These Are the 300 Best Festivals in the World in 2018
Article by: Laura Mason|@masonlazarusMon January 15, 2018 | 09:00 AM
We can all agree it’s been a rough year, and festivals have often been the only escape from all the turmoil and hatred filling the airwaves, magazines, newspapers and internet. In fact, it seems that festivals are now more important than ever as a way to get away from the negativity, connect in real life, rejoice in each others' diversity, and dream together of a better world. To celebrate the role of festivals in our lives, we salute the brightest, best and most bombastic music and cultural festivals around the globe with our annual Fest300 List. Today, we bring the Fest300 List to you in full, fresh for your new year of festivaling in 2018.
These 300 festivals range from the iconic favorites to the new kids on the block who're quickly building a legacy, from the massive mainstream behemoths to the intimate and independent, from the artsy to the dude-my-face-is-melting, from the family friendly to the holy-sh*t-shield-your-eyes bizarre.
For those of you new to how we do things around here, it goes like this. Each November, Fest300 staff launches the annual Best Fest Quest, wherein we remove 30 festivals from our list and asks the international festival community to vote on 30 new ones for the next year's list to things fresh and current. Out of 100 nominees this year, a fascinating swath of new events were voted – by their fans – onto the list, from Tokyo's near-religious worship of the sacred cherry blossom, Ueno Sakura Matsuri, to one of the greatest spectacles in all of electronic music, the gargantuan Defqon.1 in the Netherlands.
Photo by: Osamu Nakamura
In years past our readership has voted almost all music festivals onto the list, but, interestingly, this year saw a whopping six arts and cultural festivals – Berlin Festival of Lights (Germany), Echigo Tsumari Art Triennale (Japan), Tribeca Film Festival (USA), Napoli Pizza Village (Italy), POW! WOW! Hawaii (USA), and the aforementioned Ueno Sakura Matsuri (Japan) – make the cut. Many of the music festivals that made the list in 2018 are dance music-focused – such as Groove Cruise (USA), Spring Awakening (USA), MTN Bushfire (Swaziland), and Electric Love Festival (Austria) – but as always, the thirst for immersive, boutique gatherings like Stilldream Festival (USA), Day For Night (USA), Carnaval de Bahidorá (Mexico), Luminate Festival (New Zealand), and Wonderfruit Festival (Thailand) remains during a time when mainstream music festival lineups everywhere are becoming increasingly homogenized.
No matter the festival genre, the international festival community's heartening dedication to its favorite events illustrates our need more than ever to applaud any chance we get to escape and connect through music and art, and share ideas and progressive thought in order to create real change in an increasingly broken world. Congratulations to this year's 30 new additions to the Fest300 List, as well as the 270 legacy festivals, all of which work hard year-round to dream up life-altering experiences for the rest of us.
2018 Winners
- Backwoods Music Festival
- Berlin Festival of Lights
- Boston Calling
- Brooklyn Electronic Music Festival
- Carnaval de Bahidorá
- Corona Capital
- Day For Night
- Decadence New Year's Eve
- Defqon.1
- Echigo Tsumari Art Triennale
- Electric Love Festival
- Groove Cruise
- iHeartRadio Music Festival
- KAABOO
- Lights All Night
- Lost Lands Music Festival
- Luminate Festival
- Mountain Jam
- MTN Bushfire
- Napoli Pizza Village
- Newport Jazz Festival
- Pohoda
- POW! WOW! Hawaii
- RBC Bluesfest
- Something Wicked
- Spring Awakening
- Stilldream Festival
- Tribeca Film Festival
- Ueno Sakura Matsuri (Cherry Blossom Lantern Festival)
- Wonderfruit Festival
These incredible new additions to the 2018 Fest300 List join the rest of the world's best festivals below...
Africa and Middle East
- Afrikaburn
- Cape Town International Jazz Festival
- Felabration
- Fes Festival of World Sacred Music
- FESTIMA
- Gnaoua World Music Festival
- Lake of Stars
- Mawazine
- Nyege Nyege Festival
- Oasis Festival
- Oppikoppi Festival
- Panafest
- Rocking the Daisies
- Splashy Fen Music Festival
- Timkat
- Wodaabe Gerewol & Cure Salee
Asia
- Alfa Future People
- Ati-Atihan
- BaliSpirit Festival
- Big Mountain Music Festival
- Boryeong Mud Festival
- Chinese New Year
- Diwali
- Djakarta Warehouse Project
- Fuji Rock Festival
- Gion Matsuri
- Guru Nanak Jayanti
- Hadaka Matsuri
- Harbin Ice & Snow Sculpture Festival
- Holi
- Java Jazz Festival
- Kanamara Matsuri
- Kumbh Mela Festival
- Lopburi Monkey Banquet
- Losar
- Maha Shivaratri
- Molten Iron Throwing
- Nadaam
- Obon
- Pingxi Sky Lantern Festival
- Pushkar Camel Fair
- Quest Festival
