Festivals
& Traditions
turn up on the right week
Being somewhere during its festival is the difference between visiting a place and being let into it. It is also the difference between a normal hotel rate and triple, and between a pleasant square and a crush, so this is a theme that rewards planning and punishes turning up hopefully.
Book before you commit to anything
Accommodation in a festival town goes early and goes expensive, frequently a year ahead for the big ones.
Check the dates properly. Many festivals move with the lunar calendar or with Easter, so last year’s dates tell you nothing.
Stay slightly outside and travel in. This is the single best piece of festival advice for families. A town twenty minutes away is a third of the price and you can leave when the children have had enough.
And check what closes. Public holidays around festivals mean shops, museums and transport run reduced services, which catches families out badly.
Which festivals actually work with children
Daytime and processional ones. Parades, floats, costumes, music in the street. Most kids respond to spectacle, and these deliver it without anyone staying up until two.
Ones with food attached. Harvest festivals, food fairs, market days.
Ones with fire and light, which are thrilling at any age. Lantern festivals, bonfire nights, candlelit processions.
What works less well is anything centered on drinking, anything that starts at eleven at night, and anything involving a dense crowd with no escape route.
Read about the crowd rather than the event. The same festival can be a family day in one town and a very heavy night in another.
The ones worth timing a trip for
- JapanMatsuri all summer, lanterns, drums and food stalls in every neighborhood.
- South KoreaLantern festivals, and traditions that welcome visitors in.
- SpainSemana Santa, Las Fallas and town fiestas all year, some gentle and some not.
- ItalyPalio, Carnevale in Venice, and a saint’s day in every town.
- MexicoDay of the Dead, which children find joyful rather than morbid.
- IndiaHoli and Diwali, and color on a scale nothing prepares you for.
- GermanyChristmas markets, carnival and harvest festivals.
- IrelandSaint Patrick’s Day where it actually comes from, plus small town festivals.
- ThailandLoy Krathong and Songkran, one beautiful and one a water fight.
- NetherlandsKing’s Day, which is the whole country in orange having a street party.
- BrazilCarnival, with the caveat that the family version is not the famous version.
- DenmarkMidsummer bonfires and the light that does not go away.
Practical things at a crowded event
Agree a meeting point before you go in, and make sure every child can describe it. Not a phone plan. A physical place.
Write your phone number on a young child’s arm or put a card in their pocket. It feels excessive and it takes ten seconds.
Dress the children in one bright color, the same color, and photograph them that morning so you can show somebody what they are wearing.
Position yourselves at the edge with a way out. Never in the middle of a crush with children.
Leave before the end. Everybody leaves at once and that is the worst part of the day.
Ear defenders for younger children at anything loud. Fireworks, drums and bands are much louder in person than parents remember.
Smaller is usually better
The famous festivals are famous, and they are correspondingly crowded, expensive and hard work with a family.
The village version of the same tradition, a week earlier and forty minutes away, is frequently more welcoming, cheaper and more real, and your children will be the novelty rather than an obstruction.
Ask locally. Tourist offices know exactly which weekend the next town has its fair and nobody ever asks them.
Some of the best days we have had abroad were things we found out about the day before from somebody at a bakery.
Festival dates move and accommodation goes early, so this is the theme where planning ahead matters most. Tell me what you want to see and I will find the year it works.
Questions people actually ask
The ones that come up before anyone books. If yours isn’t here, ask me.
How far ahead should you book around a festival?
Accommodation in festival towns can sell out a year ahead and prices rise steeply. Staying in a nearby town and traveling in is usually cheaper and allows families to leave when children have had enough.
Which festivals are suitable for children?
Daytime processional festivals with parades, costumes and music work best, as do those centered on food or on light and fire. Events focused on drinking or beginning late at night are less suitable.
Do festival dates change each year?
Many do, particularly those following lunar calendars or tied to Easter. Previous years’ dates are not a reliable guide and should always be confirmed.
How do you keep children safe in festival crowds?
Agree a physical meeting point everyone can describe, write a contact number on younger children, dress them in matching bright colors and photograph them that morning, stay at the edge of crowds and leave before the event ends.
Are famous festivals better than small ones?
Not usually for families. Village and small-town versions of the same traditions are typically cheaper, less crowded and more welcoming, and local tourist offices are an underused source of information about them.
More in Themes and Interests
- HistoryWhere the past is still standing.→
- Books & StoriesGo and stand where the book happened.→
- Food & DrinkEat the thing the place is known for.→
- Arts & CultureMuseums, music, and making something.→
- Nature & WildlifeAnimals in the wild, not in an enclosure.→
- SportsWatching, and playing, abroad.→
- Seasonal JourneysAutumn color, winter markets, spring bloom.→
- Adventure & OutdoorsThe trips that need a change of clothes.→
Keep reading
Written and kept current by Nicole Damiano, ASTA Verified Travel Advisor with FG Luxury Travel. If something here is out of date, tell me and I will fix it.
Tell me who is coming and how long you have.
That is usually enough to know if this is a ship, a train, or a car with the windows down.
