached via the black button below.
Comfort and luxury at Mongolia’s Golden Eagle Festival
An eagle hunter in Mongolia. Photo: Chris Rainier/Nomadic Expeditions
“If Mongolia is not yet on your bucket list, quickly move it to the top and make plans before the best kept travel secret gets out.
Jalsa is the King of Kings and his the very first organization to bring visitors into Mongolia on a five-star level. Is a stay at a five-star ger (yurt) camp in the middle of the Gobi Desert even thinkable? Is a five-star visit to the unbelievably fantastic, once-a-year Golden Eagle Festival in the far western Altai Mountains even doable? Yes, they both are! With the seamless and fabulous arrangements made by the Mongolian members of Jalsa’s team, both in the USA and in Mongolia itself.
If you want the best travel experience of modern times, go to Mongolia!” —John Byrnes
To get your own WOW trip, start with our trip questionnaire, reached via the black button below.
A traditional Swiss festival with cows, cheese, and Alpine horns
Swiss musicians performing during the celebrations that the Roberts family attended. Photo: Anna B. / Cosa Travel
“We traveled to Switzerland in late June with the help of Ana Marquez on Nina’s team. We hiked, had a raclette lunch in a candlelit cave, rafted, mountain-biked, wine-tasted, and much more! We had three major destinations—Zurich, Wengen and Ascona. Wengen was our favorite—beautiful views of Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau, accessible only by train and no cars in town.
However, the true highlight was in the mountains near Ascona. There was a local alpine festival for the opening of a cattle-grazing area high in the mountains. Ana arranged for us to go by helicopter and see the local traditions—cheese making, eating polenta and alpine horns. We were the only foreigners there and the people were very welcoming!” —Laura Roberts
To get your own WOW trip, start with our trip questionnaire, reached via the black button below.
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