- Rainforest World Music Festival
- Sapporo Snow Festival
- Songkran
- Sunburn Festival
- Tet Nguyen Dan
- Thaipusam
- Vegetarian Festival
- Wakakusa Yamayaki
- Yi Peng and Loy Krathong (Lantern Festival)
Australia and Oceania
- Byron Bay Bluesfest
- Chi Wow Wah Town
- Earth Frequency Festival
- Galungan
- Heiva I Tahiti
- Mount Hagen Cultural Show
- Queenstown Winter Festival
- Rainbow Serpent Festival
- Splendour in the Grass
- Splore
- Strawberry Fields
- Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras
- World Buskers Festival
- Yemaya Festival
Caribbean and Central America
- Cannabis Cup
- Crop Over
- Envision Festival
- Junkanoo Parade
- Reggae Sumfest
- Semana Santa
- Trinidad and Tobago Carnival
Europe
- AgitÁgueda
- Amsterdam Dance Event
- Awakenings Festival
- Balaton Sound
- Battle of the Oranges
- Beltane Fire Festival
- Bestival
- Boom Festival
- BoomTown Fair
- Brussels Light Festival
- Carnevale di Venezia
- Colours of Ostrava
- Concurs de Castells
- Cooper's Hill Cheese-Rolling
- Creamfields
- Donauinselfest
- Download Festival
- Eastern Electrics
- Edinburgh Festival Fringe
- El Colacho
- Electric Castle
- Electric Picnic
- EXIT Festival
- Festa de São João
- Festival Number 6
- Festival of Giants
- Fiesta de San Fermín
- Fusion Festival
- Galway Oyster Festival
- Glastonbury
- Haro Wine Festival
- Hay Festival
- Hogmanay Celebration
- Ibiza Closing Parties
- Iceland Airwaves
- Il Palio
- King's Day (Koningsdag)
- Krampusnacht Festival
- Las Fallas
- Latitude Festival
- La Tomatina
- Les Festes de la Merce
- Let it Roll
- Lewes Bonfire
- Love International
- Manchester International Festival
- Meadows in the Mountains
- Melt!
- Mevlana Whirling Dervishes
- Montreux Jazz Festival
- Mysteryland
- Noisily Festival
- Notting Hill Carnival
- Nowhere
- Oerol
- Oktoberfest
- Open'er Festival
- Outlook Festival
- Oyafestivalen
- Paléo
- Paratissima
- Paris Techno Parade
- Pete the Monkey
- Pflasterspektakel
- Pinkpop Festival
- Positivus
- Primavera Sound
- Provinssirock
- Pukkelpop
- Rock am Ring
- Rock Werchter
- Roskilde Festival
- Rouketopolemos
- Salzburg Festival
- Scottish Highland Games
- Secret Solstice
- Shambala Festival
- Snowbombing
- Sonar Festival
- Stonehenge Summer Solstice
- St. Patrick's Day
- Street Parade Zurich
- Sweden Rock Festival
- Sziget
- Tomorrowland
- Up Helly Aa
- Venice Biennale
- Wacken Open Air Festival
- Walpurgisnacht
- Way Out West
- Westman Islands Festival
- Wife Carrying World Championship
- Wilderness Festival
- WOMAD
- Woodstock Festival Poland
North America
- AFROPUNK Festival
- Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta
- ARISE Music Festival
- Art Basel Miami
- Astral Harvest
- Austin City Limits Festival
- Bass Coast
- Bonnaroo
- Bottlerock Napa Valley
- Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival
- BUKU Music + Art Project
- Burning Man
- Calgary Stampede
- California Roots Music and Art Festival
- Calle Ocho
- Camp Bisco
- Chicago Blues Festival
- Coachella
- Comic-Con International
- CRSSD Festival
- Dancefestopia
- Desert Hearts
- Día de los Muertos
- Dirtybird Campout
- Electric Daisy Carnival
- Electric Forest Festival
- Electric Zoo
- Enchanted Forest Gathering
- Euphoria Music Festival
- Festival d'été de Québec
- Festival International de Jazz de Montréal
- Festival Western de St-Tite
- Firefly Music Festival
- Food & Wine Classic in Aspen
- Fozzyfest
- Gem & Jam Festival
- Genius Loci
- Gratitude: Migration
- Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival
- High Sierra Music Festival
- Holy Ship!
- Imagine Music Festival
- Jam Cruise
- Joshua Tree Music Festival
- Just For Laughs Comedy Festival
- Life Is Beautiful
- Lightning in a Bottle
- Lollapalooza
- Lockn'
- Luminato Festival
- Mardi Gras
- Monterey Jazz Festival
- Moogfest
- Motion Notion
- Movement Electronic Music
- National Cowboy Poetry Gathering
- National Pyrotechnic Festival
- New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival
- Newport Folk Festival
- New York City Wine & Food Festival
- Northern Nights
- Okeechobee Music & Arts Festival
- Outside Lands
- Oregon Country Fair
- Osheaga
- Paradiso Festival
- Pemberton Music Festival
- Pitchfork Music Festival
- Punk Rock Bowling
- Quebec Winter Carnival
- Riot Fest
- San Francisco Pride
- Sasquatch!
- Shambhala Music Festival
- SnowGlobe Music Festival
- Sonic Bloom
- Stagecoach
- Sturgis Motorcycle Rally
- Summerfest
- Summer Camp Music Festival
- Sundance Film Festival
- Suwannee Hulaween
- SXSW
- Symbiosis Gathering
- Taste of Chicago
- Telluride Film Festival
- Texas Renaissance Festival
- The BPM Festival
- The Governors Ball Music Festival
- Toronto International Film Festival
- Tortuga Music Festival
- Ultra Music Festival
- Voodoo Experience
- Vive Latino
- Wanderlust
- What The Festival